The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
The Old Dark House
Comedy · Horror · Mystery · 1963
An American car salesman in London becomes mixed up in a series of fatal occurrences at a secluded mansion.
Movie details
The Old Dark House
“READY! SET! LAUGH! Join the fun in a nut-house of terror!”
1963 Comedy · Horror · Mystery 1h 26m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
5.9 / 10
Community rating
An American car salesman in London becomes mixed up in a series of fatal occurrences at a secluded mansion.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Old Dark House?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Hubie Halloween
Comedy · 2020
Hubie Dubois, despite his devotion to his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts (and its legendary Halloween celebration), is a figure of mockery for kids and adults alike. But this year, something really is going bump in the night, and it’s up to Hubie to save Halloween.
The Private Eyes
Comedy · 1980
The lord and lady of a capacious manor are killed, and the lord's ghost seems to have returned to knock off the staff one by one, causing Inspector Winship and Dr. Tart to investigate the wacky house and its inhabitants.
R.L. Stine's Monsterville: The Cabinet of Souls
Comedy · 2015
Teenage friends must resist the spell of an evil showman staging a house of horrors show in their small town.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Comedy · 2024
After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Betelgeuse, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.
The Fearless Vampire Killers
Comedy · 1967
A noted professor and his dim-witted apprentice fall prey to their inquiring vampires, while on the trail of the ominous damsel in distress.
Who's Harry Crumb?
Comedy · 1989
Harry Crumb is a bumbling and inept private investigator who is hired to solve the kidnapping of a young heiress which he's not expected to solve because his employer is the mastermind behind the kidnapping.
House on Haunted Hill
Horror · 1959
Frederick Loren invites five strangers to the party of a lifetime and offers each of them $10,000 if they can stay the night in the reportedly haunted house. Armed with a gun for protection, each guest arrives in a hearse and will either leave in it much richer…Or dead.
Night Watch
Mystery · 1973
A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown tries to convince her husband and and the local London police that she has witnessed a murder in the abandoned house next door.
Dave Made a Maze
Comedy · 2017
Dave, an artist who has yet to complete anything significant in his career, builds a fort in his living room out of pure frustration, only to wind up trapped by the fantastical pitfalls, booby traps, and critters of his own creation. Ignoring his warnings, Dave’s girlfriend Annie leads a band of oddball explorers on a rescue mission. Once inside, they find themselves trapped in an ever-changing supernatural world, threatened by booby traps and pursued by a bloodthirsty Minotaur.
Burnt Offerings
Horror · 1976
A family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
William Castle
Written by
Robert Dillon
Tom Poston
Tom Penderel
Robert Morley
Roderick Femm
Janette Scott
Cecily Femm
Joyce Grenfell
Agatha Femm
Mervyn Johns
Potiphar Femm
Fenella Fielding
Morgana Femm
Peter Bull
Caspar Femm / Jasper Femm
Court is in session
Put The Old Dark House on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Prestige Tourist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.