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The Old Dark House

The Old Dark House

Drama · Horror · Thriller · 1932

In a remote region of Wales, five travelers beset by a relentless storm find shelter in an old mansion.

Movie details

The Old Dark House

“Beware the night!”

1932 Drama · Horror · Thriller 1h 10m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.7 / 10

Community rating

In a remote region of Wales, five travelers beset by a relentless storm find shelter in an old 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?

The 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.

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Gosford Park

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The Innocents

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The Devil's Arithmetic

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An American-born Jewish adolescent, Hannah Stern, is uninterested in the culture, faith and customs of her relatives. However, she begins to revaluate her heritage when she has a supernatural experience that transports her back to a Nazi death camp in 1941. There she meets a young girl named Rivkah, a fellow captive in the camp. As Rivkah and Hannah struggle to survive in the face of daily atrocities, they form an unbreakable bond.

Gaslight

Gaslight

Thriller · 1944

A newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.

The Tomb of Ligeia

The Tomb of Ligeia

Horror · 1964

Verden Fell is shattered after the death of his lovely wife. But, after an unexpected encounter with Lady Rowena Trevanion, Fell soon finds himself married again. Nevertheless, his late wife's spirit seems to hang over the dilapidated abbey that Fell shares with his new bride. Lady Rowena senses that something is amiss and, when she investigates, makes a horrifying discovery -- learning that Fell's dead wife is closer than she ever imagined possible.

The Stepford Wives

The Stepford Wives

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Joanna Eberhart comes to the town of Stepford, Connecticut with her family, but soon discovers there lies a sinister truth in the all too perfect behavior of the female residents.

Brute Force

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House of Strangers

House of Strangers

Drama · 1949

Ruthless Italian-American banker Gino Monetti is engaged in a number of criminal activities. Three of his four grown sons refuse to help their father stay out of prison after he's arrested for his questionable business practices. Three of them take over the business but kick their father out. Max, a lawyer, is the only son that remains loyal.

The Parts You Lose

The Parts You Lose

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An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

James Whale

Written by

Benn W. Levy

Boris Karloff

Boris Karloff

Morgan

Melvyn Douglas

Melvyn Douglas

Penderel

Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton

Sir William Porterhouse

Lilian Bond

Lilian Bond

Gladys

Ernest Thesiger

Ernest Thesiger

Horace Femm

Eva Moore

Eva Moore

Rebecca Femm

Raymond Massey

Raymond Massey

Philip Waverton

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 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.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“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.