The Old Dark House

James Whale is well known for directing two great horror films, Frankenstein and The Bride Of Frankenstein, but his creepiest film may be 1932's The Old Dark House, which has no supernatural elements but is still scary, though it's also completely batty.

Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart are a married couple, traveling through Wales, along with their friend Melvyn Douglas. It's a torrential downpour, and while the couple are at their wit's end Douglas remains cheerful. They come across the house of the title, and it's a little like The Addams Family would be--a perfectly normal group of people find a family of weirdos.

There's the cadaverous Ernest Thesinger, who's the most normal of the group. His sister, Eva Moore, is hard of hearing and constantly talking about sin (there's some comedy about what she can and can't hear) and the butler, Boris Karloff, is a hulking mute who has a drinking problem. That's leaving out who's living upstairs.

Later, dropping in as if from another movie, are Charles Laughton and his "friend," a chorus girl (Lillian Bond). Laughton is all pip-pip-cheerio, while Bond and Douglas immediately fall in love with each other.

The Old Dark House is oddly paced, but has immense rewards, as some of the scenes are in your face wacky, especially the ending, when one of the family who has been locked up for being a pyromaniac breaks free. The film is pre-Code, so there are some racy bits, such as Stuart changing into a nightgown and Moore accusing of her being a slut, or Bond telling Douglas that Laughton "expects nothing of me," and we get the drift.