Dark Places

This film is rather entertaining but the chills are pretty weak. However, it has strong leads by Robert Hardy and Christopher Lee. I bought this video for five bucks at the Reject Shop, so what was I expecting? Not much, obviously.

Despite a plot line that is not only obvious and predictable, but somewhat slow-moving and even worse - overburdened with dialogue and directed in a multitudes of TV-style close-ups by Don Sharp - this is a film that is still worth viewing. The director, the players and the script still manage to convey an appropriately unsettling atmosphere. Lensing on real locations certainly helps the mood. Subdued color photography as well as the music score and art direction also make major contributions to invigorate an audience's interest. And although he is not called upon to be outrageously villainous, audience favorite Christopher Lee has a fairly meaty role - of which, needless to say, he takes full advantage. Also to be applauded are Robert Hardy, Herbert Rudley and most especially, Joan Collins!

I mean it. I investigated systematically on the ghost genre and I can say this is one of the scariest ones. It surprised me, i didn't expected much from it, but it's very skillfully done, the way the flashbacks (or dimensional passages) start and stop are a masterwork. It's a sort of a cheesy film but somehow, at the same time, is an excellent piece of cinema. Here's the scariest scene of all my investigation: the one where our hero is knocking on the house's walls to find the place where the money is hidden, as he is tortured by the children voices, and they go "no, no ,no, no , no..." You should see it if you didn't. And in the case you like it, try "The Haunting", "The Innocents" and "Picture of Jenny".

This film has a plot which, if handled competently, should have made a very shivery film. A man searches for a hidden fortune in the house of a deceased maniac. As he does so, images from the house's past begin to haunt him, and his own personality is slowly overshadowed by that of the former, homicidal occupant. It is to the credit of Robert Hardy that he carries off the central role well (and, indeed, holds the film together) but indifferent direction ensures that the rest of a talented cast is largely wasted. Still, worth seeing for the original story line.