Eureka Masters of Cinema

Out on Bluray/DVD May 21

A new print of James Whale’s archetypal haunted house movie is released in a Blu-ray and DVD combo pack with an impressive array of extras.

James Whale’s Karloff-starring 1932 horror classic can’t profess to be the first haunted house movie, but it sets up many genre conventions and tropes that have subsequently been imitated ever since. The high camp of the situation and overblown performances are such that they wouldn’t be out of place in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and yet this is the great great granddaddy of so many horror flicks, and it’s a hoot. The afflicted family, complete with elderly relative hidden away, is surely a precursor to the clan in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Filmed by the director after Frankenstein and before The Invisible Man, it’s based on a novel by J B Priestley (An Inspector Calls) and follows the horrors endured by travellers caught in a storm in remote Wales on the way to Shrewsbury. Cue the creepy mansion (the eponymous old dark house), thunderbolts and lightning, a sinister family who let them in, and Boris Karloff‘s mute butler, Morgan. There’s clearly skeletons in the closet, and who will survive the night?

Eureka’s dual format package is the first UK Blu-ray release, with some great poster artwork by Graham Humphreys created for the limited UK theatrical release. The HD transfer is taken from a 4K restoration, and there are a series of audio commentaries by Gloria Stuart, Kim Newman, Stephen Jones and Whale’s biographer James Curtis. There’s also a 15-minute interview with Karloff’s daughter and a fascinating vintage piece about how director Curtis Harrington ‘saved’ the movie.

Meet the Femms is a 38-minute documentary on all aspects of the production with voiceover impressions of the actors reading lines from the book and contemporary interviews. The collectors’ booklet also includes a short piece on the film by Philip Kemp and reproductions of movie stills and posters.

Verdict: This ole house is getting shaky. Creakier than the wooden floorboards that the cast creep across, this influential horror classic manages to be both a self-parody and the horror clichés mother lode at the same time. The gorgeous transfer and generous bunch of extra content make this the last word on what nearly became a lost treasure. 9/10

Nick Joy

Pre-order The Old Dark House here from Amazon.co.uk