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Horror Movies

THE OLD DARK HOUSE: A Grandfather of Mad Family-Type Horror

I would like to go back to the 1930s, to a time when British director James Whale was regarded as one of the greatest creators of cinematic horror.

Krzysztof Walecki

1 February 2025

THE OLD DARK HOUSE: A Grandfather of Mad Family-Type Horror

His greatest achievement is still considered to be Bride of Frankenstein (1935), the last horror film he directed, but his earlier works, Frankenstein (1931) and The Invisible Man (1933), also testify to his macabre imagination, pitch-black sense of humor, and fascination with characters consumed by madness. The Old Dark House is his lesser known work.

His films were distinguished by their painterly quality and visual ideas, which, in their pioneering nature, became the foundation of horror for many decades to come. When we think of Frankenstein’s monster, the first image that comes to mind is Boris Karloff in makeup so recognizable that every subsequent interpretation of the character had to contend with it. The same goes for Elsa Lanchester as the monster’s bride, with her black hair styled into an upright shape with a white lightning-like streak. Scenes such as the reanimation of a corpse amid thunder and lightning, the mob hunting down the terrified creature, the climactic windmill fire, and the unraveling of bandages on the Invisible Man’s head to reveal nothing underneath are milestones of the genre, among the most iconic moments not just in horror but in cinema as a whole. One only needs to recall how often these ideas and images have been used, copied, and parodied by other filmmakers. Without Whale, cinema would not be what it is today.

The Old Dark House 1932

It is no coincidence, then, that even his least-known horror film, The Old Dark House (1932), serves as a model for all subsequent films featuring mad families. From the very first glance, something seems off about the Femms, though the full extent of their madness is revealed gradually, and only after meeting all the family members can we truly understand how dark the titular house really is. However, the opening scenes do not suggest that we are dealing with a horror film. The night is stormy, the downpour relentless, but the travelers in a car seem more suited to a romantic comedy—Philip and Margaret Waverton, a married couple, bicker endlessly in the rain that seeps into their vehicle, while their friend, Penderel, lying in the back seat, delivers witty, ironic remarks. The film’s playful tone is palpable despite the inhuman weather conditions, which eventually force the trio to seek shelter in the only house they manage to find. Standing before the door, Penderel jokes that it would be amusing if the inhabitants turned out to be ghosts—an idea not too far from reality.

The Old Dark House 1932

The butler, Morgan, opens the door slightly, revealing his scarred face and brutish stare, but ultimately lets them inside. Moments later, they are greeted by Horace Femm, pale as a corpse, a man so tense yet overly concerned with etiquette that the contrast between his mannerisms and the unwelcoming house creates a dissonance. There is also his sister, Rebecca, an exceptionally cold, half-deaf, and venomous woman who has more authority in the house than her brother. Before the newcomers can meet the rest of the family, additional travelers seeking refuge from the rain arrive—Sir William Porterhouse and his cheerful companion, Gladys.

The Old Dark House 1932

Whale’s film, originally titled The Old Dark House, was based on Benighted, a novel by J.B. Priestley, who was very popular in the interwar period. The adaptation is fairly faithful to the book’s plot, although the director was not particularly interested in its psychological portrait of people affected directly or indirectly by World War I (which is quite surprising, considering Whale himself participated in the war). Instead, the creator of Frankenstein focuses on grotesquerie and horror, on the interaction between his contemporary characters—who are witty, lively, and normal—and the family locked away in their house, nurturing their insanity while only barely maintaining a façade of sanity.

The Old Dark House 1932

The best scene illustrating these social dynamics is the dinner sequence, where guests and hosts participate in a ritual that supposedly unites them but instead exposes each character’s personality. The silent Morgan serves at the table while keeping an unbroken stare on Margaret, provocatively dressed in a white evening gown she was forced to change into for dinner. Horace continuously offers potatoes to the guests, though when Philip finally has them on his plate, he merely picks at them, removing imperfections instead of eating. Rebecca ignores the visitors as she quickly selects pickled onions from a jar but immediately speaks up when her brother attempts to carve the meat before the prayer, reinforcing that while she is a religious zealot, he is an atheist. Only Penderel seems to truly enjoy himself, relishing the bizarre atmosphere, and even more so when the boisterous Sir William and Gladys burst into the house, bringing life to its grim walls. Even the house itself possesses a distinct character, with its capricious lighting, vast rooms, and towering ceilings that make the characters seem vulnerable, as well as the emptiness that speaks to the Femms’ social decline.

The Old Dark House 1932

I have not listed all the inhabitants, but Whale also saves the most unusual cases for later. What should the guests fear the most? Primarily Morgan, another mute monster played by Boris Karloff. The disfigured servant, who loses all restraint when drunk, plays the role of an antagonist but not the worst one in the film. Ben W. Levy’s screenplay portrays Morgan as akin to Frankenstein’s monster—physically powerful, brutal, yet not particularly intelligent, and unlike the Femms, devoid of a cruel nature. Nonetheless, he is the one who sets the nightmare in motion. Karloff once again terrifies the audience with his mere presence, yet in a few scenes, he reveals depth and reflection that none of his employers exhibit. Whale knows how to make his actor a fearsome specter, but in the film’s most brilliantly conceived scene, he nearly metaphorically conveys Morgan’s true position and status. When the guests gathered in the hallway glance toward the staircase, a hand appears on the railing. At first, it is unclear whose hand it is, but moments later, Morgan’s monstrous figure emerges from the shadows. He lingers briefly, then begins his descent, but the hand remains on the balustrade. It turns out it does not belong to Morgan at all! The moment is both surprising and a clever revelation that, while Karloff’s character appears to be the greatest threat, the protagonists should fear someone else entirely.

The Old Dark House 1932

The Old Dark House is the progenitor of all films about mad families that seek, in more or less direct ways, to annihilate any traces of normality. Of course, this clash yields enormous amounts of black humor, because when insanity and sanity are juxtaposed, their reactions become entirely unpredictable. Surprisingly, the film most similar in this regard to Whale’s work is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), where the behavior of the Sawyer family becomes so cruel that it borders on comical. The Femms may not be as extreme as their successors, but their madness is not defined by acts of violence. Instead, their house is a grotesque collection of moral corruption in various forms. Individually, each trait may not seem disturbing, or even indicative of insanity, but as we are gradually introduced to more family members, the schizophrenic atmosphere of the house grows stronger.

The Old Dark House 1932

Whale’s film was not a box office success, and critical opinions were divided. This is hardly surprising. The audience of the time must have been taken aback by how far the director strayed from horror’s seriousness in favor of humor, presented in various shades, only to suddenly return to the darker aspects of the story. In terms of tone, it is light-years away from what was commonly seen in cinemas at the time. A remake was unsuccessfully attempted in 1963, long after Whale’s version had been considered lost.

What makes The Old Dark House exceptional is precisely the way it blends comedy and horror in a manner unlike even today’s standards. Characters straight out of a screwball comedy are thrown into a Gothic setting, surrounded by figures who reveal increasing levels of insanity with each scene. Both groups maintain their distinctiveness until the very end—the guests struggle to remain civilized, joking about their predicament and rarely allowing the house’s atmosphere to stifle them, while the hosts do not hide their oddities and obsessions. Even Horace’s politeness is less an indicator of sanity and more a caricature of social decorum. When, in one scene, the 102-year-old family patriarch, Sir Roderick Femm (played by a woman, Elspeth Dudgeon), declares that he is the only one who has not lost his mind—then immediately bursts into laughter as if he had told a joke—we realize that there are no sane people here. Only those who are less dangerous.

The Old Dark House 1932

All the more a pity that Whale devotes so much time to the unnaturally fast-developing romance between Penderel and Gladys—important from the perspective of the finale, yet effectively diminishing the tension just as the other guests begin to realize the danger they are in. And while Melvyn Douglas and Lilian Bond, playing the couple, are the most natural actors in the film and the ones we root for the most from the start, the melodrama serves to heighten the emotional tone of the final scenes rather than to create a realistic portrayal of a budding relationship. Gloria Stuart as Margaret Waverton fares much better, convincingly terrified as she is attacked almost immediately by the fanatically pious Rebecca and later becomes the object of Morgan’s desire.

The Old Dark House 1932

Charles Laughton, in his first American role, is loud, energetic, and not particularly concerned with the morbid atmosphere of the house. However, his Sir William is the character who most strongly resembles the book’s original version—a newly wealthy man who amassed his fortune almost as an act of revenge for the disgrace inflicted on his wife by high society, which, in his view, led to her death. By contrast, Raymond Massey as Philip Waverton comes off as bland—not only when compared to the Femms but also to the rest of the guests. The hosts, however, have the most fun, especially Ernest Thesiger as Horace and Eva Moore as his sister. They lay the groundwork for the madness that will soon be unleashed. And when it happens, the timid and seemingly unremarkable Brember Wills appears on screen; yet, in a single moment, his eyes burn with fire, and he transforms into the most dangerous of the Femms—Saul.

The Old Dark House 1932

Comedy and horror wrestle with each other in The Old Dark House to determine which is stronger. The closer we get to the finale, the more terror begins to dominate the screen, but Whale concludes his film in an extraordinary way. After the night comes the day, offering the guests the chance to return home. The nightmare that took place seems like a distant memory, even if not everyone survived. Horace Femm greets the morning sun as if nothing had happened, further reinforcing his insanity. The absurdity, however, does not resonate as strongly as one might expect, as the romantic comedy element returns once again, drowning out the screams of the previous night. The director bends the rules a little here, reviving a character who should not have survived, but then again—perhaps in this very unnaturalness, in the fusion of humor with terror, normality with madness, lies the true secret of the film?

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