Defining the Old Dark House Genre

What is an Old Dark House movie? A kind of mystery or horror film? Or just anything set in a big old house? And what's with all the comic relief?

Let's slow down, take a sip of cocoa, and start to answer these questions with a quick think about the concepts of genre and subgenre. If we take horror as a genre, for example, it seems fairly clear what that is - and it's not too difficult to identify subgenres within it like 'zombie horror' and 'possession horror'. Most people, myself included, would probably describe Old Dark House movies as something of a subgenre too, but where it gets cloudier is deciding what they're a subgenre of.

That's because the Old Dark House film is a unique blend of horror, comedy and mystery, intersecting with - rather than slotting into - each of those genres. Its closest neighbours are perhaps the 'country house whodunit' (which focuses on the puzzle aspect of the crime) and the haunted-house film (where the supernatural is the mystery). The Old Dark House movie flits between all of the above like a mischievous moth, attracted to the candles but never settling for fear of getting its wings singed. 

I'm going to go out on a bit of a limb and suggest that horror is the key component here. Old Dark House films first took root in the silent film tradition - and many of the silent era's lasting images are those of terror. Think Nosferatu, Caligari, the violence of Battleship Potemkin and the uncanny robots of Metropolis. While the intricacies necessary for a truly satisfying murder mystery might be hard to convey within a silent movie, put a helpless victim in the foreground and a shadowy figure in the background, and you don't need sound to convey a feeling of fear.

The name 'Old Dark House' stuck to the genre for a reason. In fact, I think it acts as a neat little identifier with which to highlight some of the main themes in question, so let's break it down:

THE 'OLD': The weight of the past hangs heavily over the characters and situations of an Old Dark House movie. It may be in the form of a supposed curse or treasure or, more frequently, an inheritance of 'old money' that comes with conditions... and grudges. Age itself is also often a theme, with our heroes tending to be 'young and innocent', while older authority figures have often been rendered powerless by infirmity or, even worse, become corrupted. 

THE 'DARK': Herein lies the horror element of the Old Dark House genre, represented literally in the gloomy, stormy nights its stories inhabit and more figuratively by its common themes. These include insanity (both the villain's psyche or an affliction to ruin our heroes), the unknown (even supernaturally so) and, of course, the ultimate fear - death. 

THE 'HOUSE': More than merely the setting for an Old Dark House mystery, the house is almost a character. In fact, I'd argue that it's actually an extension of the villain's character: something that exists to endanger the heroes, often being exploited by a killer who makes use of secret passages, locked rooms and torture chambers. The 'house' may also take the form of any forbidding space, whether that be an old lighthouse (Sh! The Octopus), deserted station (The Ghost Train) or even a pirate ship (Whispering Ghosts).

Another key idea I'm floating here on Looming Heirs! is an end-date for what I'm calling the 'classic' Old Dark House movie - that year being 1960. I'm not arguing that relevant films weren't released beyond then (after all, William Castle's remake of The Old Dark House appeared in 1963) but I do think these are of a slightly different ilk, with heightened states of parody and postmodern artificiality (see Murder by Death, Clue and the like). What changed things? Well, Psycho for a start, with its grim tone and envelope-pushing... Once you've been to the Bates Motel, a visit to The Rogues Tavern or House on Haunted Hill just doesn't cut it. 

Two other influential films released in 1960 further rocked the foundations of the Old Dark House: Mario Bava's Black Sunday and Roger Corman's The Fall of the House of Usher - each echoing with themes of death and madness, and both more complex properties than the films of the classic era. 

Remember as we explore the cosier classics at Looming Heirs! that there are always going to be a few that break the mould (and no doubt I'll cover them) but, basically, if I think a film has even the slightest chance of conjuring up that warm and welcoming glow for the Old Dark House film fan, it'll get a much-deserved look-in here.

[Poster image above from Wikimedia Commons.]