The Monster Walks

The guests have gathered, the will's been read, the clock strikes twelve... and someone's DEAD! It's time to light a lantern and dust off your hiking boots as we prepare to keep pace with 1932's THE MONSTER WALKS...

Clocking in at an hour, this low-key Old Dark House movie won't trouble your little grey cells with extraneous twists or suspects but plods along purposefully, with some eerie touches and a capable cast. 

It's a dark and corny night, and the curtains billow at the window of the room where Dr Earlton lies dead in his bed. Attorney Herbert Wilkes (Sidney Bracey) has arrived to read the will, while a small party of relatives and servants wait to find out what they'll inherit and who they'll have to kill to get their hands on it. Also in the house - but locked up in a cage in the cellar and not very happy about it - is the doctor's pet chimp, Yogi. "What makes him scream so?" asks the dead man's brother. "That's because of the corpse in the house," replies servant Hanns, relishing every word. "He remembers his dead master."

Of course not everyone is happy with the outcome of the will, which leaves everything to the doctor's daughter, Ruth - or alternatively to his brother in the event that anything happens to Ruth. (So she can't make a will of her own?) And, sure enough, that night, something does happen to Ruth, involving a hairy, ape-like hand emerging from a secret panel behind her bed and reaching for her throat! 

Let's leave the plot there, as we're already halfway through, and reflect instead on the players - thankfully the kind of bunch who can make standing around and talking worth sitting back and listening to. While the stilted dialogue isn't always on their side ("Someone has made a second desperate attempt on Ruth's life!") these pros work near-miracles smoothing off some of its rougher edges. There's the commanding Martha Mattox from the original The Cat and the Canary, reprising her stern housekeeper bit with the addition of a few layers; Mischa Auer as her grown-up son, Hanns, who's all towering hair, dangling limbs and bitterness; and Willie Best as Exodus the driver, who's frankly insulted by the so-called comic relief he's asked to deliver here, but who remains a welcome addition to any cast. 

I mentioned eerie touches earlier and, despite a fairly bland approach to the old house setting, I do think it provides the chills in places, especially during a quiet scene at the halfway mark... Following the stroke of midnight (filmed in thrilling real time!) a gruesome-looking hand slowly pulls a door closed and extinguishes a candle. It's as simple as that, but perfect nightmare fuel to my mind. The killer's 'alibi' (you'll know it when you see it) is also a terrific little detail and not given nearly enough screen time.

I was also delighted to hear one character exclaim "Pshaw!" - something I've come across in print before but never had the joy of hearing! All in all, while I may be being a tad generous with my cobweb rating below, it's refreshing to see an Old Dark House quickie that plays to its strengths and manages to carve out a niche simply by taking itself seriously.  

RATING: 🕸🕸🕸