The Old Dark House Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.5

The Old Dark House Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 22, 2020

The Old Dark House is currently only available in the twenty film Hammer Ultimate Collection.

Thomas (Tom Poston), a car salesman, has a “strange arrangement” with Caspar (Peter Bull), a wealthy high stakes gambler and car collector. The two share an apartment. Thomas stays at night and Caspar during the day. When Thomas delivers a vehicle to a mysterious old estate, he finds himself in the company of Caspar’s eccentric family, including his twin brother Jasper (also Bull), and learns that his friend, whom he has just seen, is dead. It turns out the family is forced to remain under the manor’s roof at night lest they lose out on their inheritance. Thomas is told he may be in line to receive a portion of the family fortune as a distant relative. But never mind that. He finds himself in a terrifying death trap where the family members are killed off one by one, leaving Thomas to solve the mystery and save himself before he falls victim to something – or someone – with a sinister motive.

This is the lighter side of Hammer. The film has its scares and its oddities, but it plays with an underlying humorous bend that lessens the Horror impact but doesn’t sacrifice story, characterization, or atmosphere. In fact, the tone is such that one could almost see Don Knotts in the Thomas role, and the movie certainly seems reminiscent of something like Clue, though it is in fact based on a much more favorably received 1932 film of the same name. The film thrives on its eccentricities – the story, the characters, the performances, the setting – and the tongue-in-cheek style. It’s approachable even at its darkest points and serves as a nice reprieve from the more intense Hammer experiences.

The Old Dark House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Blu-ray shines a favorable light on The Old Dark House. The 1080p transfer is more than capable, even as the film, in this instance, shares a disc with two other movies. The picture shows no serious signs of noise reduction, revealing a pleasantly natural grain structure and sharp details across the board, whether looking at faces, clothes, or the many doodads around the house: worn wallpaper, old woods, and the various furnishings and knickknacks that populate most every frame. In all of the most critical ways, the transfer proves to be a success of clarity and sharpness. Colors are not at all bad, either, looking only a hint faded and, while lacking modern-day punch and vitality, doing well to capture healthy skin tones, bright eyes, warm woods, and even the dreary wallpaper tones around the house. Shadow depth and detail are strong. The print is impressively clean and free of any serious speckling and spotting. Only the most mild compression artifacts are in evidence.

The Old Dark House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack is lacking in clarity and sound separation. Music, thunder, and driving rain at the 10-minute mark (and again at the 28-minute mark) are a jumble of sounds with little sense of individuality, coming together in a mass of overamped and underwhelming sound, all of them vying for dominance and none of them really finding any meaty detail beyond the crude essential sonic signatures. When the elements are more spaced out, with music, say, the only real sonic factor in a scene, then the sense of clarity improves along with more identifiable feelings for space and range. The lack of a dedicated low-end element hinders depth and the sound design's age certainly doesn't help matters, but at its best the track is respectable in its simplicity. Dialogue is clear and images well enough to the center.

The Old Dark House Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This release contains a single supplement, an audio commentary track with The Monster Party Podcast featuring James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan, Larry Strothe, and Matt Weinhold.

The Old Dark House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray of The Old Dark House is about as good as most could reasonably expect for it. Picture and sound are no great shakes but both are capable, the former in particular. An audio commentary track is included. Worth a look.