Boy! It took me quite some time to track down a copy of this film that I remembered seeing on HBO in the early 80's. I saw it then and remembered I rather liked the film as a small(OK not so small) young man. The film is obviously a remake of a film that has been done by the same title at least twice - really three times. Paul Leni's silent masterpiece from 1927. The Bob Hope version that is easily the most fun. Those two used the same title but John Willard's play was also used in 1930's The Cat Creeps. Let us not be naive; however, that this is it. The Willard ply has been the basis for any and all haunted house pictures since the 1927 version(The Old Dark House and James Whale owe it immensely). Creaky doors. Hidden panels. Masked killers. A will reading at night. A hand from a hidden panel. Eyes moving in pictures. All these and many more are due to the many versions of this wonderful play. Now, I digress with a brief history of the play to say that I do not agree with those that this film, the 1978 version, was unnecessary and trivial. Having just watched it again, I found it withstands the test of time rather well. Is it as good as the silent film or the Hope film? Probably not(definitely not the silent), but it is an enjoyable film nonetheless. The plot has been changed a bit here, but the general spirit is basically the same. What I do think is that this film clearly has the best acting. We get a nice array of British acting stalwarts: Dame Wendy Hiller as the lawyer Allison Crosby(Is it just me or did anyone else find her quite alluring in that well-tailored business suit?) I love Hiller's vocal intonations and think she is a might good actress and, even though she is an Oscar-winner, a generally forgotten actress. Anyway, she is in top form here. Then there is Daniel Massey playing what he plays best: irritating, gruffy, huffy-puffy men. Lovely, and I mean just lovely Carol Lynley. She looks like an angel in this film. She is an adequate actress as well and does a pretty good job with the comedic by-play she has with Michael Callan as the Bob Hope funny person. Callan desperately tries to be funny but mostly misfires. He is not horrible though. Honor Blackman and lovely Olivia Hussey(somewhat wasted I thought) play a "couple" in every sense of that word. Strangely I do not remember that at all in the 1927 or 1939 film versions. Spooky Beatrix Lehmann looks like she just walked out of her sarcophagus. She definitely has an air about her. Then we get Edward Fox chewing up the scenery in his small role as only he can, and Wilfred Hyde-White stealing the show, so to speak, as the deceased who talks to his relatives contemptuously through a film. He is always wonderful. The director Radley Metzger does a good job working with his cast(it is actually his screenplay being used here). Metzger uses his own vision for many things in the play - I mean he changes things quite a bit but the general spirit of the Willard play remains intact. There are some very creepy scenes from Hiller's body being found to the closing one with Fox, Lynley, and Peter McEnery. There is also a plethora of wonderful images from the icy vault that kept the secret films in tact for twenty years to the set pieces, costumes, etc... Producer Richard Gordon obviously used what financial resources he had well as this film looks very stylish. It is a stylish, fun film. Really its only real flaw was when it came out. Audiences were really not looking for stylish film in 1978. After all it was the dawn of the 1980's - what for me is the least stylish decade in all film history.

By the film this film was made (late 70s), this type of set-up was well past its sell-by date. The original play is considered a 'classic' and has been influential but frankly it is badly dated now. A deeply contrived and unconvincing plot, an assortment of unbelievable, unappealing and frankly inbred characters and a lot of clunky, expositional dialogue make this a leaden hour and a half.To compensate for the tired plot, the makers introduce some 70s gimmicks. A pointless Lesbian couple only succeeds in making lesbianism look dull. There's also a nasty line in sadistic mutilation which unusually is inflicted only on the female guests. One woman is gruesomely tortured to death, another assumed to be so, and a third scheduled to be so. This 'kills off' any pretence the film has for being a comedy. The delight with which the camera voyeuristically pans over the instruments of torment is actually disturbing.With the exception of Wilfred Hyde-white, who does a good turn as Cyrus West, none of the actors really shines. They all appear lost in this huge house. One really yearns for a likable central character like Bob Hope in the 50s version. A few good gags and less torture would go a long way to making this watchable.

Some kind of filmed play which borrows from Agatha Christie's 'the mousetrap ' (Edward Fox's character)and which has a very fine cast :Honor Blackman ,in another part of a lesbian after Pussy Galore,Olivia Hussey as her lover,Peter McEnnery,Wendy Hiller and to top them all,Wilfrid Hyde White ,who was the best judge of all "ten little Indians" versions .The great actor does not really "appear " in the story ,but he achieves the feat of talking with the others thanks to a good trick .If they remade,the guests would probably interact with a computer ,which would be far less exciting.People who like Christie's "no exit " stories should like this ;although the characters lack substance ,the story is suspenseful,mostly in its first part.SPOILER: happy end only for the straight couple!

Some truly scary moments, but the sadism is gratuitous. The cast is fine, but the sentimental closing montage of cast credits is ludicrous given the violent film which has just preceded it. Basically, this is an unnecessary remake which should never have been made. Waste of a fine cast, including Wilfrid Hyde-White as the sadistic patriarch whose will is designed to trigger the bloodletting that ensues; Dame Wendy Hiller as the lawyer who meets a particularly gruesome fate; Honor Blackman and Olivia Hussey as a lesbian couple; and Carol Lynley as the film's ingenue.