This slightly over 20-minute short film directed by, written by and starring stoneface Buster Keaton touches quite a few different genres: drama, comedy, musical, crime, horror, mystery. As always with Keaton, it's a lot bleaker and the humor is usually way darker than the one in Chaplin's movies for example. Buster works as a bank employee, but quickly gets caught up in a robbery where a mishap has lots of bills glued to his hand, so he can't give them the money. Still they get away with some and after a quick scene to a version of Faust at the opera, which didn't fit in there at all, the final act takes place at the haunted house from the title. We get the usual jumping, falling and kicking routines, but the full supernatural program: ghosts, skeletons, spirits and even Lucifer himself makes a brief appearance. The ending of the film is a perfect example from what I mentioned earlier. Chaplin usually gets kissed. Keaton goes to hell.As a whole, I was not too impressed with this movie. Occasionally, the horror parts near the end reminded me of Méliès work 25 years ago and was at least equally spooky. If you like Keaton, give this one a go. Otherwise, there's better film out there with him.

Haunted House, The (1921) *** (out of 4) Funny Buster Keaton two-reeler has him playing a bank clerk who gets accused of robbing his own bank even though he was actually preventing one. This causes him to run off and duck into a house, which just happens to be rigged by some crooks so that whoever enters will think it's haunted. This certainly isn't one of Keaton's greatest pictures but I think it's a pretty good one that is at least pleasant enough and features enough funny moments to where it would be a good introduction for someone not familiar with the legends work. The first portion of the film has some of the best gags including the highlight, which has Keaton accidentally sticking his fingers into some glue while trying to count out money and give it to people. This ends up with a pretty funny sequence where there's money all over the place and getting stuck to whoever tries to touch it. The horror elements happen in the second portion of the film and this here is where the slapstick really comes into play. Poor Keaton sees a wide range of creatures including skeleton men, ghosts and even a Satan-like character and this of course has him taking many falls. The highlight of this house is a flight of stairs that turn into a slick slope whenever someone tries walking up or down them. THE HAUNTED HOUSE runs a very quick 20-minutes and there are enough laughs to where even those who don't care for silents should at least have a good time.

I have to give Buster (more) props: carrying on a single gag through many different encounters and many different characters and keeping the looks of confusion and chaos fresh the entire time is very hard to do, but he does it here, and admirably. Anyone who's seen this and Benny and Joon will recognize that little flick Keaton does with his arm was mimicked so incredibly perfectly by Depp that it's difficult to separate the two images as distinct.But about this, that is, this short, it's typical Keaton fun-fest: machinery, badguys, booby traps, and hilarity, all intersperced with really clever titles. However, this one's plot didn't really flow as well as most of the stuff I've seen of his. I'm still rather unclear as to how Keaton's character ended up in the house in the first place. That said, the surreal moment with the skeletons building the living man made it all very worth it. Watch that shot, it's amazing.--PolarisDiB

A clumsy bank employee, the bank manager and his daughter, some bank robbers, some police and the Daredevil Theatrical Troupe, who've just been booed off stage during their production of Faust, all collide in a Haunted House which the bank robbers use as their hideout.So many priceless moments, some good laugh-out-louders, and 100% great fun. Another really great short comedy from Buster Keaton.Highlights: as usual, the ending! Buster running past camera, looking directly into it, the whole glue sequence, the self-referential theatrical production and more i can't remember right now... Not that i've ever seen a Keaton movie i didn't like, but i recommend this one too!