This is a good old fashioned ghost story....literally!
Just because it's a horror movie, that doesn't mean it's meant to scare you as well. It's taking a bit of a different approach. A more storytelling type of approach, in which things get approached from a very rational perspective. It makes this movie more a realistic and subtle one, with still most of the classic ghost story ingredients present in it.
Not that I completely fell in love with this movie though. It's a bit too slow for my taste, even while the story is filled with plenty of characters and other distractions in it. A bit too many even, which causes the movie to loose some of its focus at times, especially toward its end when its trying to wrap everything up and everything gets revealed.
It's also an extremely old fashioned movie with all of its acting and dialog. It's the sort of '40's movie that feels more like a stage-play than an actual movie at times. It's not really my favorite style but what can you do about it. I mean, the movie is nearly 70 years old, so of course some things are going to feel and look outdated about it.
The movie still successfully manages to create a good mysterious and eerie atmosphere. Because things get approached realistically and rationally, you also don't really know what to expect and how to take certain things. Is there really a ghost? Is someone just playing a game? What's behind all of it? In some ways this also definitely feels more like a mystery movie than a horror really, which in this case is a positive thing to say since it works out well.
Not the best or most exciting 'old' horror movie out there but it definitely still is a good watch!
7/10
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