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The Uninvited (1944) Directed by Lewis Allen

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 10:54 AM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , , , , ,



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 I mean, the movie is nearly 70 years old, so of course some things are going to feel and look outdated about it.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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Gaslight (1944) Directed by George Cukor

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 1:50 PM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , , , , ,





(Review originally written at 18 April 2009)

This is rather an actual predictable and obvious thriller, that nevertheless remains a great one to watch due to its skillful execution.

George Cukor isn't exactly a director who is known for his thrillers. The world knows him best as the director of comedies and drama's, as well as some well known musicals. This movie is one of the rare thrillers he made during his career. While watching this movie you have to say that it's a shame that he never directed any more thriller's throughout his career. He had the right touch for it and knew how to handle and build up its story, despite the fact that the story of this movie is being all too obvious.

Basically you can already figure out the plot and 'suprises' as soon as the movie is only a couple of minutes long. You know what is wrong with the movie and its characters and were it's all heading to. It's just all a bit too obvious and therefor the movie never really works out as surprising, though it still handles all of its ingredients, such as its build up and tension, well.

It's simply a nicely crafted movie that is being told nicely. It makes "Gaslight" one of those real classy and effective '40's thrillers, that were quite popular at the time, not in the least thanks to Alfred Hitchock contributions to the genre during that period. Perhaps it's no coincidence that Cukor and Hitchcock later became friends.

I was also really impressed by the movie its acting. Each and every actor gave away some stunning performances and Ingrid Bergman even ended up winning an Oscar for her role in this movie. It wouldn't be her last. It was also great to see the still alive Angela Lansbury making her movie debut in this movie. It's quite a big and important role and she is quite recognizable as Angela Lansbury, despite the fact that she was only a teenagers at the time of production.

Simply a great '40's thriller, despite all of its obvious aspects.

8/10

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