I am a huge fan of American Horror Movies of this era. Anything from 1957-1967 is my favorite decade for horror/suspense films. Netflix happened to recommend this to me and I am so glad that it did. I don't know if I'm the only one that feels that these types of films reach me on such a very high level or not, but I find them great!
Yeah, I love this movie, I literally have been watching it since I was about 2 years old and it's always been one of my absolute favorites. Oooh it used to creep me out as a kid...when I was 6 I used to have nightmares about it...and the interesting thing is I still have an occasional dream in which I catch the Bat lurking about in the house...and I said in another post on here, I think the reason it's stuck with me so much all these years is because the Bat is a more realistic horror villain than Freddy Krueger or Jason Vorhees or something like that. The Bat is a real person, he is a criminal mastermind whose brain seems to be his most dangerous weapon, he's dangerous because he is so smart, and there's nothing really to him that could be looked at and shrugged off as not real or could never happen. It's a great movie, positively wonderful for a good case of the creeps, and a shame that it doesn't get more attention than it does.
shareI agree.
Modern films have no staying power.
How many will still be going strong after half a century?
Indeed. Granted this one doesn't go too strong today but it's still a HELL of a lot better than ANYTHING Hollywood can do and you can note it doesn't need blood and guts or people being raped or cut apart or their heads bashed in or being shot full of holes or stabbed or anything like that, to scare the hell out of the viewers. With mere implications for most everything done in the movie, and victims of gunplay that don't bleed and we see no holes, it's still enough to scare the hell out of intelligent people even today, why? Because the idea of an intelligent criminal lurking around and sneaking into people's homes and murdering them is something far more ground into truth than any slasher movie existing today.
shareI agree that The Bat as a villain is definitely more realistic than Freddy Krueger. Most of all, I love the plot of these types of movies--it has you guessing until the very end!
"To hardly know someone is to know them well," Cary Grant, "The Philadelphia Story" 1940
Let me add my own recommendation - I like all Vincent Price movies and lovers of the horror genre will like this one. 8 marks out of ten.
shareI gave it 8/10 as well. I thought the whole cast was very strong, in addition to Vincent Price. Great atmosphere and direction as well.
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Wow, you know your cinematographers! Biroc indeed photographed some excellent and diverse movies until well into the '80s: "The Killing of Sister George," "The Longest Yard," "Blazing Saddles," "Hustle" and "Airplane!"
He also did some of the most memorable TV movies: "Brian's Song," "Warning Shot" and "Thursday's Game," which I told Ellen Burstyn was one of her forgotten gems when I met her (<---- shameless name-dropping).
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I regret that I have not seen "I Saw What You Did," but it's not for lack of trying. In fact, I'm sadly lacking in seeing many of his B&W works, other than that obvious film that a lot of people watch this time of year, plus a few films like this and "13 Ghosts."
I also regret that there was no touching, of either each other or ourselves, during my brief meeting with Ms. Burstyn. It was at a book-signing, and I was scraping for something original to say other than the obvious "I'm your No. 1 fan," which might have rubbed her the wrong way. Had I been better connected, I'd have invited her for a three-way rubdown with McSteamy and me.
I just realized that Mr. Biroc also lensed "Under the Yum Yum Tree," another title that has escaped my grasp. Have you seen that? I guess it's in color, but still -- it's a Jack Lemmon sex comedy!
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"Under the Yum Yum Tree" sounds like a psychedelic freakout, and "It's a Wonderful Life" sounds like a black comedy, but both were made before the Age of Irony.
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Yes, I totally agree, I love these types of movies!!
"To hardly know someone is to know them well," Cary Grant, "The Philadelphia Story" 1940
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I'm with you, I love them and the sci fi movies of that era too. Besides, anything with Vincent Price is worth watching.
shareThis movie reminded me a lot of the classic THE CAT AND THE CANARY which was filmed several times, another spooky old house film with some laughs. Also there's THE OLD DARK HOUSE and ONE FRIGHTENED NIGHT from the 30's.
shareCool.
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