This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Really Surprised!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Interesting "B" old dark house thriller about somebody or something killing people right and left at the estate of wealthy cripple Kurt Ingston (Ralph Morgan). Who the culprit is won't be a huge shock to you but how they are doing it is pretty cool. The main selling point of this film is the terrific cast, even though some of the bigger names have small roles. Despite being top billed, Bela Lugosi plays a minor part as a butler. Lionel Atwill also has a minor role as a doctor. Leif Erickson plays a lusty chauffeur and Nils Asther a Hindu mystic. Janet Shaw has a memorable part early on as a sassy maid who can't get away from the Ingston estate fast enough. But the best parts go to Ralph Morgan and Fay Helm as the deranged brother and sister. This is a great movie to pass an hour. Universal made it and it's usually billed as a horror film. It does have some supernatural overtones but at its heart it's basically a murder mystery. A good one, though.

Ralph Morgan plays millionaire recluse Kurt Ingston, who was left a hopeless cripple by the bungling of three doctors(played by Lionel Atwill, Frank Reicher, and Francis Pierlot) who are nonetheless invited to his mansion in the swamps. They accept, and unsurprisingly are murdered one by one. Meanwhile, a mystic is also in attendance, and seems to have the ability to make a bleeding skeleton materialize! Does any of this connect to the murders, or is another party responsible? Strange film also costars Bela Lugosi, once again wasted in a supporting role. Film has some imagination in its plot and ultimate resolution, but is very far-fetched, bordering on absurd. Some good atmosphere compensates though.

It starts off fine, then five minutes into the film, it lapses into predictability. There are a few surprise suspenseful moments here and there, and then, once again, bits and pieces of everything you've seen in every "Old Dark House" movie from "The Cat and the Canary" to "Rebecca". Not much cleverness was put into making this programmer where a bunch of eccentrics in a mystery house are all suspects in murder. There's the crippled patriarch (Ralph Morgan), a Mrs. Danvers type housekeeper (Doris Lloyd), a sinister doctor (Lionel Atwill), a dour butler (Bela Lugosi, repeating the role he had already done in "The Gorilla" and would later repeat in "One Body Too Many"), the heroine (Irene Hervey, taking on the role usually given to Evelyn Ankers), hero (Leif Erickson) and gloomy spinster (Fay Helm). How many are red herrings or victims, there's of course, one killer, and it is very easy to figure out.This one lacks the humor given to the dozen films of the same era, whether starring Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope, Hugh Herbert, Joe E. Brown or Olsen and Johnson, so the result is an unsurprising mystery that Universal can't really disguise as being merely a step above similar who-done-its being done over at PRC and Monogram.

Frail rich recluse Kurt Ingston (well played by Ralph Morgan) invites the three doctors who turned him into a hopeless cripple to his remote desolate mansion in the swamps so they can get their just desserts. Naturally, said doctors are start getting bumped off left and right. Director Ford Beebe, working from an absorbing script by Clarence Upson Young, relates the compelling story at a steady pace, develops a good deal of tension, and does a stellar job of creating and sustaining a strong sense of dread and gloom, with especially inspired use of the secluded fog-shrouded marshland location. This film further benefits from sound acting by a sturdy cast, with stand-out contributions by the always great Bela Lugosi as stern and sinister butler Rolf, Lionel Atwill as the pompous Dr. King, Leif Erikson as smarmy cad chauffeur Laurie, Irene Hervey as charming psychiatrist Dr. Lynne Harper, Don Porter as dashing writer Dick Baldwin, Nils Asther as exotic mentalist Agor Singh, Fay Helm as Ingston's neurotic sister Margaret, and Doris Lloyd as snippy housekeeper Ms. Judd. Charles Van Enger's sharp black and white cinematography offers plenty of memorably eerie images (you gotta love those huge creepy shadows cast on walls!). The robust film library score likewise hits the shuddery spot. But it's the extremely spooky ooga-booga atmosphere with the ever-present pervasive thick mist and ominous chorus of croaking frogs that suddenly become silent which in turn makes this movie so much fun to watch. Well worth seeing.