This 'old dark house' movie misses the mark by quite a wide berth, given that it goes for the comic approach throughout but just isn't very funny. Much of the humour here is rather broad and laboured, and some characters - like the maid with the runny nose - are intensely irritating rather than amusing.
THE BLACK ABBOT follows your usual template of having assorted characters holed up in a mansion and assailed by a mysterious figure. The usual round of disappearances and criminality ensues, with some characters acting suspiciously and others adopting the mantle of amateur sleuth.
I was intrigued by the horror-sounding aspects of the title, half expecting this to be an Edgar Wallace adaptation, but the titular figure is a red herring and barely appears and the rest of it is barely adequate.
THE BLACK ABBOT follows your usual template of having assorted characters holed up in a mansion and assailed by a mysterious figure. The usual round of disappearances and criminality ensues, with some characters acting suspiciously and others adopting the mantle of amateur sleuth.
I was intrigued by the horror-sounding aspects of the title, half expecting this to be an Edgar Wallace adaptation, but the titular figure is a red herring and barely appears and the rest of it is barely adequate.