A man inherits a large house from an aged mental patient with a tormented history. The house interests him greatly, mainly because of the fortune said to hide within its walls. Meanwhile most sensible villagers stay away, having grown afraid of the numerous accidents happening all around the place...
A horror movie of the haunted house variety, "Dark Places" tells a story about a modern-day man getting sucked into a decades-old tragedy. Old vices and old terrors reach out in order to fuel a new bloodlust, with disastrous consequences. It is clear that the movie was made with a lot of care. The sets and locations are impressive and the cast is exceptional, featuring people like Robert Hardy (yeah !), Christopher Lee (yippee !) and Herbert Lom (hurray !) Also present is a Joan Collins in fine fettle, doing her "cold-hearted siren" thing. The result is a well-made movie, notable mainly for its fine lead performance and for its cunning intermingling of past and present, reality and hallucination. The ending is a nicely ironical comment on the futility of greed.
On the minus side, "Dark Places" relies a bit too heavily on the usual scare material, partially about things going bump in the night and partially about evil children. Consequently the movie suffers somewhat from over-familiarity, especially during the first half or so.
A horror movie of the haunted house variety, "Dark Places" tells a story about a modern-day man getting sucked into a decades-old tragedy. Old vices and old terrors reach out in order to fuel a new bloodlust, with disastrous consequences. It is clear that the movie was made with a lot of care. The sets and locations are impressive and the cast is exceptional, featuring people like Robert Hardy (yeah !), Christopher Lee (yippee !) and Herbert Lom (hurray !) Also present is a Joan Collins in fine fettle, doing her "cold-hearted siren" thing. The result is a well-made movie, notable mainly for its fine lead performance and for its cunning intermingling of past and present, reality and hallucination. The ending is a nicely ironical comment on the futility of greed.
On the minus side, "Dark Places" relies a bit too heavily on the usual scare material, partially about things going bump in the night and partially about evil children. Consequently the movie suffers somewhat from over-familiarity, especially during the first half or so.