User Reviews

This 'haunted house' movie is not very well-known (and, whenever mentioned, it is generally dismissed) despite the star cast and name director it attracted: both of these have ties to Hammer Horror (Don Sharp having helmed, among others, KISS OF THE VAMPIRE {1963}, and the former including Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Herbert Lom and Robert Hardy) but the style is not necessarily reminiscent of their output (especially since the company never actually dabbled in this particular subgenre).

Anyway, I quite liked the film if ultimately emerging as nothing special: that said, the plot does provide some novelty to the formula of ghosts haunting the current owner of some old mansion in order to expose some long-ago crime. In fact, here we not only have the protagonist (played by Hardy, from Hammer's DEMONS OF THE MIND {1972}) being a dead-ringer for the man who previously lived there (though the probability of both being, concurrently, in the same mental asylum is very unlikely) and who gradually has his personality overtaken by him, but his actual goal in possessing the property concerned is to find the old man's fortune hidden behind one of the walls! The handful of people who make it a point to befriend him (doctor Lee, his sister{!} Collins and solicitor Lom) all know about the money and are understandably miffed that the house was ultimately bequeathed by the dying former occupant (not played by Hardy in this guise!) to a casual acquaintance. Collins, typically playing a man-eater, actually decides to seduce the stout Hardy (by first volunteering to clean up the place for him) in order to 'follow' the search for the loot first-hand – which displeases Lee, who constantly berates his sister for her loose morals (incidentally, he and Collins do not look favorably upon Lom either, whose interest in the 'financial' matter is more subtly deployed).

Eventually, as already intimated, Hardy starts to re-live his predecessor's experiences within the household: it transpires that he was unhappily married, with a couple of apparently fiendish children in tow, but he finds solace in the arms of the latter's much-younger nanny (Jane Birkin). However, when he decides to leave with her, the wife throws a fit and the kids, who never liked their governess anyway, murder her! This, of course, sends the poor man off the deep end and he takes to his family with a pick-axe, though none of the bodies were actually found. Towards the end, as the modern-day Hardy identifies more and more with his 'doppelganger', he begins to see the obstacles to his contentedness everywhere so that, during a country stroll with Lee and Lom, he physically assaults (leaving his companions perplexed) a couple of children he takes for the ones tormenting his love Birkin! Later still, when Collins turns up ostensibly to comfort him, he sees her in the image of the wife the previous owner loathed and strangles her to death – just then, Lee himself happens along and, rather bloodlessly, ends up on the wrong end of Hardy's pick-axe!

When Lom turns up there too and is about to meet the same fate, a couple of cops he had called arrive just in time to take the deranged Hardy away. The double twist here involves Hardy being not an employer of the asylum as he had let on but really a patient, and that his attempts to unearth the cache' of money by tearing down the walls also reveals the resting-place of the former murdered victims. Lom being responsible for the house offers to take charge of a couple of bags the cops come upon, conscious of course as to their actual contents, but the latter insist they be checked first and, once they are, these are naturally confiscated…so that, predictably, nobody gets anything after all!

As I said, the approach is not really inspired but the performances by all concerned (but, needless to say, Hardy in particular) are committed enough to keep one watching. For the record, this is the third and last film genre icons Lee and Lom appeared in together after the ludicrous 'female Tarzan' adventure THE FACE OF EVE (1968) and Jess Franco's interesting but unsatisfactory COUNT Dracula (1969).

This film has a plot which, if handled competently, should have made a very shivery film. A man searches for a hidden fortune in the house of a deceased maniac. As he does so, images from the house's past begin to haunt him, and his own personality is slowly overshadowed by that of the former, homicidal occupant. It is to the credit of Robert Hardy that he carries off the central role well (and, indeed, holds the film together) but indifferent direction ensures that the rest of a talented cast is largely wasted. Still, worth seeing for the original story line.

I have to admit I have a fondness for old British horror film, Hammer, Amicus, I am there for them. This is a pretty good one. While it is not one of the standout horror movies of the time it has a great cast and an interesting story. Haunted house, hidden cash, scheming couple wanting the said money for themselves.

The scenery is beautiful and the flashbacks between past and present are well done and doesn't slow the story down. By today's standards, it's not that scary, but it has enough to keep viewers interested. I enjoyed it and I think that fans of old British horror movies will as well.

Psychological thriller/haunted house movie Dark Places has got quite the horror pedigree: it stars Robert Hardy (Demons of the Mind, Psychomania), Hammer icon Christopher Lee, Joan Collins (Tales from the Crypt, Tales That Witness Madness), Herbert Lom (The Phantom of the Opera, Asylum) and Jane Birkin (Seven Deaths in the Cats Eyes) and was directed by Don Sharp (Rasputin: The Mad Monk, The Kiss of the Vampire). The plot might not do anything revolutionary, but with talent like that, a good time is virtually guaranteed.

Hardy plays Edward Foster, who inherits Marr's Grove, the run-down, purportedly haunted home of Andrew Marr, who spent his last years at St. Columba's Mental Institution. According to Marr's dying words, there is a fortune hidden behind one of the walls, and Foster intends to find it. However, he is not the only one hoping to get his hands on the cash: Marr's physician Dr. Ian Mandeville (Lee) and his sister Sarah (Collins) also know about the money, as does Marr's attorney Prescott (Lom). Foster also has to contend with the issue of ghosts, the spirits of Marr's murdered wife, children and mistress Alta (Birkin) haunting the decrepit property.

The standard haunted house shenanigans ensue - lights go on and off by themselves, objects smash, spooky voices echo through the corridors - and Foster slowly find himself possessed by Marr's spirit, causing him to experience visions from long ago. This enables Sharp to deftly weave together the present and the past, ultimately revealing the secret behind the mysterious deaths of Marr's nearest and dearest, and the location of the missing money. After lots of subtle spookiness, the film goes all out with the horror in the final act, Foster throttling Sarah and pick-axing Ian in the chest; he also has a flashback to Marr killing his crazy children (with a sabre), the pair having done away with Alta by stabbing her with a big knife.

The final revelation of what lies behind the wall probably won't come a big surprise (especially for those who enjoy a bit of E. A. Poe), but it wraps up the film neatly, with Prescott looking quite dismayed as the missing loot is retrieved and taken away by the police.

While I of course enjoyed her as the campy Alexis on "Dynasty", it's her film work from prior to that Primetime soap opera that made me a fan. From her early ingenue days in British films to young leading lady in Hollywood to Gothic horror queen later on, she was fascinating. Of course, her status as a leading lady isn't legendary from those days, but she is quite commanding in even the worst of these films, and paired with legendary horror icon Christopher Lee in this creates a legend. They are actually siblings, how to find hidden money in the mansion owned by the troubled Robert Hardy whom Collins seduces with the intent of gaining his trust. The scene of Collins seducing Hardy and the aftermath is unforgettable. It turns out that Hardy has a twin, a widower of an insane woman with insane children. He's involved with the equally beautiful Jane Birkin, and the tie-in of the two characters played by the underrated Hardy is intriguing.

So we've got an intriguing mystery set up already as well as a haunted house and the presence of Herbert Lom as a rather shady solicitor. This is a B film for sure, but it's well done with better-than-average performances, a screenplay that creates an intriguing plot that goes in many different directions and some lovely scenic photography. You also never know what world you are really in whether two characters that Hardy plays are actually each other, or possibly living in an alternate universe that involves the same house. Or is the second character played by Hardy along with Birkin only in the other characters mind? Lee, while still playing a character in a horror movie, is not a monster here, although his motives are villainous. Collins easily wins this one but Hardy for me is a chilling close second.

Despite a plot line that is not only obvious and predictable, but somewhat slow-moving and even worse - overburdened with dialogue and directed in a multitudes of TV-style close-ups by Don Sharp - this is a film that is still worth viewing. The director, the players and the script still manage to convey an appropriately unsettling atmosphere.

Lensing on real locations certainly helps the mood. Subdued color photography as well as the music score and art direction also make major contributions to invigorate an audience's interest. And although he is not called upon to be outrageously villainous, audience favorite Christopher Lee has a fairly meaty role - of which, needless to say, he takes full advantage. Also to be applauded are Robert Hardy, Herbert Rudley and most especially, Joan Collins!

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.

Edward Foster (Robert Hardy) has inherited a mansion that is rumored to be haunted. Instead of being scared off, he decides to renovate it. What he doesn't know is that the doctor of the previous owner Andrew Carr, Dr. Ian Mandeville (Christopher Lee) and his sister Sarah (Joan Collins) as well as Prescott (Herbert Lom), the solicitor, know that there are two suitcases of money hidden somewhere.

They didn't count on Edward being violently deranged, as he can see the past of the house, as he looks exactly like Carr and experiences the last days of that man's life, in which he plans to leave his wife Victoria (Jean Marsh) for a governess named Alta (Jane Birkin). This house seems to lead to mental illness, as Victoria is impossible to be around. She knows Andrew is leaving, so she has her two children kill her rival while she's seducing her husband. When he finds out, he strangles her and kills the little ones with a sword, bricking up all of the dead bodies - and the money - inside the house.

These flashbacks lead to him ridding his home of the others, just in time for the police to show up. Poor Joan Collins, yet another movie where she gets strangled! For her part, she said in her autobiography Past Imperfect, "I became known by the British press as Queen of the Horror Films - a title I didn't particularly relish. But I was resilient. A survivor. I considered myself lucky to be working so much after such a long period away from the British screen, particularly since I was well into my thirties."

Dark Places was directed by Don Sharp, who also made The Creeping Flesh, and written by Ed Brennan and Joseph Van Winkle. This was shot in an old asylum which, while run down, made it the perfect location.

(Small SPOILERS) It's such a shame that this film wasn't produced by the Hammer studios (or Amicus…or maybe Tigon), because if that were the case, it probably wouldn't be so underrated and overlooked as it is now. Dark Places has suspense, a professional director, a great cast and – especially – a truly cool plot. Asylum administrator Edward (Robert Hardy) 'inherits' the large mansion of a deceased patient. The legend says he hid a fortune somewhere in the walls of this house but he also went mad there after the murder on his wife, his two children and the governess. Edward begins the search for the lost money but there are more rivals in the field. The town's doctor (Christopher Lee) and his ravishing sister (Joan Collins) constantly try to intrude the house and even the seemly honest notary (Herbert Lom) becomes greedy…but then, the house itself becomes the biggest threat.

As you can read, this film offers great excitement. Asylums, treasure-hunting and haunted houses! What more could a Brit horror-fanatic possibly ask for? The tense climax is terrifically built up and the film features quite a lot gore considering the time it was shot. The budget is low and the project obviously lacks efficient make-up effects. But the wholesome is very atmospheric and quite original so I don't really care if it doesn't look too convincing. 'Dark Places' was directed by Don Sharp, who previously made the Hammer classic 'Rasputin: the Mad Monk' and several other great horror titles, such as 'Psychomania' (very underrated as well), 'The Brides of Fu Manchu' and 'Kiss of the Vampire'. Robert Hardy plays an excellent double-role, while Lee and Lom look as ghoulish as ever. The nearly perfect cast is completed by two stunningly beautiful actresses: Joan Collins and Jane Birkin. In case you're a devoted Hammer fan, or just an admirer of ghostly 70's stories, Dark Places is the ideal film for you. Severely underrated horror fun!

A relatively obscure British film, though with a recognizable (and solid) cast. It's yet another haunted house tale, but more original than the usual generic stories and predictable nonsense that we get in a lot of these spook films.

As the history of the place unfolds, we find out that the previous owner had killed his wife and children, which in itself is nothing revolutionary or new, but the clever twist involves the fact that his wife and even his kids were deranged, basically unhinged psychopaths hence that their murders were basically justified. The final twist, involving the real identity of the new "owner", is also a fun bit of writing, though perhaps a tad far-fetched.

There are some interesting twists and touches, and style-wise it's pretty good for a TV movie.