A genuine master piece of early horror cinema. Directed with ultra-panache by James Whale at the height of his creative powers. This classic established the 'old dark house' genre and featured bravura performances from Boris Karloff and the inimitable Ernest Thesiger.
Today the film is gorgeous to look at with bold, expressionistic sets that match the outrageously over the top performances of all involved. If this film appears cliched today it is only because it spawned a thousand countless immitations. This film is as much dark comedy as horror with some wonderfully over the top and un-selfconcious moments, most of which belong to Ernest Thesiger who steals the show with a wickedly arch performance and some truly memorable lines. Fans of slhock and gore stay away, this is for the connoisseur of classic horror and for those that enjoy the simple thrills of a time long since gone. This was film making from a time when the art form was new and emerging practitioners like James Whale were free to play and forge new styles without being hackneyed with pre conceived cliches like so many film makers of today.
So go on 'Have a potato and a nice glass of gin' and enjoy!
PS Not to be confused with the terrible 1966 colour remake of the same name which is best avoided!
4 of 4 found this helpful
07 Aug, 2006
The Burning
The movie itself is much better than I remember ,being one of the superior stalk and slash movies of the early eighties. Surprisingly quite a lot of screen time is given over to character development, the gore and horror elements sometimes feel like afterthoughts, which is probably no bad thing! Tom Savini's effects have aged poorly and look dated prompting the question why this film was ever banned in the first place. To sum up, no great master piece but efficiently made and with more than the usual amount of time devoted to story and character. the only thing truly shocking or perhaps surprising about this film when viewed today is that its a lot better when compared to some of its contemporaries of the day.
3 of 4 found this helpful
LED Lenser replacement battery cartridge for P7, T7, P7.2, T7.2 - cage housing
28 Dec, 2016
Led lenser replacement battery compartment
Of comparable quality to the original but has intermittent contact issues resulting in it occasionally being necessary to twist the spot/flood head to turn on the lamp