The Horror of It All ** (1964, Pat Boone, Erica Rogers, Dennis Price) – Classic Movie Review 11,109

‘The Zaniest Bunch of Ghouls Ever to Haunt a House!’

Director Terence Fisher’s 1964 British horror comedy film The Horror of It All has a screenplay by Ray Russell, and stars Pat Boone and Erica Rogers. It is made at Shepperton Studios in England.

Pat Boone plays American encyclopedia salesman Jack Robinson, who arrives at a dilapidated mansion in the English countryside belonging to the Marley family after falling in love with Cynthia Marley (Erica Rogers) and planning to marry her. Jack’s life is threatened and he learns the family fortune consists of $1 million. One of the Marleys intends to kill everyone there and end up with all of it.

Freshness is hard to find as in essence it is a comedic remake of the classic Universal Studios horror film The Old Dark House (1932), already just remade as a comedy The Old Dark House (1963) a year earlier. It also has elements of The Cat and the Canary (1939) and the Fred MacMurray horror comedy Murder, He Says (1945). However, Fisher gets the comedic tone right, there is a lively pace, Boone is fine, and the Brit character actors are amusing, so some daft fun is to be had.

The cast are Pat Boone as John Robinson, Erica Rogers as Cynthia Marley, Dennis Price as Cornwallis Marley, Andree Melly as Natalie Marley, Valentine Dyall as Reginald Marley, Archie Duncan as Muldoon Marley, Erik Chitty as Grandpa Marley, Jack Bligh as Percival Marley and Oswald Laurence as Doctor.

Eventually, it was released in a double bill with Witchcraft (1964) after both films had failed individually, so you could get two flop movies for the price of one.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,109

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