Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

dougdoepke Get a load of the 'Maniac'. Nothing there that a good face wash and a painful dental visit wouldn't fix, if, that is, 5-years were spent on it. On the whole, it looks like the movie throws a bit of everything into the pot. Trouble is the drop-in ingredients-- horror, whodunit, romance, news-hound-- don't blend well. Anyway, the plot's main question amounts to who's killing the Rineharts. It should be the Maniac, but we know it's not, though he does prey on necking couples; that is, when he's not hiding out in the bushes ready for his next close-up. An even bigger question is just what Lugosi's sinister Degar is supposed to be. That's a big a mystery too. Is he a house attendant from heck or maybe a dark agent from late night TV. What with his graveyard manner and sepulcher voice, at least he would keep unwanted guests away. Too bad the writers weren't sure what to do with their headliner, but it does get Lugosi's name on the marquee. Then there's the comedy relief. Probably the movie was never a front rank choice on TCM, since it's a black man doing the embarrassing 'feets-don't-fail-me-now' brand of racial humor. And, for his humiliation, the actor's not even included in the credit list (IMDB). On the whole, however, the supporting cast performs ably, especially the women and the Rineharts. All in all, the flick's a different kind of fright effort that unfortunately scatters impact. At least that's so until the finale, which is unexpected and cleverly thought out. There's also the completely novel "breaking of the fourth wall" by the Maniac, a real rarity, I would think, for its time. Too bad that the programmer's not good enough to really register, and not bad enough to make it as laughable camp. So where's Ed Wood when I could use a good chuckle.

mark.waltz On the heels of "The Old Dark House" comes one of its dozens of imitators, a decent B feature starring Bela Lugosi on loan to Columbia from Universal. It starts off by showing "the menace", a grinning killer straight out of silent films, then shows two young people meeting their fate thanks to the obvious mad man. It's off to the Rhinehart house where scientist Tully Marshall is being stalked by the menace and eventually struck down. More members of the family follow, leaving reporter heroine Sally Gray in jeopardy with boyfriend Wallace Ford and two darkly clad servants (Lugosi and Mary Frey) to look after her. Other greedy relatives arrive, adding suspects and victims up, but it's done at a very slow pace, often as creaky as old attic steps.A bit of comedy with Ford and stereotypical black chauffeur Oscar Smith who gets some funny, if cowardly revealing lines. As for Lugosi, he seems to be serving the same purpose he did in "The Gorilla", "Night Monster" and "One Body too Many", basically added for name value but no plot importance. At least here, he's given the same look he had in "Chandu the Magician" which gives hope to the fact that he'll contribute something to the story. But it's still fun to try to figure out, with plenty of twists and turns and plenty of moody atmosphere. Decent sets, shadowy photography and the homage to Lon Chaney make this a notch above the many others that came before and after. A seance by the Gale Sondergaard like Frey is the spooky highlight of the film.

snicewanger This movie is "The Cat and the Canary" meets "The Old Dark House". Lugosi is given top billing but his character is secondary in the plot . A mad killer is stalking the grounds of a spooky old house after going on a killing spree and evading the local police. Inside the house are some murder victims but is the mad killer the real culprit? The house also contains a laboratory where a young scientist is attempting to experiment with a chemical formula that he hopes will raise the dead and is using himself as a guinea pig."Night of Terror" is yet another murder mystery masquerading as a horror story. Bela Lugosi was added to the cast to give the film a horror element but all he does is provide a few menacing glares. Old Dark House thrillers were very popular with movie audiences in the 1930's and Night of Terror is a prime example of one. Wallace Ford is around to add the obligatory comedy relief that film makers felt was necessary to relief the tension in these kinds of productions at the time.The film also has a black comedy ending.Night of Terror was included in the Son of Shock Theater Movie package sold to local TV stations across the country in 1958 by Screen Gems following the success of Shock Theater in 1957. Night of Terror may seem quaint by today's standards but film buffs will find it an entertaining way to spend and hour

JoeKarlosi I'm sorry I waited so long to see this film; for years I'd heard how poor it allegedly was, so I made the mistake of steering clear of it for far too long. It's nothing 'great,' but it certainly was fair enough and hit the spot with me for Halloween-time viewing. It's a murder mystery set in a creepy house with a decent share of horrific elements: a Mr. Hyde-like goon with a knife in top hat and cape called The Maniac stalks the grounds; a scientist experiments with suspended animation and getting himself buried alive; the otherworldly Bela Lugosi headlines as a peculiar household servant in a turban who's married to his eerily mystical wife. Add to the mix Wallace Ford (THE MUMMY'S HAND, THE MUMMY'S TOMB, THE APE MAN) and some occasional dashes of humor, and there are far worse ways to spend just over an hour. The wrap-up of this whodunit is satisfying, and there is a secret 'gag' ending that really delivers. ** out of ****