THE NIGHT HAS EYES (1942)
(a.k.a. TERROR HOUSE)
Article #1062 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-10-2004
Posting Date: 7-9-2004
Directed by Leslie Arliss
Featuring James Mason, Joyce Howard, Mary Clare

Two schoolteachers decide to spend the summer investigating a moor where a fellow teacher vanished the year before; when they get caught in a storm, they take shelter in an isolated house inhabited by a mysterious man with a dark secret.

For the most part this movie is only borderline horror; it’s more gothic romance a la “Jane Eyre”, and after a while that’s the sort of story you grow to expect. Granted, gothic romance shares quite a bit of the same mood as horror, and the foggy moors, mysterious house and dreadful secrets are all elements that make up either genre. However, the story becomes more overtly horror as it goes along; the mysterious secret turns out to be a fairly compelling, though I was able to figure out how it would all end once you take into account how true love always triumphs in this sort of movie. The movie is also helped by some good performances and some odd touches. And remember, it’s not a monkey, it’s a capuchin.