THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS (1959)
Article #1196 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-23-2004
Posting Date: 11-20-2004
Directed by Maxwell Munden
Featuring Ronald Howard, Patricia Roc, Michael Gough

A couple wishing to get away from the noise of the city move into a remote cottage which they share with an artist who has recently lost his wife. They begin to suspect that the wife may have been murdered.

Michael Gough, Patricia Roc and Ronald Howard all give fine performances in this movie, and the story itself is quite interesting. However, I found the direction listless and dull, and the pacing less than exciting; it seemingly takes forever before we reach the point where the suspense kicks in, and then the movie finishes up so quickly that I felt rather cheated. Of course, I do feel it necessary to point out that I didn’t watch the movie under the best of conditions; I was suffering from a bad cold, and was a bit tired and sleepy going into it, and there’s a strong chance this may have colored my impressions. It may play much better if viewed in an alert and patient mood. As far as its fantastic content, there’s some slight horror touches to the proceedings, but not enough to make it more than marginally interesting from a genre perspective.