DARK PLACES (1973)
Article #1475 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-29-2005
Posting Date: 8-26-2005
Directed by Don Sharp
Featuring Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Robert Hardy

When a doctor from an asylum hears of a fortune hidden in an old house, he poses as an heir to find the money. Unfortunately, the house is rumored to be haunted, and…

Though there’s not a whole lot of novelty to this story of ghostly possession, it does have some interesting points to it. I like the way that the protagonist finds himself shuttled back and forth between his life in the present and the life of the possessing spirit in the past. Furthermore, the movie is well acted, with solid work from Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Robert Hardy and Herbert Lom. However, the problems eventually sink the production. The pace is quite sluggish throughout, and it tends to repeat some of its ideas more often than is strictly necessary. It’s worst problems arrive towards the end of the movie; the revelations about the past events in the house have a somewhat silly edge to them, and the movie loses a lot of steam in its final moments and ends with a whimper rather than a bang. In short, it’s watchable, but not very memorable.