Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Psychobabble’s 31 Favorite Universal Horrors: #23


Halloween season simply isn’t Halloween season without a regular dose of classic Universal horror (1923-1963). Every day this October, I’ll be giving you a steady IV drip of it by counting down Psychobabble’s 31 Favorite Universal Horrors!

#23. The Cat and the Canary (1927- dir. Paul Leni)

With the likely exception of The Old Dark House, The Cat and the Canary is the definitive old dark house flick. It is full of sliding panels, swiveling bookcases, hairy claws always just a few ticks out of reach, doofuses who stammer “G-g-g-ghosts?”, and monster-garbed hucksters who would have gotten away with it if not for those meddling kids. Paul Leni takes all this luscious hokum and makes it zing with a bevy of inventive camera tricks and animations. Laura La Plante is an utterly charming heroine.

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