I Watch Films: The Cat And The Canary

 

The Cat And The Canary

20 years ago in 1914 Cyrus West died, leaving behind instructions that his will would be read 20 years later (1934). Six of his descendants gather at his mansion, where the old servant and the lawyer reveal that he left a film, and instructions for them to eat the same dinner as he is having. He then tells them which of them is the heir, provided they stay the night in the mansion and are alive and sane in the morning.

This is because there is a strain of madness in the family, and Cyrus predicts that if there are more than three at least one of them will have it. If the one indicated is not alive and sane in the morning, then there is a second tape.

There’s a storm, and as two of the non-heirs brawl a doctor from the local asylum arrives; a maniac has escaped and he thought it was him. Anyway, things get weirder, people keep coming upon each other unexpectedly, there are secret passages, and eventually someone gets murdered. The whole things gets a bit complicated, but remains entertaining even as it gets out of hand.

Watch This: A silly but fun country house horror murder mystery
Don’t Watch This: It tries to be simultaneously a slasher and a country house murder mystery without quite gelling