The House in Nightmare Park (1973)
Frankie Howerd and Ray Milland star in this pastiche of the Gothic horror films of the period.
Potentially this 'Old Dark House' movie has a lot going for it, but largely it's a film that misses the mark when it comes to both horror and comedy as the script simply isn't that interesting. Following an excellent atmospheric journey to the house for Howerd things all go a bit pear shaped. Although Howerd is excellent it's him alone that makes the film watchable, it's his personality that gets me through the film because the script from Clive Exton and Terry Nation is basically an unfunny clunky affair. Howerd seems ill fitted to his lines, maybe it wasn't written for him, (i could imagine Vincent Price playing the part of Foster Twelvetrees comfortably), but the fact he remains as watchable as ever is purely down to him rather than anything scripted. Ray Milland seems to be playing his role straight, or perhaps that's just simply Ray Milland.
As far as Frankie Howerd films go this is certainly no Up Pompeii, yet for all it's flaws i still find it a watchable enough movie and think it works better than other examples of the Gothic horror comedy such as Carry On Screaming (1966) and Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984).
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