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"Dark Places" tells of a man who inherits a house that is reputed to contain a stash of money hidden somewhere by the original owner. The new owner moves in, despite warnings from local people that the house is cursed, and enthusiastically begins hunting for the loot. Unfortunately for him, there are other people trying to get to the cash before he does, but worse still, the house really is haunted.

"Dark Places" is a moderately successful film that does a good job of weaving a mystery with it's storyline. The acting is also all pretty good, and with such star names as Christopher Lee and Joan Collins, it's amazing that this isn't one of the major British horror films of the 1970's, but once it gets going you'll soon realise that, as with a lot of other UK horror films of this period, the chances of something significantly exciting happening are pretty slim.

What doesn't help is having the lead character played by Robert Hardy, who, while being an excellent actor and playing the character well, just does not have the "leading man" quality required to carry the entire focus of the film. Joan Collinsd and Christopher Lee look great in their supporting roles, but then again, they always do. What does work well is the way the film starts to move between present day and flashback as Hardy starts to uncover more of the truth about what went on in the house before it's original owner died, and what the truth is behind all the stories of murder. The flashback scenes are great, and they reminded me the great things some 1970's films from the UK could do with a period setting. Look out for a fantastic cameo from Jean Marsh as the wife in the flashbacks, although many men may be more entranced by the young Jane Birkin as the governess, even though she doesn't do very much.

Sadly there's no real meat on this bony story, but it does have a couple of mildly grisly scenes and a kind of surprise ending, so it's fairly enjoyable.

Dark Places is not a very well known seventies British horror movie; probably owing to the fact that it's not a Hammer movie, but it features an interesting story and a great cast, and overall this is certainly a very decent little thriller! The story has some fairly strong horror themes running throughout, but personally I wouldn't say this is a horror flick; Dark Places is a thriller, and the main focus is on the thing that makes the world go round - money, and a huge stash of it. At the centre of the film is a spooky old house, once owned by a mental patient who died. The house has now being taken over by the Asylum administrator who inherited the house. This is bad news for a few different people in the village - mostly notably scheming couple Dr Mandevile and Sarah. The reason being that before he died, the owner of the house hid a huge sum of money somewhere within the walls and the pair have been on the trail of it ever since. Not wanting to risk losing their cash, Sarah and the doctor hatch a plan to turn the situation to their advantage...

The key thing about this film is the old house at the centre, and therefore the chilling atmosphere stemming from it. Director Don Sharp has a history in horror, with a handful of films made for Hammer, as well as the excellent cult trash classic 'Psychomania' to his name, so it's quite unsurprising that this film has a horror atmosphere. The plot is well done also, with many different characters having a stake in the money at the centre of the story, and thus ensuring that the film remains interesting and varied. Dark Places features a very good cast, which makes it even more surprising that this film isn't better known. The great Christopher Lee is the biggest standout in his role as the doctor with an ulterior motive, while Joan Collins gives good support and provides some nice eye candy as his accomplice. The film also features performances from fellow British stars Robert Hardy and Herbert Lom, who also do well. Overall, this might not be a masterpiece; but it's certainly a good film and comes recommended to fans of British horror!

Plot Summary : A former mental patient inherits the old house of a man who had killed his wife (Jean Marsh) and children and died nut . As he (Robert Hardy) lives in the mansion , but the insane spirit (also Robert Hardy playing a double role) of its previous owner seems to overcome him with a need to repeat the murders . Meanwhile, a scheming couple of brothers (Joan Collins , Christopher Lee) and the manor administrator (Herbert Lom) plot to rob a hidden cache of stolen money from its rightful owner . The only problem is that the house they plan to hide it in is haunted . There is more than death waiting for you in Dark Places.

This is a thrilling film including horror elements taken from Edgar Allan Poe and with plenty of chills , familiar drama , suspense and grisly killings . Filmed in low-budget though starred by an all-star-cast ; it's acceptable but no memorable picture and generally chilly clutch . Director Don Sharp has got other horror films for which has achieved a certain cult following . Good acting by Robert Hardy as a man who masquerading as a hospital administrator inherits a ruined mansion and nice support cast , such as Joan Collins as intriguing as well as seductive woman , Christopher Lee as astute brother ,he worked six times for director Don Sharp , Herbert Lom as a mean business attendant , Jane Marsh as wife and Jane Birkin as a young lover . Average cinematography , being necessary a right remastering because of the film copy is worn-out . Atmospheric and frightening musical score .

The motion picture was professionally adapted and directed by Don Sharp , though with no originality . He was born on the island of Tasmania off of Australia, and began his show-business career there as an actor. After World War II he traveled to England and continued his acting carer . He became a filmmaker in the mid-1950s and turned out some low- and medium-budget musicals, such as the Tommy Steele vehicle ¨It's All Happening¨ (1963). In the mid-1960s he was hired by horror specialist Hammer Films and turned out some well-received thrillers, including ¨Kiss of the vampire¨ (1963), his first for Hammer , this one along with ¨Witchcraft¨ and ¨Psychomania¨ are the best-regarded . He worked on a few films as second-unit director, most notably ¨The Fast Lady¨(1962) and ¨Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris¨ (1965), before returning to directing again, and turned out a string of thrillers such as ¨Callan¨, ¨Hennessy¨, and his version of ¨The thirty nine steps¨ , although much inferior to Hitchcock ; in addition , horror films and comedies . Towards the end of his career he worked in television on mini-series .

This 1973 UK thriller sees Robert Hardy (who had previously starred in Hammer's "Demons of the Mind") play Edward Foster, the former Head of an Asylum who gets called to a patient's - Andrew Marr's - death bed, and ends up inheriting his house where a significant amount of money is hidden. This prompts certain interested parties to become part of Foster's life, namely a scheming brother and sister and the estate's solicitor; however, the house's murderous past comes back to haunt them all....

Despite some clichéd elements to the script (cynical townsfolk; noises reverberating around the house etc.) this is a film which clearly had a lot of potential on paper but it really doesn't get out of first gear until the last half hour when the central themes of the plot become clearer. The interweaving of past and present with Hardy interchanging between both Foster (present) and Marr (from the past) in certain sequences is hardly seamless and is patchily handled.

On reflection, the supporting cast don't really get that much to do considering that the 3 of them (played by Christopher Lee, Joan Collins and Herbert Lom) are all hell-bent on finding the money. Lee in particular seems to be more of peripheral figure than you would have expected.

Perhaps another thing to undermine it's psychologically thrilling aspirations is the script-writers' under-appreciation and under-usage of the story's more substantial "horror" or "thriller" elements occurring at night. It clearly dilutes the central thrills of the film.

Hardy does a decent job of portraying the gradual decline in sanity of his characterisation; and due to its little-known status this film might well be worth a look at, but to my mind, it could have been handled and executed a lot better.

Unmemorable by-the-numbers haunted house flick with a great cast (Joan Collins, Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom, Jean Marsh, Jane Birkin) and decent story that could and should have been better. But unfortunately it is bogged down by its less than stellar direction, uncharismatic camera work and lame main actor Robert Hardy, who is about as interesting as a Saltine cracker...without the salt, of course. Lee & Collins play an unscrupulous couple trying to manipulate their hands onto the money that is hidden somewhere inside of the Marr Estate mansion which has just been willed to Robert Foster (played by Hardy) by its original tenant Andrew Marr (also played by Hardy) whose family was killed inside of the house and now is haunting it. Herbert Lom is the next door neighbor who is sort of helpful, but also wouldn't mind getting the cash into his pockets. If you didn't know better, you'd think this was a made-for-TV film, virtually wasting its great locations by filming the goings on as you would a family reunion. And again, there is too much Hardy and not enough Lee, Collins or Lom. But if you are a fan of haunted house films or British horror, there are certainly worse options out there. Then again, there are much better.

"Dark Places" begins with an elderly man dying in some sort of asylum. Soon Edward (Robert Hardy) moves into the abandoned mansion owned by the dead man, as apparently he willed the place to him. The place is an absolute mess and looks as if it's sat derelict for decades. Supposedly, within the manor is some sort of hidden fortune...and folks who run the asylum ALSO want to get their hands on the money. The problem is that the longer Edward stays there, the longer ghosts from the manor begin to take over the drive him over the edge. How will all this end?

The main story idea isn't bad at all. But the way the story is handled technically is pretty bad. All the 'special effects' that show you Edward is experiencing bad things are more annoying and hard on the brain than anything else. The worst is at the 100 minute mark as well as those ultra-cheesy bats...they just look cheap and stupid. Overall, not a terrible movie but one that also isn't very good and is, surprisingly, a bit dull.

I have been looking a long time on the internet for this one and the only copy available is a DVD-r made of a video rip so I guess this is probably as good as it gets. And how good it gets indeed! Wonderful Hammer-style gem, creepy deserted house, hidden money and a tragedy from long ago that lies hidden in the walls. Robert Hardy (also active in similar flicks like Psychomania) lives up to his name of being an actor of versatility and depth. His transformation into the previous landlord of the house he has bought, is so well done you see his whole Shakespearian career in a flash. As if Joan Collins as femme fatale (and Jane Birkin!) isn't enough to make this a top notch cast, Christopher Lee plays her untrustworthy brother. So we are all set! I always love they way how Joan Collins manages to make being strangled look to sensual, it makes you think she has done it before - which she did in Tales From The Crypt but there it was Santa. And she did it again. When it came to the classic scene in Dynasty she had practiced this to perfection; who doesn't remember Blake trying to take the breath out of her? It would be great if this movie became more widely available on DVD in good quality.

If it weren't for the last ten-or-so minutes, this movie would be committing the unpardonable sin of being dull. The plot, such as it is, concerns a doctor who inherits a mansion from one of his patients. The Mansion is said to be haunted. A subplot of missing money hidden in the house also figures into this plot. The first eighty minutes consist of a collection of non-threatening scares and the introduction of Christopher Lee and Joan Collins as conniving next-door neighbors looking for hidden money. In the last ten or so minutes, there is a flashback explaining what occurred in the house that put the original owner into an Asylum. A minor twist makes the movie slightly palatable. This movie is only good as a trivia question. The question? What movie did Joan Collins and Christopher Lee star in?

Endless Scenes of Dusty Dirty Floors with Broken Toys and Broken Floor-Boards, Tapping on Walls, and While Wasting Name Actors Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom, and Joan Collins, Make for a Disappointing, Dull "Haunted-House-Supernatural-Thriller.

The Slow-Slow-Slog that Meanders Along with some Titillation from Joan Collins, Looking Fine at 40, Filmed in a Real-Life Asylum, Never Manages to be Truly "Haunting" or "Thrilling" with the Story of Hidden-Treasure and Insanity.

The Back-Story Revolves Around a British Actor Virtually Unknown Outside the UK, Robert Hardy, Concerns His Early Life and Dysfunction with a Wife and 2 Precocious Children.

It's All Rather Routine and Cliched in the Genre, and the Film Chooses to Let it Slow-Burn for 2 and a 1/2 Acts Before it Spurts an Extended "Money-Shot" of Revelatory Ultra-Violence.

It's Way too Late to Rescue the Boredom of Watching Repetitive Machinations Looking for Hidden Money and Children Giggling from Behind the Walls, that Made and Makes the Movie Forgotten and Forgettable.

For the Miss-Used Cast and the "Real-Life" Asylum Sets, for 15 Minutes of Bloody-Mayhem, and to Ogle the Effervescent Joan Collins...Horror Fans May Give it a Pass,

For Them it's...

Worth a Watch

Others Won't be Missing Much if They Miss this Miss-Fire.

I mean it.

I investigated systematically on the ghost genre and I can say this is one of the scariest ones. It surprised me, i didn't expected much from it, but it's very skillfully done, the way the flashbacks (or dimensional passages) start and stop are a masterwork.

It's a sort of a cheesy film but somehow, at the same time, is an excellent piece of cinema.

Here's the scariest scene of all my investigation: the one where our hero is knocking on the house's walls to find the place where the money is hidden, as he is tortured by the children voices, and they go "no, no ,no, no , no..."

You should see it if you didn't. And in the case you like it, try "The Haunting", "The Innocents" and "Picture of Jenny".

One may well take note of the several very recognizable names and faces to appear here; the cast is nothing to sneeze at, and filmmaker Don Sharp has some noteworthy credits of his own. Be that as it may, I'm more pleased with the nervous energy and atmosphere of unease that the feature ably manifests. Strange goings-on, paired with superb art direction and a splendid filming location, serve to activate that instinctual alert to Something Wrong while simultaneously cultivating an able-bodied mystery, and a story where there is clearly some underhanded scheming at hand. Wilfred Josephs' original score isn't wholly remarkable in and of itself but very capably lends to that ambience, and his own way Teddy Darvas' keen editing also contributes in select instances as the narrative ducks and weaves. Moreover, that commendable cast certainly contributes just as much to those airs. Of them all I'm least familiar with Robert Hardy, starring as our protagonist, yet he arguably outshines Herbert Lom, Jane Birkin, Jean Marsh, Joan Collins, and even Christopher Lee as his portrayal of an increasingly troubled, beleaguered man is marked with a range of intense emotions.

All that's to say nothing of how dark and haunting the story proves to be as it advances. 'Dark places' doesn't make a major impression at first; I'll freely admit my mind wandered a tad at the start. I don't think it's unfair to argue that it somewhat leans on its atmosphere for a fair bit of its length to help carry the day as the narrative threads progress. Yet Ed Brennan and Joseph Van Winkle penned a fabulously smart, engaging tale that in due course begins to rise to the fore amidst all those other elements that have caught our attention early on. The source of the horror shifts slightly over the runtime, but make no mistake that it's firm and meaningful, and surely leaves its mark. The scene writing is terrifically bright and adaptable, at once laying the foundation for the overarching, dispiriting disquiet while propelling the narrative, and twisting in time to allow the plot to take prominence once all the building blocks have been laid in. The characters are rich and vibrant, fertile ground for the seeds that the actors nurture, grow, and explore as they will, and even the dialogue is unexpectedly impactful as the course of events marches onward.

There are a few different flavors to present over these ninety minutes, from the dour mood of the creepy house, to suggestions of supernatural occurrences. The bread and butter of the tale proves more and more to be in a sly psychological facet, however, as protagonist Edward is overcome by the totality of the events. Above all, as the saga of murder and madness climbs toward a crescendo in the latter half, there are notes of profound, terrible tragedy in multiple capacities that give form to a sense of horror that's deeper, more disturbing, and more lasting than the more conventional aspects. It's a tremendous credit to Sharp as director that he is able to so shrewdly manage these component parts, providing balance and ensuring that all in turn is allowed to serve its purpose. It bears repeating that the picture doesn't sound like anything special from the outside looking in, and it is initially somewhat meager at the outset. Our patience bears immense reward, however, and at length I'm all so pleased with how enjoyable, absorbing, and well made 'Dark places' is. I'd stop short of saying it's perfect, for there are occasional embellishments that feel unnecessary, and the very, very end feels a tad too neat and clean. The value this boasts speaks for itself, however, far outweighing any faults. As a matter of personal preference it won't appeal to all, and again, there's no disputing that it starts slow. For those viewers who are receptive to the more wily and underhanded side of horror, however, and willing to wait for a movie to work its magic in its own time, this is well worth seeking out. I, for one, am very happy with just how good this 1974 flick turned out to be, and I'm glad to give it my high and hearty recommendation!

Dark Places, directed by Don Sharp, is a gripping and atmospheric thriller that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. Sharp's direction shines through in the film's moody visuals and intense, suspenseful pacing. The plot twists and turns with a complexity that's both engaging and unexpected. The performances, especially from the lead actor, are compelling and add depth to the chilling narrative. Overall, Dark Places is a standout film that combines strong storytelling with effective tension, making it a must-watch for fans of psychological thrillers.

If you enjoyed films like the Changeling, Burnt Offerings, The Others, and the 6th sense I think you will enjoy Dark Places.....

As far as I know, director Don Sharp, from the same genetation as Terence Fisher, Freddie Francis, Val Guest and Sidney Hayers, did not direct any horror films, except KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, CURSE OF THE FLY, and this one, an haunted mansion scheme film, his first. Don Sharp was a damn good and efficient film maker, very professional, and he had no proper style. He also made some AVENGERS series episodes, as John Hough, who also made a good haunted mansion mystery yarrn: LEGEND OF HELL, same year as this one. Nothing to do, concerning this one - DARK PLACES - with the today THE CONJURING or SINISTER US films series. It remains British but so efficient without being really horrific. It remains more a psychological drama than a pure horror film.

This film is rather entertaining but the chills are pretty weak. However, it has strong leads by Robert Hardy and Christopher Lee. I bought this video for five bucks at the Reject Shop, so what was I expecting? Not much, obviously.