50 Date Night Screams

"The House of Secrets" is an old, dark house mystery from 1936. When a man unexpectedly inherits an English estate, he tries to take over the property only to find squatters there. He's later attacked by a group of American gangsters, and along with a detective friend, works to find out the mystery of why everyone wants to get into his house. Amber and Mike sum up the plot of this confusing movie, and Mike shares the original chara...

In "The House of Mystery," an archeologist is cursed after stealing treasure from a temple. Twenty years after he goes home, he invites the investors he shrifted over to his old, dark house for shenanigans and murder. This movie, like many in the genre, is offense, because it trivializes Hinduism in several different ways. Plus, it trivializes disability and involves animal abuse. Other than that, it hits all the notes for you...

"House of Danger" is not really a mystery -- the audience is in on the "mystery" almost from the beginning. Instead, it's more of a romance/thriller, where the main characters work out how to disengage from the mess they put themselves in. It's an uneven film, with a few nice moments sprinkled in, and an ending that we guessed at, but couldn't quite believe actually happened. Stay to the end to hear about the character Mike created...

"The Savage Girl," starting with its title and continuing on to its conclusion, is a loathsome male power fantasy passing as a jungle adventure. A rich man with an alcohol dependency talks a big game trapper into traveling with him to Africa. While there, they cross paths with a White woman living alone in the jungle, and the men of the expedition fight over who can possess her. Amber and Mike go through this stinker but in the...

"The Phantom of 42nd Street" takes the trope of the reporter as a detective a step further and has a newsletter theater critic turning detective. A wealthy and prominent theater owner is murdered and his family and employees are all suspects. Tony, the Broadway theater critic, reluctantly takes on the investigation to find the killer. This mystery from 1945 suffers from an inscrutable plot, although it's well acted and there are so...

"The Lion Man" is a desert adventure from 1936 that is set in the middle east, but was filmed in Arizona. A titled man from England takes his young son on a business trip, but it turns violent and the boy is orphaned an left to be raised by a man who trains lions. As he grows, he finds there is disharmony in the community and winds up being a pawn between two groups. Amber and Mike try to understand this murky plot and Mike de...

In "Wanted: Babysitter," the young son of a wealthy man and his babysitter are held hostage by a disparate group. The plan goes awry and results in a series of events that puts everyone at risk. This thriller from 1975 starts out strong and has a few twists and turns but is ultimately difficult to follow due to the poor quality and number of characters who behave in ways that often don't make sense. Mike and Amber go through this m...

"The Thirteenth Guest" is an old, dark house / whodunit from 1932. It was one of Ginger Rogers' early film roles, although it doesn't showcase her talent. A wealthy man left his millions to a "thirteenth guest," but no one knows this person's identity. His former home has lain empty for many years and is now the site of several murders which the police and a private investigator are tasked with solving. Mike and Amber try to unders...

"The Tell-Tale Heart" from 1960 is a loose adaptation of the 1843 short story by Edgar Allan Poe. A man becomes obsessed with his neighbor, Betty, and goes on a few dates with her while covertly spying on her through her bedroom window. Edgar introduces Betty to a friend of his, Carl, and Betty and Carl consummate their relationship in full view from Edgar's window. Edgar takes out his jealousy on Carl and is driven mad by his guil...

"Son of Ingagi" is a 1940 monster movie directed by Richard C. Kahn and based on Spencer Williams' short story, House of Horror. It is thought to be the first horror film to feature an all-black cast. A married couple inherits a house from an acquaintance, not knowing there are many surprises waiting for them in the basement. Amber and Mike take on the nuances of this film. At the end of the episode, Mike describes the character th...

A wealthy man is murdered at a costume party, and all his houseguests and family are suspects. As the story unfolds, we learn that the murdered man has a difficult history with his family, his finances were not as expected, and that his granddaughter was a disappointment to him. A snarky novelist works with the police to solve the crime, but not before becoming a target for the murder himself. This difficult to follow mystery has s...

"Ghosts on the Loose" is a comedy/old, dark house movie from 1943. It starred a comedy group called "The East Side Kids," which was a rotating cast of young men who starred in many movies of the time. Amber and Mike take you through the plot, which includes the bust of a ring of propagandists and an ending that didn't need to be there which needs some explanation, because it includes a potentially upsetting symbol from World War II...

"The Ghost and the Guest" from 1943 is a poverty row comedy that also includes elements of the mystery and old, dark house genres. The one-liner humor holds up in some cases, and it did have Mike and Amber laughing. However, this movie also contains a disturbing thread of execution by hanging. It's played for laughs in the movie, but it exposes how pervasive and dangerous racism was used as a comedic trope. This makes a commen...

Another Tod Slaughter vehicle, "The Face at the Window," shows us 1880 France, where a serial killer is stalking Paris. After a bank is robbed and a clerk is killed, presumably by the murder known as "The Face," a wealthy benefactor seeks to exploit the banker and his daughter to get what he wants. The true identity of the killer is finally revealed only with the use of an elaborate ruse. Mike and Amber take on this film which make...

"The Ticket of Leave Man" from 1937 is a British thriller directed by George King. A young man is set up by a criminal known as 'The Tiger' (played by Tod Slaughter) and serves a prison sentence for something he didn't do. When he is released on "ticket of leave," The Tiger tries to keep him from getting a job and getting married. Mike and Amber go through this film and try to understand all the little points to the plot while enjo...

"Drums of Africa (Jungle Man)" is a jungle adventure that suffers from a lack of a plot as well as an insidious white savior complex. This Buster Crabbe vehicle follows a family who travels from the United States to Africa in order to search for a lost city and also visit an uncle who happens to be a missionary. While there, they also find Dr Hammond, who was working on a treatment for an infectious disease that's in danger of beco...

"The Crooked Circle" from 1932 is an 'old dark house' mystery/comedy that pits an amateur detective group against a crime syndicate. The Crooked Circle gang has marked a member of The Sphinx Club for death. But they first have to find him at his country house on Long Island, which is supposedly haunted by the violin playing ghost of a jilted lover. Mike and Amber take on this Zasu Pitts vehicle that delivers on some fronts but fall...

Lon Chaney, Jr is once again the headliner for this post-Hayes code crime drama, "The Shadow of Silk Lennox.” This movie follows a crime boss, Silk, who decides to rob a bank with the help of his gang. He has been running his criminal enterprise mostly unopposed by the local police. But this time, federal agents show up on the scene and he is out of his depth. This movie has some interesting moments, but Mike and Amber both nitpick...

"A Scream in the Night” from 1935 is a Lon Chaney, Jr vehicle that is deeply problematic when viewed today. On the face of it, it’s a crime drama set somewhere in the Middle East. However, as typical for the time, it manages to include a whole lot of things that aren’t necessary to tell the story of a jewel thief and the detectives looking to stop him. Mike and Amber dig into the highly questionable parts of this film while putting...