The Red House

This is one of those films where the sum of the parts - Edward G. Robinson ("Pete"); Judith Anderson ("Ellen"); the lighting; the cracking score from Miklós Rózsa alongside the newbies in Lon McCallister ("Nath") and Allene Roberts ("Meg") all combine to give us a really taut, tense thriller that really does keep you interested all the way through. Rory Calhoun features in a slightly distracting sub-plot, but otherwise we are never quite sure why "Pete" is obsessed with keeping "Meg" from their local woods - where she thinks she hears screaming. The tension builds as their idyllic family relationship starts to crack as she takes a bit of a shine to their newly hired helper "Nath" and he starts to encourage her to act and think for herself. Robinson is great in this, particularly juggling the roles of affectionate father with someone who clearly has some sort of terrible secret to keep; and as ever Anderson thrives in the less-is-more style of performance, I was slightly disappointed with the ending, but the pace of the story augmented with some great, eery lighting and sound effects makes for a good watch.