The Haunted House (1921)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I saw The Haunted House for the first time in about a year and a half and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. For awhile, I would have listed it as one of Buster's middle-tier efforts with its strange structure, but all of a sudden, the Kool Aid kicked in and I was spellbound. This is one of Buster's finest short format efforts and it deserves better appreciation.One could argue the structure is flawed: the first half features Buster as a bank employee dealing with an attempted robbery and then the second half as him in the eponymous haunted house, where he saves the day after being initially spooked by the faux ghosts, misplaced opera singers, and especially the trick staircase. The two act format hearkens back to the Arbuckle days in the sense that when one setting exhausts its comic possibility, the players simply move on to another one; however, the difference is that here there is an actual reason for the switch in the story. The seemingly haunted house is the hideout of counterfeiters and thieves. Keaton, the girl he loves, the villains, and some hapless actors all end up in the house in a way which feels plausible enough for us to buy it.And of course, the gags and stunts are clever, surreal, and surprising. On the chance if you've never seen the picture, I do not want to spoil a one of them. The more I see the film, the better it becomes. I adore it and would list it among my favorite short films of all time.

This slightly over 20-minute short film directed by, written by and starring stoneface Buster Keaton touches quite a few different genres: drama, comedy, musical, crime, horror, mystery. As always with Keaton, it's a lot bleaker and the humor is usually way darker than the one in Chaplin's movies for example. Buster works as a bank employee, but quickly gets caught up in a robbery where a mishap has lots of bills glued to his hand, so he can't give them the money. Still they get away with some and after a quick scene to a version of Faust at the opera, which didn't fit in there at all, the final act takes place at the haunted house from the title. We get the usual jumping, falling and kicking routines, but the full supernatural program: ghosts, skeletons, spirits and even Lucifer himself makes a brief appearance. The ending of the film is a perfect example from what I mentioned earlier. Chaplin usually gets kissed. Keaton goes to hell.As a whole, I was not too impressed with this movie. Occasionally, the horror parts near the end reminded me of Méliès work 25 years ago and was at least equally spooky. If you like Keaton, give this one a go. Otherwise, there's better film out there with him.

Haunted House, The (1921) *** (out of 4) Funny Buster Keaton two-reeler has him playing a bank clerk who gets accused of robbing his own bank even though he was actually preventing one. This causes him to run off and duck into a house, which just happens to be rigged by some crooks so that whoever enters will think it's haunted. This certainly isn't one of Keaton's greatest pictures but I think it's a pretty good one that is at least pleasant enough and features enough funny moments to where it would be a good introduction for someone not familiar with the legends work. The first portion of the film has some of the best gags including the highlight, which has Keaton accidentally sticking his fingers into some glue while trying to count out money and give it to people. This ends up with a pretty funny sequence where there's money all over the place and getting stuck to whoever tries to touch it. The horror elements happen in the second portion of the film and this here is where the slapstick really comes into play. Poor Keaton sees a wide range of creatures including skeleton men, ghosts and even a Satan-like character and this of course has him taking many falls. The highlight of this house is a flight of stairs that turn into a slick slope whenever someone tries walking up or down them. THE HAUNTED HOUSE runs a very quick 20-minutes and there are enough laughs to where even those who don't care for silents should at least have a good time.

I expected this Buster Keaton short be very funny, just imagining his comedy and a haunted house scenario. However, it really isn't a haunted house story and the fun doesn't really start until about halfway through this 21-minute film.Until them, we get a long gag scene with Buster as a bank teller and getting glue all over many of the dollar bills. It's so-so humor and not what we are waiting for - some haunted house fun.The real fun part of the film is only the last five minutes and, frankly, I've seen funnier spooky stuff from The Three Stooges. The best "bit "of the entire movie might be the dream sequence in the final minute where Buster climbs his "Stairway To Heaven."