There is great LGBTQ+ horror movies of the last decades that are more in the face towards queer elements such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jennifer's Body, and Bit to name a few. But before the sexual revolution of the 1970s, queer context was found in grittier pre-Code films like The old dark house, Subtly illustrating what the LGBTQ+ community goes through.. Just when you think you're watching a simple cheesy horror movie about a group of strangers seeking refuge in the home of an eccentric family, prepare to be as impressed as I was by the bizarre subtext planted in scene after scene.
The film's director was bold in the 1930s
James Whale made a big name for himself in the film industry thanks to his best horror movies as frankenstein, the invisible man, and Bride of Frankenstein. But one thing all of these classic horror films have in common is their subtly coded queer elements, such as isolation, repression, and outsider status, which resemble the LGBTQ+ experience.
The British filmmaker was openly gay during his rise to fame in the 1930s, something incredibly rare to see at the time. By mixing queer subtext into his films, he conveys hidden messages to his audience about the LGBTQ+ community's struggle with heteronormative beliefs in society. Whale introduced many of those themes in The old dark house about a group of strangers who stay at the eccentric Femm family's decaying country house until the storm outside dies down. Through the horror comedy film, the audience will meet people who live outside gender norms and suffer repression for being different from others.
Each member of the Femm family has a little queer spark
Each member of the Femm family has their own unique character traits and a strange little spark. The most obvious example would be the man of the house, Horace Femm. Unlike the typical male characters of the 1930s, who are tough, brooding, and assertive, Horace is the complete opposite. He is passive, fussy, and prefers other male characters to enter the scary rooms of his house.
Horace's sister, Rebecca, is also an outsider who rejects women who are objects of desire, such as her deceased sister Rachel and guest Margaret (played by Titanic cast member Gloria Stuart). However, Rebecca's repulsion toward female sexuality can be interpreted as a queer repression of her own unresolved issues. Since she stays hidden, she expects all the other women to do the same.
Rebecca and Horace have a brother, Saul, who is locked in the attic due to his pyromaniac tendencies. This may symbolize extreme measures taken to hide what is deemed unacceptable only for the pent-up anger to explode once it is released. Even the family patriarch, Sir Roderick Femm (played by actress Elspeth Dudgeon), could easily be interpreted as a gender-ambiguous character. He is also hidden in a secret room in the house, bedridden, frail and almost skeletal.
There are gothic vibes with a side of rebellion
The Welsh country house may not resemble supernatural phenomena as seen in the best haunted house moviesbut its mysterious rooms and people still give off an eerie feeling. In Gothic literature and films, dark desires, fears, and secrets lurk in the environment.
As the old house is in an isolated area and hidden by society, the same goes for the Femm family whose repressed minds exist in that house. There are all these hidden rooms full of secrets. The gothic theme in The old dark house shows what happens when long-repressed elements are unleashed.
While bad weather keeps the five travelers trapped in that house, the residents of the Femm house are trapped in their own repressed minds. Horacio is the repression of masculinity that is no match for the strength or assertiveness of the other male characters in his house. Rebecca represses physical or emotional connection with people, causing her to despise anyone who is comfortable with her sexuality. Sir Roderick's repressed identity does not conform to binary gender roles and he remains bedridden in a secret room. The fact that Saul is locked in an attic only to escape shows the gothic and rebellious theme that what is repressed cannot remain hidden forever.
Heterosexual couples are directly repressed
When you're first introduced to the transient characters, such as newlywed couple Philip and Margaret Waverton, their friend Roger Penderel, and Sir William and Gladys Perkins, they're not exactly lovey-dovey couples. Everyone has repressed feelings within their relationships.
The Waverton couple's love for each other may be there, but it comes off as unemotional and uncomfortable. It seems that Philip forces himself to have an emotionally distant personality in order to maintain his masculinity. Margaret receives unwanted attention from the brutish, silent butler Morgan (played by iconic horror movie actor Boris Karloff) who can almost resemble a king kong movie. Unfortunately, she is unable to express her sexual vulnerability to her husband.
Then, there's the charming Roger Penderel, who clearly uses humor as a shield to hide any vulnerability to anyone he gets close to. That changes when he meets showgirl Gladys Perkins. She comes to the country house with Sir William, but admits to Roger that their relationship is platonic. It seems that she is with him for his stability and wealth, suppressing her fear of living in poverty.
The heterosexual couples who enter the house are as repressed as the eccentric Femm family. With everyone trapped in the same residence overnight as the storm wanes, the emotions they hold inside can only be bottled up for so long.
The mansion's “closet” of secrets and repression
Gothic literature and movies tend to have an old mansion that represents the human mind of the people who live there as in Jane Eyre, Rebecca, either The innocent. While the Femm family lives isolated from the outside world, the decay surrounding the house represents how repression can devour a person. Each dark corridor and hidden room suggests that there are many secrets within the isolated family that they choose to ignore or forget.
The fact that Saul is locked in an attic represents the Femm family's darkest secret: that they have an arsonist brother. Being hidden in the “closet” of repression, his family believes that locking him up is the only way to have control over what makes him different from others. Like all forms of repression, keeping something inside can only work for so long before you feel like exploding.
The brutal and mute butler Morgan would use the basement to release his repression where he goes to drink. Given that he spends the first part of the film submissive before the Code, Margaret's presence presents him with the opportunity to unleash the sexual repression he has kept inside, becoming an uncontrollable force.
The old dark house presents a horror story of its own where an old mansion keeps members repressed. James Whale brought his queer vision to audiences in the 1930s to present what queer people experienced on a daily basis. Each character has something about themselves that they hide from others, just like the mansion hides people away from society. But like all things that are contained for too long, eventually it all comes out in full force.
If you're curious about how the 1930s queer experience is reflected in the horror comedy film, The old dark house It is available for free on Tubi and YouTube.