Italian horror of the early ’70s could be stylish, operatic, and deliriously entertaining — think Bava, think Argento. Then there’s Mario Colucci’s Something Creeping in the Dark, which sounds like it should deliver spine‑tingling terror but mostly delivers an accidental lullaby. If you’ve ever wanted to watch Farley Granger look vaguely embarrassed in a haunted house for ninety minutes, this is your movie.
A Script That Sat in the Dark for a Decade
The script was written in 1961, shelved for nearly a decade, and dusted off in 1970 — and it shows. By the time cameras rolled, the story felt as fresh as yesterday’s pasta left in the sun. A group of stranded strangers (including a killer and his cops) hide out in a witch’s old mansion. They hold a séance. Supernatural forces emerge. On paper, it’s Gothic fun. On screen, it’s about as scary as a wet sponge.
A Mansion of Missed Opportunities
The setup is classic: a storm, a haunted house, a séance. But instead of tension, we get long stretches of people standing around explaining the plot to each other in dimly lit rooms. Every so often, the caretaker pops in to remind us the place is haunted, in case we forgot.
When the supernatural finally shows up, it’s less “terror from beyond” and more “stagehand with a fog machine.” You half expect Scooby-Doo and Shaggy to stumble through and unmask the ghost as the caretaker himself. Frankly, that would’ve been a more satisfying ending.
The Cast: Famous Faces, Tired Eyes
Farley Granger, once Hitchcock’s golden boy, looks like he’s calculating how many lira it will take to get him back to New York. Lucia Bosè, still glamorous, is wasted on dialogue that sounds translated three times before landing on set. The rest of the cast drift through their roles like extras in search of a better script.
Granger’s character is named Spike, which sounds like he should be leading a gang in a juvenile delinquent flick. Instead, he spends most of the movie wandering hallways looking like he misplaced his luggage.
Colucci’s Direction: Creeping Toward Nowhere
Colucci clearly wanted to make a Gothic horror, but his pacing makes molasses look fast. Scenes drag on, padded with endless walking, staring, and candle-lighting. The atmosphere could’ve been eerie; instead, it feels like a power outage during community theater rehearsal.
The séance scene, which should have been the movie’s centerpiece, plays like a dull parlor trick. People sit around a table, moaning, as if trying to contact the ghost of a better film.
Something Creeping in the Editing Room
The editing doesn’t help. The film lurches from one scene to another with all the elegance of a drunk ghost. Suspense evaporates as the camera lingers far too long on unimportant details, while genuinely creepy moments — when they exist — are buried under sluggish storytelling.
Even the title promises more than the movie delivers. Something may be creeping in the dark, but it’s definitely not the audience’s heartbeat.
A Box Office Blip and a Career Fade
The movie grossed 110 million lire in Italy, which sounds impressive until you remember audiences will pay for almost anything with the word “witch” or “mansion” in the description. This was Colucci’s last theatrically released film, and watching it, you understand why. It’s less a career-ender than a cinematic shrug, a director running out of gas on a haunted highway.
Dark Humor in the Shadows
There are moments so dull they become unintentionally funny. Characters solemnly declare the house is cursed — right after making themselves at home with drinks. A killer on the run casually joins a séance like he’s at summer camp. And the séance itself, meant to unleash terror, looks like everyone is trying to contact their local pizza delivery guy.
By the time the movie ends, you don’t feel scared. You feel relief, the way you feel when the lights finally come back on after a blackout.
Final Verdict
Something Creeping in the Dark is proof that not all Italian horror deserves cult status. It’s a plodding, lifeless Gothic exercise that wastes a good cast and a promising premise. Creeping? Yes. In the sense that it creeps along at a snail’s pace until your attention has wandered into another room.
Leonard Maltin might have written: Something Creeping in the Dark (1971). Dull Gothic horror about stranded travelers, séance, haunted mansion. Good cast wasted. Lifeless, slow, and not the least bit scary. *½ out of ***.
And the dark humor punchline: The only thing creeping in this movie is the audience, inching toward the exit in search of coffee.
