13 Nights of Shocktober: The Hound of the Baskervilles

by A.J.

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. There are a lot of horror movies out there, but as a genre, horror is still looked down upon by some mainstream critics and moviegoers. It doesn’t help that, admittedly, there are so few quality horror movies made but, like comedy, it’s a very difficult and subjective genre. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some recommendations for scary movies to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 2: "The Curse of the Hound is on you!" The Hound of the Baskervilles

There are many versions of what is likely Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous Sherlock Holmes story, The Hound of the Baskervilles, but none of the others have Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Throw in director Terence Fisher and you have they key ingredients for a top notch Hammer Film production. By 1959, when this film was released, Hammer Film Productions had already begun its cycle of horror films that would make the company infamous, especially for the films that paired Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. The best of these were directed by Terence Fisher.

Peter Cushing is excellent as Sherlock Holmes. Andre Morell plays Dr. John Watson and is very good playing the straight man to Cushing's wily portrayal of Holmes. The Hound of the Baskervilles is a story from which Holmes is absent for a long stretch so Watson carries the story, which means Morell keeps the film moving and lively even while the main character is absent. Christopher Lee plays Sir Henry Baskerville, the last of the Baskerville line who recently inherited the family estate after his uncle died, perhaps of the family curse involving a hell hound. Lee plays Sir Henry with the authority and seriousness of a Victorian aristocrat.

From London, the film moves to the Baskerville estate on the eerie and foggy moors of Devonshire. Like many of the Hammer horror films, The Hound of Baskervilles gets its mood and atmosphere from the period costumes and sets. Though it’s a Victorian mystery, the sets, the fog, and the Baskerville curse give the story a gothic feel. The Hound of the Baskervilles is at heart a mystery, not a horror story but there are still many spooky elements to the story: a family curse, mysterious deaths, a mysterious farmer and his daughter, a dark family past, foggy  and dangerous landscape, not to mention that hell hound. But this movie does rely on the performances and setting to engage the audience more than blood and special effects. There are still some good fright scenes, especially one involving a tarantula. The Hound of the Baskervilles is a good, fun, and not too spooky seemingly supernatural story. You'll have a great time watching Sherlock Holmes solve his most famous case.