The Cat and the Canary (1939)

This is the granddaddy of comedic midnight-reading-of-the-will in a secret-paneled, eyes-cut-out-portraited, claw-from-behind-a-curtained, body-falling-out-of-the-closeted, old dark house ‘suspense’ movie clichés; except that this isn’t even the original version.

Anyone who’s currently alive probably saw the animated spoofs before they had any clue what the cartoons were spoofing.

A group of possible heirs gathers in a gator-infested island for a ten-year delayed last will and testament; and, as it turns out, if the one heiress has the misfortune to die (or go nuts) it all passes to a second heir whose identity is only known to the dead uncle’s attorney.

Too bad the attorney gets killed first, as he is the one who could positively identify suspect Número Uno.

Oh...

And there is a murderous maniac escaped from the nearby insane asylum, (the group's decision to keep it secret only results in gaslighting the main heiress.)

Dated, but still Ok effort, and a potentially great cast (Gale Sondergaard, George Zucco, Paulette Goddard, Bob Hope, Elizabeth Patterson and a very funny Nydia Westman) keeping things lively despite the hoary setting they find themselves in. Anyone looking for genuine chills, however, is better off looking elsewhere.