This is a good, old-fashioned horror film. Or, perhaps more properly, a terror film. (Horror generally contains an element of disgust, which differentiates it from terror) It’s done, like a number of horror films (Creepshow, VHS), as a series of vignettes, bookended and held together by a larger (and often contrived) plot point. Here, the bookend is the story of an architect who is hired to come to a house, and who seems to have a familiarity not only with the house, but with the people gathered there. He explains that he has dreamt of this day, and that something terrible will happen before it is over.

This isn’t going to keep you up nights. It’s too tame by today’s standards. And the vignettes are fairly predictable, thanks to being reused in various other media. (I think one of these was redone in an “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” episode, actually.) But it is one of the better done types of these films, and it’s worth watching for seeing how one can use atmosphere and writing to create unease, rather than having to rely on gruesome CGI and outlandish special effects.

IMDB gives it a 7.7. It probably isn’t completely fair to judge it compared to the horror fare we have today, so I’m going to give it a 7, with the caveat that you go into it looking at it for what it is—a somewhat dated, but well-put-together film. It actually makes me wish I could have seen it back then, free from the influence of 70 years’ worth of horror and pop culture. (running time 1:17)

NOTE: This film will air on TCM, Sunday, July 10, at 9:45.