Lon Chaney Jnr is an unhappily married lawyer whose secretary (Brenda Joyce) is in love with him (Lon, you stud muffin), so it’s good news and bad news when his wife turns up dead. Most of the action involves Joyce’s rich family, who live in some dark mansion and are full of roles played by elderly character actors. The film cheats by not showing any of the three murders that take place or the dead wife, and keeping Lon Chaney out of action for too long. But being an Inner Sanctum film you learn to take what you can get.
There’s some spooky atmosphere and Lon Chaney is back to his tormented best – even better, he’s actually guilty all the way through (he kills someone in Strange Confession that was at the end and he is really driven to it). And because Joyce is so unsympathetic, ditto her whiny horrible boyfriend (even though I think we’re meant to be glad they’re together at the end), Chaney gets sympathy. I was genuinely surprised that he actually turned out to be the killer. Inner Sanctum was an unsatisfying series all up, but it’s fun to watch if you like Lon Chaney Jnr.
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