Night of the Ghouls
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Movie Reviews of Night of the Ghouls
Movie Review: Ed Wood is the King of Ineptitude
Summary: 5 Stars
You gotta love this guy: He is the Wile E. Coyote of filmdom: He got battered at every turn;rejected by mainstream Hollywood,but he never gave up.He continued to produce the most god-awful, and therefore,wonderful movies ever.This is one of his best.Just the scene of the old guy and his wife "driving" on the country road is worth the price of this DVD.Also,there is a floating toilet plunger that appears every once in a while.You have to see it!And that's only the beginning!It's odd,though: Intellectually you are fully aware of how horrible his movies were,but you can't help but love what he did,I guess because he was such a nice guy himself,and he was blessed with eternal optimism.
I have all of his movies that are available,plus a couple of "Misties,"and I never tire of watching them.I really love this one in particular.It's cheesiness rating is "10," and it's fun quotient is 20.
Movie Review: Hysterical
Summary: 5 Stars
Ed Wood's last mainstream movie (and the final of the Kelton trilogy) is a masterpiece of ineptitude (and a direct sequel to "Bride of the Monster.") It also has returning Wood favorites Tor Johnson as Lobo, Paul Marco as Kelton, and Criswell as...Criswell.The DVD looks incredibly sharp and clear, and is easily the best looking of the Wade Williams Ed Wood DVD releases (of course, this had undamaged source material.) The menus are neat, too.
Movie Review: Ed Woods cameo....
Summary: 5 Stars
At the beginning of the movie when Ed is making use of his juvenile delinqents stock footage, check out the victim of the car that crashes off the cliff, thats Ed Wood himself peeking over the door frame as a dead man with his eyes open.....Movie Review: Pristine DVD recommended mainly for seasoned Woodophiles
Summary: 4 Stars
Night of the Ghouls, the last film in Ed Wood's horror cycle, (following Bride of the Monster and Plan 9 from Outer Space) borrows elements from both of those films but, while inhabiting a similarly wacked-out world, isn't really a direct sequel to either. Kenne Duncan (struggling to maintain his tough-guy persona while wearing a silly-looking turban) plays Dr. Acula, a phony medium who has set up shop bilking wealthy octogenarians in "the old Willows Lake place where the mad doctor made monsters," a veiled reference to Bride of the Monster. Duke Moore (Plan 9, Sinister Urge) is Lt. Dan Bradford, undercover "spook chaser," investigating reports of mysterious goings-on at the mansion. You know you're watching an Ed Wood movie from the first scene: the clearly identified East Los Angeles police station is shown while Criswell describes the location as "Anytown U.S.A."; cut to the interior of the station where a `Wanted' poster on the wall displays none other than the director himself. (He also appears in some brief "JD" footage.) Night of the Ghouls is actually somewhat controversial in bad film circles; some rank it as one of Wood's best, while others claim to find it boring. True, it does share a slower pace and relative lack of dizzying incompetence with Jail Bait, Wood's other neglected and similarly maligned 1950s feature. But all the requisite elements of an "Ed Wood movie" are here for the faithful: the florid Criswell narration and convoluted, mind-numbing dialogue; the wildly contrasting acting styles, from complete indifference to rampant scenery-chewing; the lurching, paradoxical continuity and non-sequitur edits; the poverty-stricken sets (darkness stands in for scenery a lot and Dr. Acula's makeup mirror is missing half its bulbs); and Gordon Zahler's cringeworthy stock music cues (also featured in Monstrosity, Astounding She Monster, and Beast of Yucca Flats). On balance, William C. Thompson's cinematography looks terrific, as usual (especially considering the schedule). Wood `discovery' Valda Hansen emotes strangely as the White Ghost; Paul Marco does his so-unfunny-it's-amusing Kelton the Cop routine; Jeannie Stevens stalks and stares Vampira-like as the completely unexplained Black Ghost; zero-budget producer Anthony (Yucca Flats) Cardoza has a bit part; Wood's chiropodist, Tom Mason (who doubled Lugosi in Plan 9), appears as a Ross Perot-look ghost; and narrator Criswell (looking uncharacteristically rough in the intro) abruptly shows up at the climax, well-scrubbed and spit-curled, as an undead avenger, complete with `sepulchral' vibra-tone vocal effect. Big Tor (in his third and final outing as "Lobo") sports what is perhaps makeup man Harry Thomas's wildest gross-out creation ever: he's got a creepy white eyeball and the other half of his face and shoulder are a mass of scar tissue (??). Unfortunately he doesn't get that much screen time (apparently Tor walked off the set at least once over money!) Check the scene where Lt. Bradford encounters Acula and Lobo and doesn't even seem to NOTICE the hideously scarred hulking brute standing right next to him! Actually improves with multiple viewings. CAUTION: Enjoyment of Night of the Ghouls is probably proportional with one's appreciation of Wood's previous work. While veteran Wood-heads will find familiar, if perhaps subtler, delights to groove on, I would advise the uninitiated to start with the more notorious films in the Ed Wood canon (Plan 9, Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster); first-time Wood viewers may not "get the references," and find Ghouls boring and confusing. To take the whole movie to another level, find a copy of Rudolph Grey's out-of-print Nightmare of Ecstasy, which contains some incredible anecdotes, particularly from Ms. Hansen and assistant director Ronnie Ashcroft (director/producer of Astounding She Monster), several of which concern Kenne Duncan's lecherous on-set behavior.Presumably the last major release in the Image/Wade Williams "Edward D. Wood, Jr. Library," Night of the Ghouls looks spectacular on DVD. Williams supposedly rescued this film from oblivion by paying Wood's outstanding lab bills in the 1980s, so the elements are virtually pristine. You have to look really hard to see even the occasional speckle, and the brightness, contrast, grayscale, sharpness, and shadow/highlight detail are simply terrific, especially for a movie of its age and pedigree. The main menu is animated and the DD 1.0 mono sound is clear. Since the picture was never released theatrically there is no accompanying trailer, although five of the usual suspects are included in a cookie. Twelve chapter stops are the only other extra, but for hard-core Wood fans this is still essential. Others reread my cautionary statement.
Movie Review: Lots of fun for fans of Z- grade schlock
Summary: 3 Stars
Ed Wood, the worst director of all time; strikes again with this sequel to his "classics" PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. NIGHT OF THE GHOULS (a.k.a REVENGE OF THE DEAD) has the inimitable Tor Johnson reprising his role as the hulking henchman Lobo; now hideously disfigured following the lab fire at the climax of BOTM. Criswell also narrates the film from the comfort of his coffin: "... a tale so astounding that some of you may faint!"Once again Wood wears multiple hats as writer, producer and director of another awful but fun "horror" movie.
The story takes place in the small town of Willow Lake, where in the now familiar creepy old house Lugosi's successor, a mad Swami named Dr Acula (Kenne Moore) is raising the dead from their graves- one of which is a man in a cape with a high neck which is supposed to make him appear headless!- and setting them on juvenile delinquents, kids who do nothing worse than rock 'n roll dancing. Enter bumbling police Captain Robbins (John Carpenter- not the director) to try and make sense of and put an end to the madness, once and for all. But inside the house he has to contend with joke shop skeletons which are seated at the dining room table and possessed floating trumpets that play by themselves; as well as taking part in Acula's seance to raise the dead: the conjured spirit turns out to just be a guy covered by a bedsheet! Wood's attempt at a climactic plot twist is just as awful as the rest of the movie... which is good. Right?
What makes Wood's movies so funny is that he always made them with serious intentions, here he tries to tackle "serious" subjects such as the aforementioned delinquency and road deaths, the results of which are (naturally) inept and wholly innocuous. There are also references by characters to BRIDE OF THE MONSTER as well as several shots from that movie being reused- notably the lightning storm. NIGHT OF THE GHOULS went unreleased for 25 years because Wood couldn't afford to pay the printing lab.
DVD extras includea bio and filmography for Wood, as well as trailers for PLAN 9, GLEN OR GLENDA, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER and JAIL BAIT (which I haven't seen yet). A must-have for film buff and fans of bad movies.
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