hrkepler
'Night of the Ghouls' is a sequel to 1955 film 'Bride of the Monster' and its actions take place in the same old mansion where Dr. Vornoff created his atomic beasts. This time, though, the house is totally different and it lays near the graveyard and not in the swamp. Tor Johnson is reprising his role as Lobo and Paul Marco again is mumbling cowardly police officer Kelton. Besides those two, only recurring character is Police Captain Robbins played by Johnny Carpenter. In the 'Bride' Robbins' part was played by Harvey Dunn who this time had small role as a driver frightened by the ghost. There are some other actors who appeared in both films but in different roles. These inconsistencies between the two films, and inside the 'Night' make 'Night of the Ghouls' possibly the worst direct sequel ever. Thanks to the quirks of Ed Wood the film is still watchable entertainment, but not for anyone.But real star of this 'masterpiece' is not the director nor any of the main characters but the wooden panel door that appeared in police station and in Dr. Acula's home. Awesome.
Hitchcoc
Ed Wood got another one through. This one involves and old house where something happened, ending up in the burning of the principle characters. Anyway, an old couple taking a short cut see strange goings on and weird creatures wandering around a spooky old house. An experienced ghost hunting police detective goes to investigate and comes upon a phony medium (in a turban) named Dr. Acula and his dog and pony show used to bilk people out of their money by bringing the spirits of the dead to life. Anyway, there's a disjointed bunch of activity that takes place. We get to see old Tor Johnson, who is partly blind and half burned but still a giant of a man. The problem for the con man is that there are some residual ghost/zombies around, running amok, killing people in the woods. Don't ask. The plot is stupid and the characters beyond belief. Still, it is Ed Wood. Need I say more?
Polaris_DiB
Ed Wood loses Bela Lugosi. His "Plan 9" wasn't what he thought it was, nobody seems interested in his hopes to create something meaningful, and so he decides to return to the Gothic horror films he loved as a child, in some sense, maybe, possibly, slightly, to start afresh. And he fails. Again.Night of the Ghouls loses a lot that makes "Plan 9 from Outer Space" so endearing. It's corny premise has no world-changing theme to back it up. Bela Lugosi can't add his particular brand of screen presence to at least make the film digestible. Others of his stock company aren't even talking to him. Thus, Wood makes up for lost encouragement by adding more silly lightning strikes, a floating saxophone (oh yeah, you can see the strings, just like the flying saucers in "Plan 9"), a man in a sheet as a ghost, and even worse sound editing and acting to basically reach what I feel is his lowest and most incompetent results. Is it possible the man is just trying to fail? If there's anything redeemable in this, it's that Ed Wood still believes with all his heart that Tor Johnson is scary, and that helps make Night of the Ghouls just as charming and cute as his previous features. Also, this film is at least more interesting than "Jail Bait" because Wood's imagination is out to provide the most random and outrageous results. "Night of the Ghouls" is, and should always be, one of Wood's lesser known works, but for any Woodheads out there it's still worth the rental it undoubtedly remains.--PolarisDiB
xredgarnetx
I got about as far as I could into this Ed Wood "home movie," and finally gave up. Wood recycles footage and sets and characters and situations from his other "home movies" to tell us a story about a decrepit house where a mad doctor once made monsters. All I know is there's a cute gal in white who scares people and is in turn scared, and a Vampira-looking woman in black who kills people by covering them with her veil. Tor Johnson shows up as a badly scarred and injured Lobo from a previous film, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. It's a tossup for worst performance. I will give it to the guy playing phony medium Dr. Acula (how's that for a clever name?). But there is plenty of bad acting to go around. And check out some of the sets! One of the scenes inside a "police station" shows a cop sitting at a desk, with a bunch of plain paneled curtains hanging on the wall behind him.
AD
