The Ghoul

Boris Karloff plays a crazy old guy who worships the Egyptian god, Anubis. On his death bed, he swears that if anyone should steal a sacred jewel from his Anubis statue he will return from the dead to exact revenge. Not surprisingly, several very greedy people come along and try stealing the jewel--only to incur the wrath of the zombie Karloff. Despite the whole Egyptian aspect of the film, though, he was not a mummy nor was this just a rehash of THE MUMMY (also from 1933). Overall, it's a rather standard but well-produced zombie murdering the idiots film--not great, but certainly worth seeing.

By the way, in a funny inside joke, there is a parody of the "desert savage" style of film. THE SHEIK, THE SON OF THE SKEIK and THE BARBARIAN were among several films like this and in THE GHOUL, there is a supposed sheik and a lady who is infatuated with this clichéd image of a macho and sexist Middle Eastern lover.

The surprising thing about THE GHOUL is that it features an impressive background score for a film made in '33, when most soundtracks were almost completely devoid of music. This is something the other comments here failed to mention.

The other plus factor is the brilliant B&W photography done in Gothic style to suit the story elements here. An Egyptologist returns from the grave to take revenge on a servant who has stolen a sacred jewel. BORIS KARLOFF is the doctor with his own rules about how to offer sacrifices to Anubis in order to have eternal life.

The pace is slow and there's too much silly banter that features KATHLEEN HARRISON in a role designed to give the audience comedy relief. RALPH RICHARDSON is excellent as a cleric who seems to be a helpful visitor and ERNEST THESIGER is fine as the nervous servant.

The Gothic ambiance is strong with handsome interiors of a house in shadows and the flavor of an "old dark house mystery" is well sustained. Plotwise, there are loopholes and the story only really picks up once Karloff has returned from the grave.

For fans of this genre, this is an interesting film and Karloff's performance is first rate.

Boris Karloff was already a horror mainstay at this point in his career, having played Frankenstein's monster, The Mummy, and Fu Manchu, and now playing the titular Ghoul. This film has a deceased Karloff coming back to life after an Egyptian jewel he was buried with is stolen. The film really does, pun intended, come to life after Karloff's resurrection, but the build up to that point for the film's short 79-minute runtime is a bit of a slog. Overall, this British horror film isn't exactly a Universal Pictures Horror classic, but it is solid entertainment. FUN FACT! "The Ghoul" is one of many films to have fallen into the public domain, so it is freely available for download on the internet.

After Boris Karloff starred in The Mummy, he went back to England to film this eerie followup. In this film, he looks like a combination Frankenstein monster and the mummy I'm-Ho-Tep - and as grotesque as possible.

The tomb-robbing Ernest Thesiger gets the action going. Karloff stalking through the moldy mansion is as eerie as you can imagine. The end in which Karloff goes back to his tomb has some scenes that are the most hair-raising as you can imagine.

NOTE: Avoid copies that are incomplete or cut. The version that I have is 76 minutes long and some of the others seem to be abridged.

Watch it with your B-movie buddies.

T. Hayes Hunter's "The Ghoul" of 1933 is certainly not one of the best movies starring the incomparable Boris Karloff, as Karloff sadly doesn't have the screen time one could have hoped for, but it has its qualities and is doubtlessly worth watching, also for the reason that "The Ghoul" was thought of as a lost film for a long time.

Professor Morlant (Boris Karloff), a dying Egyptologist who believes in ancient Egyptian Gods, gives the instructions for his burial to his butler (Ernest Thesinger). Hoping to gain eternal life as a follower of an Egyptian deity, Morlant wants to be buried in a tomb by his mansion, with a statue of his God and a valuable jewel in his hand...

This movie's biggest flaw is the lack of screen time for Karloff, out of the movie's 80 minutes, Karloff appears for 25 minutes at the most. In other respects, the movie has many qualities, it is very well photographed, the score is great and fits in perfectly, and all that, as well as lots of shadows, make the movie highly atmospheric and obscure, as the film maintains a certain darkness throughout its entire 80 minutes. Karloff is great as always, and, in spite of the fact that he should have had more screen time, this brilliant actor is so eerie and remarkable that he carries the movie. Seeing Ernest Thesinger (Dr. Pretorius in "Bride Of Frankenstein") deliver a great performance as the butler is another great quality of "The Ghoul". The performances are generally good, Cedrick Hardwicke is great as the lawyer Broughton, and Kathleen Harrison and Harold Huth are great fun to watch in the film's more humorous parts. Unfortunately, the movie, which starts out greatly, gets quite boring in the middle, and nothing really happens for quite some time. Apart from the unnecessary boredom in the middle of the movie, and the fact that Karloff's role could have been a lot bigger, the movie is certainly worth watching. When it comes to Egyptian themed movies with Karloff, however, I'll recommend "The Mummy" of 1932, a true masterpiece, ten times over "The Ghoul".

All things considered, "The Ghoul" is certainly no highlight in the great Boris Karloff's career, but warmly recommended to my fellow fans of classic Horror cinema. 6/10