The Ghost Walks

This is a surprisingly entertaining comic mystery, given that it is mostly low-budget and has a low-profile cast. "The Ghost Walks" is an old-fashioned gloomy house mystery story. Although a lot of the plot elements are old standbys of the genre, there are some nice twists, and the low-key humor usually works fairly well, too.

The film begins with a playwright, a theatrical producer, and the producer's assistant getting stranded in the country and seeking refuge in a large, gloomy old house. The playwright happens to know the occupants, and it turns out that the house had been the scene of a still-unsolved murder some years previously. At dinner, the producer and his assistant listen uncomfortably as everyone else discusses the old murder. Suddenly the lights go out, and then - then comes a pretty nice twist, which most viewers should find surprising and satisfying. It sets the stage for the rest of the action, and is quickly followed by some other twists.

The story that follows is routine in parts, but it is entertaining and has just enough unpredictability to keep the viewer's attention until the end. There is a lot of light humor, most of which is handled pretty well by the cast.

If you like old-fashioned mystery stories that do not take themselves too seriously, you will probably find "The Ghost Walks" worth watching.

After their car crashes into a tree, theatrical producer Herman Wood (Richard Carle), his secretary Homer Erskine (Johnny Arthur) and playwright Prescott Ames (John Miljan) seek refuge from a storm in a nearby house, the home of Dr. Kent (Henry Kolker). The evening takes an unexpected turn when one of occupants of the house, a strange woman called Beatrice (Eve Southern), disappears during a power outage at dinner and later turns up dead.

This old dark house murder mystery has all of the clichés covered, with a stormy night, secret passageways, a revolving bookcase, a booby trapped four poster bed, a painting with eyeholes, and an escaped homicidal maniac. It also features a neat twist in which most of the characters turn out to be actors performing Ames' new thriller in order to impress the producer. The murder, however, was not part of the plan. When Wood discovers Ames' script and realises that he has been duped, he refuses to believe that the murder is real, especially when Beatrice's body conveniently disappears.

This should have been a whole lot of macabre fun -- the premise is a good one -- but the film suffers from pedestrian direction from Frank R. Strayer, an overly talky script, and too much humour that detracts from the horror. When all is said and done, there has been no murder after all, and the escaped lunatic is easily apprehended and taken back to the asylum.

With its twist, the film reminds me a little of Pete Walker's House of the Long Shadows (1983), but that one had four icons of horror in it. The Ghost Walks doesn't.

In THE GHOST WALKS, a group of travelers gets stranded at a huge mansion on a -wait for it- dark and stormy night.

A strange, apparently unbalanced woman named Beatrice (Eve Southern), just happens to be staying at the house on the anniversary of her husband's murder. She spends most of her time wandering around the place, and speaking to someone that only she can see.

During dinner, the lights go out, and the fun begins. Mystery, murder, and thrills commence.

This is indeed another take on the "old dark house" idea, only this time there's a nice twist involved. The horror and comedic elements are balanced well. Throw in an escaped mental patient and a "shock" finale, and we're off!...

On their way to a country house to hear a new play being read a theatrical producer, his secretary, and the playwright end up stuck in the mud. They make their way to a nearby house, only to end up at the home of the playwright's fiance. If you can't guess that murder and mayhem are about to take place then you haven't been paying attention.

This is a a good entry in the old dark house genre. Not only does it have a good mystery, you also have some very funny one liners wandering through it. The cast is across the board excellent and they're more than willing to have a good time with what is good material.

I would love to say that this is one of the best of the genre, it should have been, but for me something happened on the way that made me down grade the rating to only seven out of ten. I can't tell you what it is, not for certain anyway. Perhaps its the sense that I knew where it was going almost from the outset, or perhaps its something else, I'm not sure what, but there was something that I couldn't shake that made me like this film despite wanting to love it. It just missed being great and somehow fell short.

That said I DO SUGGEST YOU SEE IT. It is after all a very witty film, that entertains fully, despite just missing being great.

A stageplay producer and his assistant are invited to an old house during a rainstorm with unexpected results.

The movie's played more for laughs than for shivers. Erskine (Arthur) and Wood (Carle) are played very broadly, and in Erskine's case with a fey undercurrent. In fact the rather clever screenplay appears to be having a good time with innuendo. There are two good twists to the story, but I kept waiting for the ghost who never seemed to arrive. In fact, the little programmer is more a light-hearted mystery than anything scary. And who is Eve Sothern (Beatrice). I've never seen her before, but with her gorgeously angular features, she furnishes the movie's one riveting moment when she first appears, zombie-like. Anyway, this could have been a good little mystery-fright film had those in charge decided to drop the awkward comedic overlay.