Night of the Ghouls

Seriously bad movies takes the viewer into unexplored realms of weirdness quite beyond the range of more conventional films (there's an extraordinary sequence in 'Night of the Ghouls' depicting a seance, for example); although when a film begins with Criswell rising from a coffin to deliver a pious homily on the existential threat posed by juvenile delinquency you've got a pretty good idea what to expect. Veteran cameraman William C. Thompson meanwhile creates some memorable images; the single most haunting probably being the closeups of Jeannie Stevens in her fleeting appearances as the Black Ghost.

All the mad ingredients that make up Ed Wood's delirious world are in full force here.

A spiritualist is busy raising the dead in a haunted house, and the cops investigate in classic Wood style. Ghouls, skeletons, bizarre and protracted dialogue aplenty in this 'sequel' to Bride of The Monster, which the script constantly refers to. There's even a narration delivered from a coffin by the inimitable Criswell!

It's no use arguing the merits of any Ed Wood film. At best, they're interminably silly by any conventional standard. Yet to his many fans they radiate with a weird appeal that defies explanation. I like 'em anyway.

Ed Wood rounds up the usual suspects for this craptastic shocker. Lt. Moore is hot on the trail of shyster medium Dr. Acula (Uh huh, Dracula…I get it) who sets up his show in the good old Dr. Vornoff's (Bela Lugosi's lair in 'Bride of the Gorilla' (1955)) old lair to bilk little old ladies hard earned social security by channeling their love ones with floating sheets and phantom trumpet players who couldn't hold a tune even if they had pockets.. This guy couldn't talk to the dead with a two cans connected by string.

The Woodmeister really outdoes himself with 'Ghouls'. I was laughing my butt off during the good doctor's séances. Oh great swami salami please raise the dead. 'Night of the Ghouls' is badly acted with horrible dialogue and some of the cheesiest effects in all his films. I had a great time with this one. 4/5

If you like Ed Wood's crazy body of work, you'll like this film. It's not as good as "Plan 9," and it rivals "Glen or Glenda?," but it's better than the rest of Wood's films. It's clearly shot with such a low budget that it's almost like watching a live, closed-circuit video feed from the inside of a spookhouse, circa 1959. The plot is inexplicable, and Wood's ensemble of actors is in top (or should I say bottom?) form, especially Paul Marco as Kelton. For sheer ultra-low budget fun, the film is right up there with "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies," "Robot Monster" and "The Brain from Planet Arous." See it, if you get a chance.

Night of the Ghouls (1959)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Edward D. Wood, Jr. directs this semi-sequel to his cult film Bride of the Monster. People are seeing ghosts all over Los Angeles so a Detective (Duke Moore) goes to investigate. He comes across the weird Dr. Acula (Kenne Duncan) as well as a burned Lobo (Tor Johnson) among others. This is a rather interesting Wood film as it's probably his best made due to a couple reasons. For starters, Wood couldn't afford to pay the lab bill so the film set unreleased for 24-years. When Wade Williams stepped in and bought the film, he had professional editors edit the movie so this here makes it look somewhat better than normal. Even in other ways the film works better from the better special effects to a couple nice shots, not to mention some nice comedy bits and not those unintentional laughs we're use to. However, the film never reaches that "so bad it's good" level so we're left with a pretty bland film that doesn't go anywhere. The film is pretty boring, which is something you don't normally say in regards to Wood. The burn make up on Tor Johnson is probably the most graphic of any film from this era and looks great.