User reviews

I know what you're thinking. This is an Ed Wood movie so it can't be that good. Yeah, well, it ain't that bad either. An elderly couple show up at the police station frightened out of their wits having claimed to see a ghost near an old house in the woods once owned by a deranged scientist. The police feel they need to check it out so they send in one of their officers who specializes in ghosts (don't all police squads have a ghost unit?). Another officer is sent who is very possibly the worst cop in the history of cinema. He fires his gun at anything that frightens him in the least. He's played by Ed Wood regular, Paul Marco, played with not one ounce of common sense or normalcy. Anyway, the two cops investigate the house and see it's just a front for the new owner, named Dr. Ackula (I'm not kidding), to run a profitable scam that involves talking to peoples dead relatives. One of Dr. Acula's goons to do his dirty work is played by Tor Johnson who is always a welcome sight in a movie like this. Criswell narrates the film but really is unnecessary to the story, although it kind of adds to the campiness. It is rumored that this movie sat in the can for almost two decades because Ed Wood couldn't afford to have the film developed. If you liked "Plan 9 from outer space" you'll probably at least find this film moderately amusing.

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.

How can you not like a picture that opens with a man (Criswell)sitting up in a coffin and warning that the story you are about to see may make you faint. Then the credits come on and you see the director is Edward D. Wood Jr. Yes, you may indeed faint . . .but from laughing too hard. This sequel to BRIDE OF THE MONSTER is fun on many levels. It offers unrelated footage from the unfinished movie HELLBORN (some of which later turned up in THE SINISTER URGE) which narrator Criswell tries to tie into the plot: there is also footage of Duke Moore that was shot for a 1/2 hour TV show that is woven in also. What was called "the old Willows house on Lake Marsh" is now "the house on Willow's Lake" and everyone remembers it used to be lived in by "the mad scientist who made monsters". The giant octopus is long gone but Lobo (Tor Johnson) has somehow survived and is now employed by Dr. Acula (Kenne Duncan) a phony medium. Lobo is supposed to be the "monster" in the plot but one look at him makes you think otherwise. Dressed in rags, badly burned, half blind, groaning like he is in constant pain, Lobo inspires more pity than fear. In one scene Lt. Bradford (Moore) does not even seem to notice Lobo when he is standing right next to him! Well this is still a fun movie. The ineptness of an Ed Wood movie is compensated by the sincerity that he put into every production. Ed really believed he was contributing to the movie genre and making his mark. He sure did! Not quite in the way he expected, but look how many people are still watching his movies to-day!

Another "Wooden" Classic. Almost a comedy - we've got Paul "Kelton the cop" Marco, a disfigured Tor "Lobo" Johnson and the legendary Bela Lugosi stand-in Dr. Tom Mason in place. Add hovering musical instruments and scary, scary sheets!

Strangely enough Tor Johnson is the real star of this movie. But if Ed had casted a horse it would steal the show.

I only paid 70 kroner (10 dollars if you must) to buy this. And if you like cheap trash like I do - it's worth it!

Although I really like Ed Wood I hope that my vote of 2 will help this awful film where it belongs - bottom 100!

Although this is a terrible movie, by the standards set by Bride of the Monster, Plan 9 From Outer Space and Glen or Glenda, this is not that horrible a movie. Any other director would have cringed at creating this movie, but Wood should not have since it least it shows he improved a little.

While the movie does have some scenes where it is alternatively day and night, this isn't as striking as in Plan 9. However, the overuse of stock footage is once again employed--with about 172,000 scenes of police cars driving down the road spliced into the movie is a completely random and nonsensical fashion. Also, some of the acting is so poor it would be laughed at in a high school play--particularly the old lady in the police station and her husband, "goldarnit". Officer Kelton plays a moron in a way that really had me believing he was a complete moron due to his horrid acting. But, the police chief was fairly competent and Tor Johnson was at his best because he did not talk at all--just let out little whines--an EXCELLENT decision based on his acting in Plan 9! Criswell is back--and this time not as the narrator but as an integral part of the schlocky conclusion.

So why did I give the movie a 2? Well, it shows improvement plus the plot of a phony medium who gets his due is somewhat clever. I especially liked the wanted poster in the wall at the police station. Though it was BADLY made (it sure didn't look real), I laughed when I noticed the picture on it was Ed Wood!

Too bad for all the fans though, as they might expect another Plan 9 or Bride of the Monster and find the movie is just bad--not funny because it's so bad!

Ed Wood's followup to "Plan 9 from Outer Space". Lt. Bradford (Duke Moore) and patrolman Paul Kelton (Paul Marco) go investigate a deserted house where strange things are happening. There they find Dr. Acula (sigh) (Keene Duncan) who's a phony spiritualist trying to bilk wealthy people by "contacting" their dead spouses.

This is the legendary Wood film that sat unreleased for 25 YEARS because Wood couldn't pay the lab bill! It has the typical Wood ingredients--a bad script, lousy acting (although Moore wasn't bad), a stubborn refusal to make sense and dreadful direction and editing. However it's not as bad (or as funny) as "Plan 9" or "Bride of the Monster" were. This is just pretty boring stuff. It has some fun moments--Tor Johnson's truly laughable makeup job and a bewildering séance (where someone is shot at multiple times and someone is knocked out cold--and no one bats an eyelash) but it's mostly just dull. Even Criswell (narrating from a coffin this time) seems to just be going through the motions. And good luck explaining what the Black Ghost is doing in this! Pretty bad...even for Wood. I give it a 1.

Zero stars out of ****

This, the sequel to Bride Of The Monster, is far worse than its predecessor. I can't be sure because I haven't seen all of Ed Wood's movies, but I have to imagine that this might be his worst. This movie is bad and I don't mean bad in a funny way, like Bride Of The Monster or Plan 9 From Outer Space, it's just plain bad. The best thing I can say about this one is that it might have better acting than Bride Of The Monster, I stress might, and the atmosphere is sometimes effectively claustrophobic, but that's it. This is definitely one of the worst films ever made.

'Night' meets the high standards Edward D. Wood, Jr. It's a minor classic, albeit a crucial one, commensurate with the 1953 psychodrama, "Glen or Glenda", termed by scurrilous wags 'Bargain Basement Equus'.

Previously unaware of 'Night's' existence, I enjoyed it on Elvira's L.A. TV show. I was living in Palm Springs pursuing film work. I therefore appreciated those who bravely film the unfilmable. 'Night' is just that - unfilmable.

'Dr. Acula' is a pun so moronic it would shame a five year old. It defines the film. Clueless starlets wander groggily. A bumbling - and badly overacting cop - quakes before them. Dr. Acula scams the rich.

Sound familiar? You bet. Sham-psychics scamming wealthy swells were featured in Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe novels. Albeit with one trifling distinction. Chandler could write. Ed Wood, well....

'Night' is not without merit. Paul Marco's overblown 'Kelton' could be sold as 'Do This on Your First Audition & It Will be Your Last'. There are good performances. There are bad. There are a precious few which embarrass viewers. Thespian Marco strives for that mark - and hits it.

Cheesy sets used with shameless repetition abound. Watch for the pine-panel door. It's in the police station. It's in 'Dr. Acula's' home. It's all over. Like dog doot. And, please, would some kind soul explain why in all Wood films, walls are hung with heavy drapes? Spaceships, police stations, doctor's offices, the drapes..the drapes... What is the hidden meaning?

As with audition techniques, never do what Wood's cops and robbers do. Why do they flick a gun when pulling its trigger? Cryptic symbolism? Artifice, a cinematic trick to direct your eyes to it? Underscore emotionality behind the shot? One thing it's not is good shooting. Flicking guns won't make bullets go faster. It simply makes them go where they shouldn't.

The camera always tells the truth. Watch the eyes and faces of those gathered round Dr. Acula. Curiosity and awe in a twinkling turn to 'what on earth am I doing here?' You may ask yourself as much as the film slogs to its boring conclusion. Still, you'll appreciate why it takes more than being Tor Johnson to play Calliban. You'll know why Criswell's narration is no substitute for that of Orson Welles. Then again, Orson Welles couldn't produce Night of the Ghouls.

Paul Vincent Zecchino

Manasoviet Key, FL

30 January, 2006

I truly believe that "Night Of The Ghouls" is an underrated masterpiece among Edward D Wood Jr's movies. Tim Burton's bio-pic stops before the making of it, documentaries like Rhino Video's "Look Back In Angora" at best just briefly mention it and it just doesn't get the (ahem) credit that "Plan 9 From Outer Space" does. Personally I find it just as enjoyable as "Plan 9" and the opening monologue by Criswell is among the finest moments of Ed Wood's films. Valda Hansen is a gorgeous female lead as the phony "White Ghost" who gets more than she bargained for and probably deserves. The Black Ghost (sometimes claimed to be Vampira, although I'm sure that would be news to her) is classic Wood. The phony mystic's ultimate fate is inspired and Tor Johnson and Paul Marco are as fun as ever. Ultimately it's tighter and more coherent than "Plan 9" (although just as much fun) so if you enjoyed that this is definetly a film not to be missed. Let's help get this underrated gem the reputation it deserves as an Ed Wood Classic!

Edward Wood's most outrageous film (along with 'Glen or Glenda') follows the exploits of the L.A. police when they are forced to wake up so they can try to jolt into action to investigate strange goings-on at a local haunted house.

The weirdness begins with the introduction of Dr. Acula (Kenny Duncan). Soon we are exposed to occupied coffins, drunken skeletons, bedsheets floating to the tooting of a kazoo, a levitating eyeball, a disembodied trumpet playing a weak slew of licks, and an enigmatic human head mouthing a drone of incoherent mumbling while wearing a metal hat.

If you think this all sounds totally nuts, you're right. You may want to get blasted before attempting to sit through this delirium.

Semi-sequel to Wood's 'Plan 9 From Outer Space'.

The story goes that 'Night Of The Ghouls' sat in the can for over twenty years because Ed Wood couldn't afford to have it developed. I've sometimes seen it passed off as a sequel to 'Plan 9 From Outer Space', but it's actually a sequel to 'Bride Of The Monster'. The links are slim but the mad scientist played by Bela Lugosi is mentioned once or twice, and his assistant Lobo (Tor Johnson) appears in horribly disfigured form. As well as Johnson a few Wood regulars are involved, notably Criswell and Paul Marco. Criswell is a hoot as always but Marco is tiresome. He's the comic relief but I can't stand his character who is always whining and screwing up. Duke Moore from 'Plan 9' plays the main cop and Kenne Duncan, who trash hounds might remember from 'The Astounding She-Monster', plays "Dr. Acula", a crook posing as a spiritualist. 'Night Of The Ghouls' is a lesser Wood movie. It's neither as crazy as 'Glen Or Glenda' or as effective as 'Bride Of The Monster', and frankly I miss Lugosi. So don't get your hopes up, it's fun but pretty forgettable.

I enjoy bad movies, because they provide tons of humor in unintentional ways. Ed Wood was particularly talented in this regard, and his Plan 9 and Bride of the Monster are true 'classics'. Sadly, Night of the Ghouls doesn't deliver like his other films did. The only laugh out loud moments are provided by Paul Marco (Kelton the Cop) when he intially visits the Haunted House. Steer clear of this one, and be glad you didn't drop twenty bucks on the

But pretty much. I know this is a 50's, so I can't expect it to be as exciting as something from our time, like Hellraiser. I suppose part of the reason for my disappointment is that I was expecting more ghouls. They only came out at the end. Most of the movie was just some phony medium running his little racket under a cemetery. It was a good setting, so I gave the movie two stars. They could have done so much better though. 50s or not, a movie that only lasts about an hour and a half shouldn't take an hour and 15 minutes for anything exciting to happen. If it had a better plot, I could forgive it being a little dull, but it wasn't much of a plot either. Give me Night of the Living Dead any day.

This is the "lost" Ed Wood film. It wasn't released until 1983 because Wood couldn't pay for the development fees at the film lab. I highly doubt that this would have been the one to break him into the mainstream.

The plot is that Dr. Acula (hee-hee get it?) is running a spook house in the same house that was supposedly burned down in "Bride of the Monster." Tor Johnson also plays the same character, Lobo, who was supposedly burned in the accident. And yet again, Kelton the cop mucks things up with his stupidity. Overall, I really don't think it was intended as a sequel, but in the weird world of Ed Wood just about anything could be recycled. I didn't enjoy this one as much as Wood's other films. I think that he did a better job on this than Plan 9, but it lacked something.

Look for Dr. Tom Watson (this time he actually shows his face unlike when he played Bela Lugosi's stunt double), and Tony Cardoza (MST3K fans should recognize him as everyone's favorite monotone, Coleman Francis collaborator).

I actually liked Plan 9 From Outer Space, it's not a good movie, but it is fun and I just cannot hate it. Night of the Ghouls was a movie I couldn't get into at all really, the opening scene is great and very funny and while Ed Wood Jnr is far from a great director I just can't bring myself to say he is the worst director of all time because of the heart he brings to his pictures. Sadly, the rest doesn't work. The production values are very creaky even by today's standards with the editing slapdash and the effects and sets fake, the story is slow and meandering even for a film that is not very long, and most scenes and the dialogue are embarrassing. The acting is amateurish as well, even from Bela Lugosi. Overall, a bad film with only one good scene that saves it from total disaster. 2/10 Bethany Cox

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.

You'd have to be pretty perverse to rate this a '10,' or indeed anything higher than the lowest possible score. Even by Ed Wood's previously established low standard, this mess is just about without redeeming features. It's even hard to find laughs this time. It's ostensibly a sequel to his pretty funny BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, even bringing back Tor Johnson as Lobo once again. But otherwise there are no more than a few chuckles to be had from the inept 'acting' of Wood's 'performers.' Skip it and stick to his earlier 'classics' like PLAN 9 or THE VIOLENT YEARS.

i just... i just love her so... i... i think that... actually this is a marvelous film - tor johnson makes every movie a winner, stumbling around in his monster-contacts, and valda hansen is radiant in her "ghost"ness. anything that starts with criswell in a casket is bound to be a revelation (though maybe hard to understand) of the nature of existence and the transitory nature of our humanity. i'm not kidding.

"Night of the Ghouls" is one of those movies best viewed by a group of friends ala Mystery Science Theater because this movie is so bad it's good. If you're expecting to see a classic horror film, you will be sorely disappointed. If you are looking for a fun diversion, this is your flick. The opening monologue by Criswell is a perfect set-up for the guilty pleasure you are about to see. Edward Wood,Jr did not make his movies with a tongue-in-cheek attitude and the actors seem to be taking their work seriously, all of which gives the movie it's unintended comedic charm. One sidenote - John Carpenter (later of "Halloween" fame) gets to take his turn on the other side of the camera as Captain Robbins. The rest of the cast is basically Ed Wood regulars highlighted by the inimitable Tor Johnson as Lobo. The sets and props are as basic and wacky as you can get. All in all, this film is a true Ed Wood production and a must-see for devotees of "so bad it's good" films.