Night of the Ghouls (1959)

Director:

Edward D. Wood Jr.

Writer:

Edward D. Wood Jr. (written by)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Phony spiritualist raises the dead.

Plot Keywords:

Cult Favorite | Sequel | Based On Novel

Cast

Kenne Duncan	...	Dr. Acula
Duke Moore	...	Police Lieutenant Daniel Bradford (as 'Duke' Moore)
Tor Johnson	...	Lobo
Valda Hansen	...	The White Ghost
Johnny Carpenter	...	Police Captain Robbins (as John Carpenter)
Paul Marco	...	Patrolman Kelton
Don Nagel	...	Crandel
Bud Osborne	...	Darmoor
Jeannie Stevens	...	The Black Ghost
Harvey B. Dunn	...	Henry
Margaret Mason	...	Martha
Clay Stone	...	Young Man
Marcelle Hemphill	...	Mrs. Wingate Yates Foster
Tom Mason	...	Foster Ghost
James La Maida	...	Hall

Also Known As:

Dr. Acula (USA) (original script title)
Revenge of the Dead
A Noite dos Espíritos (Portugal) [pt]
La notte degli spettri (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

69 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Spain:T | USA:Approved (Certificate # 19275) | UK:PG | USA:Unrated | Italy:T | Finland:K-18 (2004)

Trivia:

When Wade Williams acquired the rights to Edward D. Wood Jr.'s Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) in 1982, Wood's widow, Kathy, told him of this never-released film that was being held by a post-production house because the lab fees hadn't been paid. Williams paid the fees and acquired this film as well.

Quotes:

Criswell: How many of you know the horror, the terror I will now reveal to you?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Scrubs: My Missed Perception (#5.6)" (2006)

Not as much fun as "Plan 9"

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 Dunacn) 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.