"The Ghoul" (1933)
Themes: Curses; revenge from beyond the grave
Synopsis (from the back of the box): On his deathbed, famed Egyptologist Professor Morlant instructs his assistant to bury him with an ancient jewel he believes will grant him eternal life. But soon after he’s entombed, the sacred treasure is ripped form his hand by a mysterious grave robber. Now, filled with fury, Morlant rises from his crypt as a grotesquely decaying mummy determined to avenge the theft … and destroy everything in his path!
Boris Karloff starred in this film well at the height of his “Frankenstein” fame; in fact, this one came right on the heels of the ushering in of his second most popular role, that of Im-Ho-Tep in “The Mummy.” Similar in some themes to the latter film, “The Ghoul” laces a tale more aptly described as a whodunit in horror wrappings. No pun intended, trust me.
Karloff himself is fine, playing Professor Morlant mute once he’s resurrected and portraying a wide range of emotional depth in his actions. But for my money, the star of the film is Ernest Thesiger, who, despite being a poof to the nth degree, plays Karloff’s right hand man Laing with a mixed diabolism and cowardice that elevates him above the rest of the cast.
The story itself is pretty slapdash; there are plot holes galore, the number of which grows exponentially when the true nature of Morlant’s resurrection is revealed. Perhaps “revealed” is to strong a word, as it ends up merely being hinted at in a throwaway discussion between two characters racing toward the scene of these shenanigans. This may be a spoiler, but I don’t disillusion myself that I’ll ruin a fine cinematic experience for the lot of you: If a cataleptic person is entombed, how does the full moon shining on their crypt door revive them? And if a person is on the cusp of death before they sink into catalepsy, how does their revival imbue them with the strength to carry on the tasks that require the endurance that Morlant’s zombific actions do?
If nothing else, the film sets itself up nicely as a kinda-sorta nod to the early Hitchcock films, as well as those featuring Rathbone’s Holmes. Not a perfect film by any means, “The Ghoul” is still an entertaining ninety minutes.
Rating: 2 count.
Monday, October 06, 2008
SGM Month of Halloween Horror Movie for Oct. 5
5 comments:
Have you considered writing and publishing an "Every Horror Movie Ever Made" type review book based on the reviews you do here? Your style of being concise and to the point, giving a synopsis, and hitting the high points lends itself to a compendium-style publication.
I actually have considered this as a possibility.
There's been a dearth of genre-specific film guides in the past few years; as far as horror films go, there's only been a handful that have really been worth picking up -- Videohound's Horror Show, Creature Features by Stanley, and Fangoria's 101 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen are the top ones I'd pick, and even then the Videohound book's out of print currently, Creature Features was published eight years ago, and the Fangoria book is pretty limited in scope.
I thought for a while I'd like to do something like those, but I'd have to keep it very close-ended, like something trite like "666 horror films to watch for Halloween" or "A Horror Movie a Day," something like that.
On the flip mode, I would think it crucial to covering unheralded horror films. Every horror movie book is going to talk about "Psycho," "Bride of Frankenstein," "Halloween," et cetera, like they're freaking "Citizen Kane" or some shit. But I can tell you every horror film reference guide that has mentioned the movie "It," from 1966 starring Roddy McDowall: zero. And that's a damn shame.
I appreciate the praise all the same, but let me know if you still have this opinion of my writing after the shower thought of 10/6.
I agree. I told you in an e-mail earlier this week that per your reviews and suggestions, I have watched, read, played, and listened to things I probably would not have.
Publish it! I would buy it!
I appreciate the praise all the same, but let me know if you still have this opinion of my writing after the shower thought of 10/6.
I would wager that if blogs existed in Ernest Hemingway's lifetime, there would be a collection of his musing things like "I would love to stick my dick in the cunt of that stallion I saw at the market this morning. The tits on that beast were amazing."
And I don't know why, but when I read that in my head it sounds like Darrell Hammond doing Sean Connery doing Ernest Hemingway.
Well, in a recent New York Review of Books it did reveal that Earnest Hemingway did make a weight estimate for Gertrude Stein's breasts (ten pounds per), so it isn't out of the realm of possibility.
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