Director: Edward D. Wood Jr.
Written by: Edward D. Wood Jr.
Cast: Kenne Duncan, Duke Moore, Tor Johnson, Valda Hansen

Year / Country: 1959, USA
Running Time: 69 mins.

Boy, this is bad. Made in the same year as Plan 9 from Outer Space , this is another travesty by Ed Wood. It is the sequel to Bride of the Monster, which is actually pretty good compared to this.

The ghouls from the title are initially just two women, one dressed in white and one in black, who act in service of the mad spiritualist Dr. Acula (clever name huh?). The police starts to investigate some strange occurrences in the woods around where the late Dr. Eric Vornoff (Bela Lugosi) conducted his crazy experiments in Bride of the Monster. His assistant Lobo (Tor Johnson) apparently survived and is now working for Dr. Acula.

The hilarious Chriswell narrates the ‘story’ and a bunch of other Ed Wood regulars can be seen in small roles. Paul Marco for example plays patrolman Paul Kelton (same character as in Plan 9). He is supposed to be the comic relief, but is very annoying instead. Other performances are perhaps even more dreadful, especially Kenne Duncan in the villain role.

There is some typical Wood stuff that is entertaining. The sets for example are so minimalist that shots can only be taken from two or three angles and never in wide shot. The mise-en-scène is also hysterically funny. Film was probably too expensive so everything had to be done in one shot. The problem is that the scenes are stretched out way too long, so even though it only takes 69 minutes, it is hard to finish this flick.

Rating:

Biography: Edward D. Wood Jr. (1924, New York – 1978, Hollywood) is widely considered as the world’s worst filmmaker. His low-budget movies, usually mergers of science-fiction and horror, are mostly complete disasters in terms of production values and continuity. In 1994, Edward D. Wood Jr. became the subject of an amazing biopic directed by Tim Burton called Ed Wood.

Filmography: The Sun Was Setting (1951, TV short), Trick Shooting with Kenne Duncan (1953, short), Glen or Glenda (1953), Crossroad Avenger: The Adventures of the Tuscon Kid (1953, TV short), Boots (1953, short), Jail Bait (1954), Bride of the Monster (1955), The Night the Banshee Cried (1957, short), Final Curtain (1957, short), Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), Night of the Ghouls (1959), The Sinister Urge (1960), Take It Out in Trade (1970), The Young Marrieds (1971), Necromania: A Tale of Weird Love (1971)