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Night of the Ghouls (1959)
Kenne Duncan was a freak
No need to elaborate on the plot or even to judge this film as that's already been admirably accomplished by my fellow reviewers.
Just wanted to point out that the leading man in Night of the Ghouls, Kenne Duncan is reputed to have been a bit of a freak. According to the Wood biography, Nightmare of Ecstasy, Duncan (aka Dr. Akula) held great Hollywood parties which were attended by many of the Ed Wood regulars, who report that whilst the majority of the guests kept their pants on, Duncan would wander round his crib in a sagging birthday suit. What's more, they were truly humbled at the over-sized swizzle stick he proudly flaunted as he went about making sure everyone was well-oiled. I'm not kidding, read the book- a ton of other great insights.
Now please enjoy our feature presentation.
Some People (1962)
Bristol in its gritty glory!
Not many films used to be shot in Bristol, England in the 1960s. But Some People was shot entirely in and around the old city going out of its way to show the main characters in the very spots they would actually have been hanging about in real life as aimless teenagers. I know for certain because my parents were courting teens at that very time in that very place. I showed them the film recently (yes they're still a couple 54 years later) and the locations were very accurate to life as they knew it. My father actually worked in the Aircraft factory featured. The dance club in the film was the top spot for young Bristolians to cut a rug in 1962, a favorite place for them and all of their young friends (the front door manned by no less than Dave Prowse (not in the film unfortunately), the actor who made good as Darth Vader in a slightly better known film.) Bristol has changed but not so much that anyone familiar with it wouldn't know most of the locales.
Not much of a film really critically speaking, but well cast, well meaning, and well...it's not half bad. If you know the place it's a precious document though of a time and place which can never be duplicated.
The Ghost Goes Gear (1966)
Yes it's bad, but you might dig bad
it is said that the British never really take themselves seriously. Case in point this Spencer Davis Group vehicle which tries only to be a bit silly and totally hip at the same time, and fails most of the time to be either. The film's plot is rubbish. The dialog is totally vapid. The musical numbers are mostly embarrassing for all involved. However, there are moments of fun, and a few of the musical acts are not bad at all. It's like the Monkees without most of the charm. It is refreshing to see how unsophisticated pop music was in those days though. We have lost that innocence forever and at least it's documented in gorgeous colour for future generations to ignore.
Amazing World of Ghosts (1978)
Bottom of the Barrel
**Spoiler Alert**
Nothing happens in this movie from the speculative 70s. It is a continuous stream of weird, disjointed stock footage narrated by a disembodied voice for an hour and a half, masquerading as a documentary about things "otherworldly."
The narrators voice is pleasant enough. He does mention ghosts at some point but generally the script is haphazard and seems to have been written to match the footage in as near a sensible way as possible, but fails laughably.
Enjoy it for what it is if you can. Tell your friend it's fantastic and make them watch it on YouTube (the only place left that it can be found) as a prank. They'll think you lost your mind.
Zotz! (1962)
I wanted to yell ZOTZ! at this film!
ZOTZ! unfortunately proves the producer/director's lack of ability with Comedic storytelling. He was a horror flick master but WiIlliam Castle must have thought anything and everything was funny. Perhaps that's why he always seems to have a grin on his face. I can just imagine him rolling in the aisle at the premiere while everyone else is scratching his head. And poor Tom Poston! I remember him (in various TV appearances) as being a funny comic who had a subtle and dry delivery. But in ZOTZ! there aren't really any jokes. I hate to say it but laugh tracks would actually have helped this film.
I won't bother to mention the plot, as the other reviews do that well.
I don't know if there was any particular William Castle gimmick associated with ZOTZ! but worth note is the opening moment where Castle yells ZOTZ! at the Columbia Pictures Logo, and the lady herself has an actual line or two. It's probably the only claim to fame this film will ever have, except for being a famous turkey.
13 Frightened Girls (1963)
No So Good
As a producer William Castle was known for his outlandish gimmickry. In this the film delivers, although anemically, compared with Castle's best gimmicks, like Illusion-o, and Percepto. In this film he first put together an international search contest for the girls who would play the titular characters, and even made a different opening scene for each girl, all of whom represented their home country, with the exception of the Chinese and Soviet girls who had to be cast, (for you young people, in those days there was this thing called the Iron Curtain) as well as the seemingly well-groomed lead. Those alternate openings were presumably shown in their home countries only, as Americans only saw the one in which our girl was featured. The gimmickry continues with the addition of the Danger Card, with its scratch and win scenario. As this was a spy movie I am sure better concepts could have been developed. I think Castle was just busy on too many projects and this one got less gray matter devoted to it.
As a director, even by the standards we use to judge other Castle films, this one is not so good. As in Ed Wood's classics bad script writing, bad dialog, poor acting do nothing to sell the drawn out and preposterous plot line. It's 007 (with the inherent sexual innuendo)meets Nancy Drew (with its fresh-faced accidental intrigue). I guess it could have worked somehow, but it just doesn't in this case. Come to think of it the whole spy kid genre has been a bit of an underachiever.
See it for the strangeness of it. 3 of 10.