Review – Night of the Ghoul

Imagine Texas Chainsaw Massacre redone as a Merchant-Ivory-style English chamber drama (with Hammer aesthetics), and you’ve got some idea of just what kind of boring crap is in store for you here. Aside from Peter Cushing’s umpteenth under-casting, the highlight here is a supporting role played by a young John Hurt, who amazingly enough looked just as much like a leprous corpse back then as he does now. And speaking of leprous corpses, the murderous thing in the attic doesn’t even put in an appearance until midway through. Before that (and for a good piece after as well) this one’s pretty much 100% what-is-it-Sebastian-I’m-arranging-matches. There’s a minor sprinkling of social commentary about the idle rich here and there, not to mention some guilt over the Raj. But whatever point the movie-makers were trying to get across swiftly gets lost in a swamp of lethargy as thick and deadly as the quicksand-ridden moors surrounding the creepy estate where most of the “action” takes place. See if desperate