My take: I fell asleep watching this one. Twice.
I had high hopes for The Ghoul, starring Boris Karloff, which is the 17th film covered in Studies in Terror. I really liked Karloff in Frankenstein, and since he is so famous, I thought this movie would be a slam dunk.
Karloff as the Ghoul.
The movie even started out with a terrific premise. A wealthy old Egyptian scholar dies. But not after having left explicit instructions for his burial in line with ancient Egyptian rituals. If those instructions are not properly followed, then he will come back from the grave to kill.
Of course no one followed the instructions. You can guess how well that went for them.
Unfortunately, this great premise was muddled with too many characters and not enough action. After the death of Boris Karloff’s character it takes about 30 minutes for him to rise from the grave. In a mere 80-minute film, this feels like ages.
I would only recommend this movie to someone who is obsessed with Boris Karloff or monster movies from that era.
I watched it on youtube:
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