Spook Busters

It's been theorized that SPOOK BUSTERS was the inspiration for the 1984 hit comedy GHOSTBUSTERS, and given that the titles of the two films are so similar, well ... it's possible. But the idea here of Leo Gorcey and his Bowery Boys buddies getting diplomas from exterminating school and setting out to open a business for terminating household pests is about as close as this gets to the latter movie. The show begins with some humorously mangled voice-over narration from Gorcey commenting on his graduation ("I was overwhelmed with commotion and there was a lunk in my throat"), and from there the chuckles slow down a bit. But what happens is the gang gets a gig to work at an old house that might be haunted, and the opportunity for VERY light comedy occurs when a scientist wants to put Sach's brain into a gorilla. There's a cute slow-motion fight sequence, but overall this is another typical entry of the day from Slip and the guys. Also making a reappearance from earlier movies is Gabriel Dell (as "Gabe") who returns from the Navy as a serious character and adds nothing. In future films Gabe would drift in and out of these comedies and be more like a pesky fly at a picnic. **1/2 out of ****

The Bowery Boys tangle with a mad scientist in this fun fourth entry in the series. This time Slip Mahoney and the gang graduate from exterminator school and launch their own pest control business (from Louie's Sweet Shop). They get a job but, instead of exterminating bugs, they're hired to rid an old mansion of ghosts. There are no ghosts, however, just a scientist and his goons performing experiments.

The regulars are all great. In addition to Leo Gorcey's Slip and Huntz Hall's Sach, the rest of the gang is Whitey (William Benedict), Bobby (Bobby Jordan), Chuck (David Gorcey) and Gabe (Gabriel Dell). This was Dell's first Bowery Boys film, having been with the gang in their prior incarnations as the Dead End Kids and East Side Kids. The always fun Bernard Gorcey appears as Louie. Douglas Dumbrille is enjoyable as the mad scientist. No Karloff or Lugosi but he'll do. There are lots of laughs to be had with the many wonderful lines from Leo Gorcey, particularly his narration. His malapropisms are terrific and he delivers them perfectly. This entry also has a number of great sight gags, including the office for their exterminator business with funny signs all over that have humorously misspelled words. The 'haunted' house is full of the usual bits that one might expect after having seen countless comedies and cartoons involving such plots. Old or not, the bits still work here. It's a funny movie with the Bowery Boys all contributing to the laughs, instead of just Slip and Sach (as often was the case). The slow motion fight scene near the end is a highlight.

Slip's (Gorcey) candyshop exterminator co. (read the Bowery Boys) is called to a creepy old house where the boys meet real exterminators!

The best thing about this so-so entry are two stellar bad guys—Charles Middleton and Douglas Dumbrille. Middleton's a walking graveyard, while Dumbille's a leering madman. Together they menace Gorcey and Hall inside their old dark mansion (where else). Except Monogram appears to be paying Middleton by the word since he mostly stands around and nods—too bad because his voice of doom is enough to freeze a ranger battalion. Also, cheapjack Monogram confines the last 20 minutes to two meager sets, not exactly a treat for the eyes.

The movie manages a few chuckles, especially when the mad Dr. Coslow (Dumbrille) eyes Sach's moronic cranium like a slice of beefsteak, rare. Some choice dialog follows. But what's Gabe Dell's navy man doing in this knock-about. He reminds me of Zeppo of the Marx Bros. — the zanies' link to romance and the normal world, but also a drag on the humor. Note too the familiar face of Billy Benedict as gang member Whitey. I expect he kept the newspaper business alive during the 30's and 40's by hawking them from a thousand backlot street corners.

Anyway, it's a passable entry in the long-running series. But if you think you've seen it before, you probably have.

Because this is an early Bowery Boys film, it features more than just Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall). Bobby Jordan and Whitey are on hand and the film is a better than average one for the team as a result. In the later films, any real pretense of a gang of friends is gone and it basically was the Slip & Sach Show...and the pictures were much more repetitive and less enjoyable.

The film begins with the boys graduating...from exterminator school. Soon they have their own insect extermination business and they are asked to take care of a creepy mansion that appears to be abandoned. But, there's actually a nutty scientist hiding in the basement doing experiments. At first he tries to scare away the boys but when he meets Sach he knows he'll be the perfect candidate for a brain transplant with gorilla!

Surprisingly enough, this enjoyable nonsense is pretty typical of a Bowery Boys film! The weird haunted house and brain transplant are both themes that would be repeated many times during the course of this franchise. It's very enjoyable if you like that sort of thing...and for others it might be a bit of a trial to get through this B-movie silliness.

Spook Busters (1946)

** (out of 4)

Fourth film in The Bowery Boys series has the gang graduating exterminating school and soon they're offered their first job. The boys must travel to a creepy old house, which is rumored to be haunted and sure enough strange things begin to happen once they enter. This entry in the series will have fans feeling flashbacks to the East Side Kids days with movies like SPOOKS RUN WILD and GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE. I'm really not sure what it is but the horror spoof is one genre that these kids should stay away from no matter what name they're going under. As with the previous two films, this one here is a very weak spoof of the horror genre and the worst thing is that the screenplay never really knows what it wants to be. There's some voice-over narration at the start of the movie that is clearly meant to be spoofing the various film noirs out at the time yet this eventually goes away and then shows up out of no where at the very end of the movie. The confusion doesn't stop there as the movie starts off as a spoof of the horror genre and quickly jumps away from it. After what happens in SPOOKS RUN WILD and GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE it would seem like the screenwriters would want to try something different and have the group really fighting some ghosts. Leo Gorcey actually doesn't take up too much here as his character is pretty underwritten for the most part. He really doesn't get anything fun to do and outside of the mangled dialogue he has pretty much nothing to do. Huntz Hall gets the majority of the "jokes" here and he takes them and goes way over the top trying to get any laugh. The supporting boys are all wasted and that includes Bobby Jordan who is pretty much just standing around the entire time. The final ten-minutes is when the film finally starts to pick up with a couple good comedy sequences. The first involves Hall trying to escape the bad guys by pretending that a ghost is forcing him to do things. This is followed up with a pretty funny ending where Hall and Gorcey must fight to get out of their trouble. Director Beaudine must have been really bored here because there's not an ounce of energy to be had in the first sixty-minutes and in the end this is yet another disappointment.