Spook Busters

Spook Busters

The hardest part of ghost hunting is violently murdering the innocent to increase business.

Fortuitously, the restless spirits in this comedy are just a ruse by the resident.

Receiving their first job after graduating exterminating school and starting their own business, The Bowery Boys (William Benedict, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, David Gorcey) head to a haunted house to rid it of its unwanted inhabitants.

Accompanied by their friends (Gabriel Dell, Tanis Chandler), the gang enters the mansion unaware that the mad scientist (Douglass Dumbrille) within plots to use one of their brains for transplant into his gorilla.

Merely the fourth instalment in the long running series, Spook Busters, née Ghost Busters, remains one of the comedy troupe's most recognized and rambunctious episodes, thanks mostly to the inclusion of the zany primate.

But in the end apes are much easier to capture than ghosts on account you can club them.

Yellow Light

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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.

Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall are the ringleaders this chapter of the Bowery Boys. lots of puns, turns of phrase. They get hired to investigate strange goings on in an old mansion. some fun co-stars... character actor Chester Clute is in here as the real estate agent. Douglass Dumbrille had a dark side to his characters; usually played the bad guy. and Gabriel Dell appears now and then in the Bowery Boys films. Gorcey's brother David and father Bernard are also in here. the usual recipe of slapstick humor and word play get us to the end of the film. fun signs in the real estate office, where all the places for sale are crossed out, highlighting the shortage of houses after WW II. its pretty okay. aint nothing new here. but entertaining enough. Directed by William Beaudine; had directed a bunch of the Bower Boys films.

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.