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As another reviewer has noted, SPOOKS RUN WILD is a film which perfectly captures the spirit of Halloween, American-style: that is, a night in which kids can be scared by dressed-up ghouls and ghosts and the macabre is celebrated. This film's one in the long-running series of East End Kids movies, in which a group of overage twentysomethings play a gang of feral youths who are always getting into trouble with both the law and various criminals.

This time around, things take a decidedly macabre turn with the police hunt for a serial killer, played to the hilt by a cameoing Bela Lugosi. All of the kids and Lugosi himself end up in a creepy old mansion, where lots of jokes and ghoulish gags arise. Lugosi doesn't have much screen time but is fun when he does show up, and there's a nice role for Angelo Rossitto (FREAKS) as his henchman.

Other than Lugosi, this film is pretty good for being a programmer from poverty-row studio Monogram Pictures. The cast are lively and give dedicated performances and the jokes come thick and fast. Yes, this is dated, but in a fun way, and I still prefer it to 90% of modern American comedy. Sunshine Sammy Morrison, playing the token black comic relief guy (a character trope that turns out to have existed since forever) steals the show with his likable, scaredy-cat humour.

Bela Lugosi and the East Side Kids (aka the Dead End Kids aka The Bowery Boys) made two films together. This is the first and best. Its a low budget creaky mystery that some how works despite its short comings.

The plot has the Kids forcibly removed from the streets for two weeks in the country at a summer camp. Not wanting to be watched over they sneak out the first night only to be shot at by a local care taker. They end up taking refuge in an old mansion inhabited where Bela Lugosi is staying. At the same time a "monster killer" is prowling the surrounding area. Confusion, murder and "comedy" ensues.

By no means a great film, and probably only an okay one, this is a movie that needs to be watched at about two in the morning when you're half asleep. Its the stereotypical haunted house film turned side ways,yet again, by Leo Gorcey and his pals. Sure the comedy is beyond low and the plot is predictable, but somehow Bela, in a decent role, lifts this up to be more than just a bunch of 30 year old teenagers running amok. Actually the fact there there is a real plot helps a great deal (The later Bela/ East Side Kids pairing Ghosts on the Loose suffers greatly from essentially being two barely connected halves). Its not great by anyone's definition, but it is fun in a silly way.

If you're in the mood for a haunted house comedy the likes of which they don't make any more (thank God) you can give it a try. While far from great it does have Bela hamming it up which is usually good for an hour entertainment.

Although this East Side Kids feature has its pluses and some good sequences, it probably could have been better. Having Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, and the rest of the gang being paired with Bela Lugosi is an intriguing thought, and it certainly seems as if it could have been the basis for a really entertaining movie. Perhaps the biggest letdown is simply that Lugosi never gets a lot to do, so that he does not really get the chance to become a part of things.

The setup is kind of convoluted, and it takes a fair amount of time to get to the main action, which has the gang roaming around in an old abandoned mansion where Lugosi's character has just taken up residence. Long stretches of the movie are carried simply by the interplay among Muggs and the rest of the group as they explore, stumble around, and get lost in various situations, all the while wisecracking, ad-libbing, and playing with the props.

As always, most of these antics are quite entertaining, but here the actual story is too negligible to sustain its end of things. A more carefully written story, and most importantly a better, less thankless role for Lugosi, could have made much better use of this unusual combination of talent.

Would anyone have believed that an Academy Award would be in the future for one of the participants in Spooks Run Wild back in 1941? I think one would have been told to get a cranial examination. Yet Carl Foreman who wrote the screenplay would be getting one eleven years later for High Noon. Unfortunately blacklist was also in his future.

Academy Award winners didn't usually work at Monogram Pictures, but one starts to learn the trade somewhere in the film business. In this case it's with The Bowery Boys. They've been sent in the charge of Dave O'Brien and Dorothy Short to a summer camp. The boys go wandering off and come upon a haunted house occupied by Bela Lugosi.

The usual Bowery Boy monkeyshines are present throughout. When the boys go wandering off however, we're informed that a serial killer is also loose in the area.

It's from Monogram so don't expect all that much. Still it's interesting to see the genesis of High Noon?

In my opinion, one of the better Bowery Boys movies. As with other of their films, the comedy is simple and transparent. The boys play the roles of "spooked" kids very well, and the role played by Bela Lugosi adds much to the storyline. The settings are eerie enough to make the movie a good Halloween movie for both adults and kids. While it isn't spectacular, it is good entertainment if not taken too seriously. If you like old haunted house movies, it's worth a look.

I have always been a fan of the East Side Kids and Bowery Boys movies. "Spooks Run Wild" is a very good movie which has the boys getting into some funny mischief! The Boys go off to a summer camp and soon discover that there is a spooky old haunted house nearby. "Mugs" meets a pretty blonde in town and decides to sneak out of the camp to pay her a visit. Well, the rest of the East Side Kids decide to follow "Mugs" and all of them wind up in an old graveyard. "Peewee" gets shot by a man guarding the graveyard and the boys bring the injured lad to guess what? ....the spooky old house which is occupied by Bela Lugosi and his midget assistant. Our kindly host, Bela, tends to "Peewee's" injury and provides lodging for the rest of the boys. The boys hear a news report of a mad killer that has been seen heading to the area of the old house! Strange things happen throughout the night with a surprise ending! I liked "Spooks Run Wild" and thought it was quite entertaining! The quality of the VHS version is fair because the lighting in the movie was quite awful! Regardless, it was very enjoyable to watch!

The East Side Kids vs. Bela Lugosi. The East Side Kids a group of "lovable and funny" juvenile delinquents are sent to a camp to help straighten them out. There also happens to be a killer roaming the country (called "The Monster") right near where the camp is. Around this time Bela with his companion (midget Angelo Rossitto) move into a spooky old house near the camp. The Kids end up in the house and strange things start to happen. Could Bela be the Monster?

Pathetic. There's no real story and things are never fully explained at the end. Lugosi gives this his all but there's nothing for the poor guy to work with. It's real sad to see him reduced to doing crap like this. The East Side Kids aren't as annoying as I thought they would be but none of their jokes are funny (I groaned aloud at a few of them). Nice to see Rossitto but there's no reason for him to be in this--he doesn't even have a word of dialogue! Running about 60 minutes this is at least an hour too long. Boring, senseless and unfunny.

I give it a 4 for Lugosi and some of the East Side Kids WERE kind of engaging.

A cute film where Bela Lugosi meets The East Side Kids(Bowery Boys). The movie is fun to watch if you like the older comedy-horror films. I did not bust-a-gut laughing but I did find the film enjoyable - refreshing.

The Boys end up in a boys camp, peewee is shot, there is a murderer on the loose, a strange creepy old house, some humor and, of course, Bela Lugosi. This really is a good family style horror film - good to watch with the kids.

Lugosi has much better films than this one but the movie is a must for Lugosi fans - it's a simple, lighthearted comedy-horror film.

Make it a double feature with Ghosts on the Loose (1943)!

6.5/10

Being a fan of old "B" moves from the 1930s and 1940s, this is a real gem from one of the so-called Poverty Row studios, in this case, Monogram Studios. Some of these so-called Poverty Row films have a charm all their own. I am a fan of both Bela Lugosi on one hand and The East Side Kids on the other. The East Side Kids started off as a group called the Dead End Kids from Warner Studios and I prefer their films that they made for Monogram. Other good movies of the series are "Ghosts on the Loose" (also with Bela Lugosi as well as a young actress named Ava Gardner), "Bowery Blitzkrieg", and "Mr. Wise Guy".

Anyway, "Spooks Run Wild" is the best of the lot with fine old fashioned atmosphere (great cemetery scenes and a creepy old house), great wisecracks, and hold-on-to-your-seat suspense with a misanthropic villain called the "Monster Killer".

Great film for Holloween.

Dan Basinger

The East Side Kids are sent from New York City to a camp in the mountains. There is a Monster Killer on the loose and the public is scared. The boys run off. While crossing a grave yard, Pee Wee is shot. The boys bring him to a mansion where they are let in by the mysterious Nardo (Bela Lugosi) and his dwarf assistant Luigi.

I don't know much about the East Side Kids. They evolved from the Dead End Kids. It's an easy concept to understand. Non of the "kids" are familiar to me although their characters are perfectly recognizable. It has a Scooby Doo feel. It's not that funny and honestly, the print is pretty dark. The filmmaking is relative B-movie level. Fans of the series may enjoy it or may despite it. I don't know. I don't mind the Scooby Doo aspect and Bela gets to be Bela.

Although the Bowery Boys are (say it isn't true!) starting to grow on me, and I had somewhat high hopes for Spooks Run Wild, because you never know what will happen when Bela Lugosi is on the scene. Unfortunately the 'Running Wild' portion of the title can be aptly used to describe the movie, because this just goes all over the place, and uses weak excuses to justify it's actions. When the boys are on their way to Juvvie camp for getting into trouble, they stop in a town overnight. Also happening to be in this town are a mysterious stranger (Lugosi) and his, uh, midget friend, who everyone is convinced is some sort of monster killer but don't bother to do anything about it. The kids are stuck in Lugosi's creepy house, and basically silly situation after silly situation transpires, without any logic or reasoning building up to a ridiculous conclusion that, if you were casually paying attention, you could have easily picked up from the start.

Just a few quick points. - This was one of the nine little gems that Lugosi made for Monogram (one of the better ones), and it's one of two he made with the East Side Kids. It's important to note that they WERE still kids (teenagers) when this film was made.-- They became "The Bowery Boys" when they grew up (It's mentioned in another comment that this film stars The Bowery Boys-- that's a BIG mistake!). The East Side Kids acted differently than, and looked different from, The Bowery Boys. -- The Bowery Boys films had more of a "Three Stooges" look and feel to them, and had none of the adolescent angst than can sometimes be seen in The East Side Kids films. And let's not forget that both groups grew out of the original Warner Brothers group: "The Dead End Kids."

This was another movie that I had never heard of until working my way through horror movies that were released in 1941. I did find this one interesting due to not only its title, but also that it was another movie I had never seen starring Bela Lugosi. Other than that, I came in blind. The synopsis is the boys are stranded in a small rural town. They hear about a 'monster killer' roaming the countryside. At night, they sneak out. Peewee (David Gorcey) is shot by a gravedigger and they are forced to seek aid at an old mansion.

For this movie, we start in the city. A group of boys led by Muggs McGinnis (Leo Gorcey) get on a bus where they're going to a camp. What I didn't realize and the synopsis makes a bit more sense, the East Side Kids seemed to be a teen comedic group that did quite a few movies. From what I'm gathering, this isn't their first and had a following coming in. Also in this gang is Danny (Bobby Jordan), Glimpy (Huntz Hall), Scruno (Ernest Morrison), Peewee and Skinny (Donald Haines). Taking them out to this camp as a chaperone is Jeff Dixon (Dave O'Brien). Also joining him is his girlfriend of Linda Mason (Dorothy Short). Jeff is studying to a lawyer and she is a nurse. He isn't thrilled about this trip, as he would rather spend time with Linda. She lets out that it is probably more to do with school for not wanting to go.

The bus arrives in a small town and the driver needs to check out the tires. Jeff goes in to get supplies while some of the boys do a bit of exploring on their own. Muggs meets Margie (Rosemary Portia) who works at the local sweet shop. She doesn't like him getting fresh with her though. From there they head out to the camp on the outskirts of town, being almost left behind.

They aren't the only new faces in town. That night Nardo (Bela Lugosi) arrives with his assistant Luigi (Angelo Rossitto). They inquire about the nearby mansion and they're informed that no one lives there. These two make the gas station attendant uneasy. It doesn't help that there are talks over the radio about a 'monster killer'. Another stranger arrives in Dr. Von Grosch (Dennis Moore). The attendant thinks he understands and I'll give the movie credit. Nardo is dressed similar to Dracula and they're playing on this, making Dr. Von Grosch as Dr. Van Helsing.

That night Muggs can't sleep so he decides to walk to town. He doesn't go alone as he's joined by two of his buddies. The rest hear them as they go to leave and it ends up being the whole gang. Also moving about are Nardo and Luigi as they stop at the local cemetery where the caretaker pulls his gun on the. The boys end up there as well and much like the synopsis states, Peewee is shot. They seek refuge in the nearby mansion where the boys meet Nardo along with his companion. It becomes of a night of fear as the boys lose Peewee and try to figure out if Nardo is this killer they've heard about.

This will be where I leave the recap as this is pretty much the first half of the movie. We end up getting a take on the old dark house film here. It is also leaning heavy into the comedy as well. To bring up something again, I didn't realize the East Side Kids were a comedic film group like Abbott and Costello or like The Three Stooges. They are just teens or early adults that use a lot of the wordplay jokes and slapstick comedy. Personally, this didn't really work for me unfortunately.

To circle back to something I've said again is the horror here comes from the old dark house aspects. They don't use a lot of that, but we get enough. No one has been to this mansion before this night so that makes sense. What I will give credit here is that it is leaning into the fact that Lugosi was Dracula. This is movie was made by Monogram films, but it is poking fun at Universal. Nardo is dressed like Dracula. They focus on the eyes like they did in that classic and of course having Dr. Von Grosch. I like this movie playing with these ideas while also doing something different with them. There are also talks of a murderer adding to this as well.

Since there isn't much to the story, I'll go to the acting. I did think that Lugosi was having fun here and he's fine as Nardo. As I was saying, I like them leaning back into his iconic role and the truth of his character makes a lot of sense as well. Leo Gorcey was good as this tough leader of the group. It does appear that David Gorcey was his brother and a member of the crew. I thought the rest of this group worked. There is a bit of racism toward Scruno who is played by the black actor of Morrison. Outside of that, I do think they play well off each other and that works for the comedy. I would also say that O'Brien and Short were fine for what was needed along with Rossitto, who is a little person. The townspeople worked as did Moore. There isn't a lot of screen time for the latter, so it doesn't work as well with the reveal.

The last thing that I want to go over would be the effects and cinematography. For the former, we don't get a lot of them, but it is also not that type of movie. We get some gags playing with a skeleton, a moving suit of armor and some floating objects. The design and the explanation for all of this did make sense. The cinematography didn't add much. It could also be that the version I watched on Amazon Prime wasn't in the greatest shape. I'm not going to hold either against the movie to be honest.

That is about the extent of what I wanted to go over so in conclusion here, this movie is an interesting comedic horror film. This is really a vehicle to get customers in the seats with the likes of Lugosi and the East Side Kids who I'm assuming had their own followers. I think the acting here is fine. The story was lacking a bit as they wanted the comedy to carry it. Playing with Lugosi's former role and the troupes with it were good though. The movie had issues keeping my attention though and I just wanted a bit more. The last thing to say would be the soundtrack didn't really stick out or hurt the movie. I would rate this as just average to me. I can't really recommend it if I'm going to be honest, unless you're out to see all of the Lugosi films or a fan of the East Side Kids' comedies.

Fairly innocuous East Side Kids movie that's notable primarily for the presence of Bela Lugosi. Bela doesn't get much to do and appears to only be in this because of his name value. He doesn't seem to be taking the part seriously, either. This is also the first of several movies Bela did with dwarf Angelo Rossitto as his pointless sidekick.

This is one of the movies that is often cited when people talk about the crap movies Bela did when Universal wasn't calling. Truth be told, it's not a bad movie. I actually enjoyed it. But then, I happen to be a fan of the Bowery Boys. Well, they're the East Side Kids here. They were the Dead End Kids first, then East Side Kids, then the Bowery Boys. I like them a lot, especially the movies they made during the Bowery years. They made some of the better movies Poverty Row studio Monogram put out. Obviously, as with all comedy teams, their style won't appeal to everybody. Spooks Run Wild isn't their best movie, and God knows it isn't Lugosi's, but it's an enjoyable way to pass an hour.

Leo Gorcey & the East Side Kids take on Bela Lugosi as they search for the mysterious "monster killer" in a creepy, secluded house.

I've always been a sucker for old haunted house flicks, and even though there's not much to this one, it's still one of my favorites. The East Side kids were still pretty fresh in 1941, and for this one they brought in Sammy Morrison to round out the gang, probably with the intent making him the true comedian of the group. He was good in this, but he never really seemed to gel 100% with this series. (Based on something he said later, I don't think he liked this series very much).

I always like to see Bela Lugosi, but it's also a shame to see him in a Monogram quicky after all the great features he'd been in just a few years before.

Yes, this one is pretty dated looking now, but there's nothing wrong with taking a look back into something like this to remember how it was. The East Side Kids made some fun movies.

I have been and always will be a person who hates the Bowery Boys (a.k.a, The East Side Kids or The Dead End Kids). Most of it is because several of the actors associated with this series were obnoxious and unlikable (Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall come immediately to mind). The rest of it is because most of their films are poorly written and terribly unfunny--a real problem when they are supposed to be comedies! In light of my hatred, SPOOKS RUN WILD came as such a surprise. Okay, it isn't high art or a must-see film, but considering it paired the unfunny group with Bela Lugosi (who at this point in his career would appear in anything--and I do mean anything), it was much, much better than it should have been and is an agreeable time-passer.

The obnoxious teens go off to summer camp for underprivileged inner city kids. Oddly, even though the radio announces that a serial killer is loose, they STILL take the boys to the camp which is exactly where the maniac was spotted. Perhaps they thought that their deaths would be a public service. Anyway, the guys decide to wander around at night (huh?) and eventually find themselves in a haunted mansion with Bela Lugosi and his silent dwarf assistant, Luigi. Considering that Lugosi is dressed a lot like Dracula, it isn't surprising that the boys think Lugosi and Luigi are killers and they spend most of the rest of the film running about the mansion getting into trouble. Considering everything, it's amazing how patient Lugosi's character was with the boys, as he seems to take all their antics in stride (perhaps that was the morphine kicking in).

The film features some decent though not big laughs. Many of the best lines are delivered by the Black member of the gang, Sunshine Sammy. Now in the 21st century, his being called "Sunshine Sammy" and a few of his antics might be seen as very politically incorrect. However, in context, he was an excellent character and very progressive for the day. He was as liked as any White member of the gang in the film and they didn't make any of the stereotypical "Black guy in a haunted house" jokes.

Overall, this is an important film for Bela Lugosi fans. I am certainly one of them and have even seen just about all his very worst films. I had resisted seeing this one because I thought being from Monogram Films (a very low-budget studio) and with the East Side Kids it would be just another bad horror flick--but I was pleasantly surprised. Others might also enjoy it, but it's not much more than a fair time-passer.

FYI--The boys and Lugosi teamed up again two years later in GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE. It isn't as good as SPOOKS RUN WILD, but it is still quite watchable.

I remember watching Spooks Run Wild as a child growing up in the 60's during segregation in the South. I was interesting to see a Black character like Ernest Morrison in the Bowery Boys and the Little Rascals. It was rare see white boys having a Black friend and hanging out together. When I look back at seeing this movie, there wasn't any hit or talk of racism. This is an entertaining and funny movie to see.

This seems to be the only chapter that phil rosen directed! It was usually bill beaudine directing leo gorcey and the gang, in one of their many adventures. This time, they got bela lugosi to co-star as the boogie-man. The picture itself is quite dark. The film could use a restoration, but it was so low budget originally, i'm guessing a restoration will not happen. The gang bumps into "the monster"... altho how the radio announcer knew where the monster was headed is a good question! The usual word play, silly antics, pratfalls, running around. Leo worked his brother into the cast, but it was too early for his father to join the gang. It's good! Certainly interesting, as part of the east side boys collection. Released in october of 1941, we can tell it has war time tension, since there is a "buy war bonds" message tacked to the end. This was a plain, simple story, and could easily have been sent to the troops once the united states had entered the war. Lugosi, king of the "monster" movies, would continue working up into the 1950s! Gorcey and his buddies would morph into the bowery boys for many more adventures.