The Ghost Walks

In THE GHOST WALKS, a group of travelers gets stranded at a huge mansion on a -wait for it- dark and stormy night.

A strange, apparently unbalanced woman named Beatrice (Eve Southern), just happens to be staying at the house on the anniversary of her husband's murder. She spends most of her time wandering around the place, and speaking to someone that only she can see.

During dinner, the lights go out, and the fun begins. Mystery, murder, and thrills commence.

This is indeed another take on the "old dark house" idea, only this time there's a nice twist involved. The horror and comedic elements are balanced well. Throw in an escaped mental patient and a "shock" finale, and we're off!...

Your average story of people being stranded in the road on a dark and stormy night and they seek nearby shelter with a stranger who happens to have a very large mansion. Then strange and spooky things happen. I actually enjoy this clichéd scenario with horror films.

This one is cute. It's sometimes funny, sometimes interesting, sometimes with neat imagery. The story of course is nothing special but it's a fun movie to watch. Although it's not a film to seek out but it is one that is pretty good to watch from a film pack or a free copy to view online if you happen upon the film and like older cute "dark and stormy night" films.

I would describe this film as a comedy-mystery horror - and if you like that kind of movie then you might like this one.

6/10

A stageplay producer and his assistant are invited to an old house during a rainstorm with unexpected results.

The movie's played more for laughs than for shivers. Erskine (Arthur) and Wood (Carle) are played very broadly, and in Erskine's case with a fey undercurrent. In fact the rather clever screenplay appears to be having a good time with innuendo. There are two good twists to the story, but I kept waiting for the ghost who never seemed to arrive. In fact, the little programmer is more a light-hearted mystery than anything scary. And who is Eve Sothern (Beatrice). I've never seen her before, but with her gorgeously angular features, she furnishes the movie's one riveting moment when she first appears, zombie-like. Anyway, this could have been a good little mystery-fright film had those in charge decided to drop the awkward comedic overlay.

I have this movie on a collection of inexpensive B-movies. It's not restored, in fact, the audio was difficult to discern for the first few minutes.

At first, it seemed like a typical haunted house film, and feels very much like the forerunner of Clue, Murder by Death, House on Haunted Hill, etc.

About a half hour into the film, the storyline takes a really interesting twist--and it goes from being a cliché melodrama to something entirely different, and far more entertaining than I had initially thought.

Check it out, it's a great deal of fun, even if the long clips and wider shots (and near lack of music score) make it feel a bit creaky by today's standards.

Some nice plot twists keep the viewer sitting up through this old dark house mystery featuring John Miljan as a playwright with a new play to read—a thriller, this time!

Among a supporting cast of vaguely familiar faces, Richard Carle and Johnny Arthur lend comic relief as a Broadway producer and assistant accompanying Miljan. Producer Carle is constantly firing and un-firing assistant Arthur, which is cute but predictable; on another level entirely is their merry insistence for a good chunk of the film that the entire "mystery" taking place is part of Miljan's presentation of his new play, put on for their benefit!

Nothing particularly unusual here, otherwise, but those of us who enjoy being trapped in a dark house on a stormy night with an escaped lunatic in the neighborhood will find an hour of fun. As a bonus, the final few minutes feature a couple of bursts of really ripe maniacal laughter.