Movie Review: The Ghoul (1933)

Synopsis: Egyptology professor Henry Morlant believes an ancient jewel will give him the power to rejuvenate but he dies from his illness anyway. When his servant, Laing, steals the jewel from Morlant's crypt, Morlant returns from the dead seeking revenge on those who betrayed him.

Who's in it? The movie stars Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger, Dorothy Hyson and Kathleen Harrison.


Review: I picked The Ghoul this morning because it's been a while since I've watched a Boris Karloff movie and, well, it is Halloween. Unfortunately, while the movie had its moments, it was far from being one of my favorites.

Karloff himself makes the movie somewhat watchable. As is often the case with the actor, his zombie-like creature was creepy and a little scary. I especially liked how he made his eyes seem lifeless, something that really sold the character.

My biggest problem with the movie is the star of the film gets surprisingly little screen time. The movie was well past the halfway point before Karloff's "ghoul" finally makes an appearance and, by that point, his scenes needed to be rushed to make sure the movie ended on time.

I also have the same complaint about this movie as I do Karloff's version of The Mummy. For a creature that was brought back to life with magic, it's options for killing people are very non-magical. I know special effects were limited in the 1930s but it would have still been nice to see more effort to prove "this guy was in allegiance with an Egyptian god."

The ironic part of this is the movie might have actually been better without Karloff. There were so many people looking to break into his crypt, whether it was to steal the amulet or to investigate to make sure his body wasn't being disturbed/robbed, the film could have focused solely on that and still been either a good thriller or changed course and been a comedy.

Final Opinion: Boris Karloff does a great job with his limited screen time, but the movie could have done a bit more than it did to take advantage of that.

My Grade: C

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