I must be one of the few people on earth that likes this film, for in general terms it has been dismissed by critics and fans alike. I guess therefore, it is down to me to explain the appeal of 'The Ghoul'. Well, first and foremost it has Peter Cushing, who makes the film, and gives one of his best ever performances. Filmed when he had recently lost his wife, this must have been a difficult time for him, but he nevertheless rises to the occasion and gives a most sensitive performance. There is one touching scene where you see him look at an actual photo of Helen whilst talking to Veronica Carlson. Apart from Veronica Carlson, the film also benefits from some fine performances from John Hurt and Gwen Watford. It's a film supposedly set in Cornwall with swirling mists from the moors, adding to the atmosphere of the house itself. The opening of the film is quite unique and conjures up an atmosphere right from the start, even if there is a certain amount of deception involved. Peter Cushing was one of my favourite actors and it is unfortunate to say the least, that this film has not been issued on DVD, supposedly because Tyburn Films have gone out of production and nobody else has the rights to issue anything from that catalogue. This means that the excellent interview with Peter Cushing called 'One Way Ticket to Hollywood' (only on video) also remains unissued. The two things together would make an admirable issue onto DVD. It would be a shame if these films were lost forever. Peter Cushing doesn't deserve this, nor do his fans! As for now, I make no apology for heaping some overdue praise on a film which has been unfairly ignored and deserves to be re-evaluated.

Founded by Freddie Francis' son Kevin, Tyburn Films clearly had the right lineage but their appearance on the scene was woefully ill-timed; by the mid-Seventies the Gothic brand of English horror was on its way out and this proved to be their last venture until briefly resuming operations during the following decade.A decent enough cast was roped in for this Edwardian-era horror piece: Peter Cushing, John Hurt, Hammer starlet Veronica Carlson, Ian McCulloch – later to star in Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE (1979) – and Alexandra Bastedo – who had earlier appeared in the cult Horror item, THE BLOOD-SPATTERED BRIDE (1972). Despite the lamest of scripts (courtesy of regular Hammer scribe Anthony Hinds), Cushing (who even won a Best Actor award at an international Horror film festival!) and Hurt are quite good here in the roles of, respectively, an embittered, widowed and defrocked clergyman with a skeleton in his closet and his crazed, homicidal gardener.Despite the title or its alternative, NIGHT OF THE GHOUL, this has nothing whatsoever to do with the archaic, all-star British horror flick of 1933 nor Ed Wood's 1960 cheapie; the titular creature, in fact, is Cushing's inexplicably cannibalistic giant of a son whose body sports a green tinge and has something like a nappy for a costume! Cushing's late beloved wife makes an appearance in the film via a photograph as his own character's deceased spouse: she had died four years earlier and the toll its death had taken on the inconsolable star is already clearly evident here in his skeletal facial features; even so, the character's similar predicament ensures that Cushing the actor is, as always, the consummate professional.After the "McGuffin-esque" opening of the old dark house variety, the film's first 20 minutes are taken up by a depiction of what England's society life was like in the Jazz Age as four well-bred socialites let their hair down during a party and, after having partaken of one drink too many, engage in an impromptu car chase in the fog-shrouded countryside. Predictably, reckless driving causes one of the cars to break down right in front of the peeping John Hurt's eyes who contrives to ensnare Carlson in his shed and topple her car off a cliff with her fiancé still in it! The girl eventually ends up on the ghoul's menu with McCulloch and Bastedo consequently calling on Cushing and Hurt to look for their relatives – Bastedo almost shares Carlson's fate (a still of which I recall seeing in Alan Frank's "Horror Films"), while both McCulloch and Hurt nearly perish in quicksand! By the way, Cushing's belligerent Indian house-keeper is also on hand to add some spice to the film with a touch of irrelevant exoticism.At least in the version I watched, the film is a disappointingly bloodless affair even during the ghoul's infrequent rampages – a notable exception occurs when McCulloch gets a meat cleaver in the face! For what it's worth, the film ran for 80 minutes when the official length is given as 87 (the finished film submitted for BBFC certification was apparently even longer at 93 minutes)! It must be said here that my already low spirits at the film's lackluster quality were further dampened by the atrocious quality of the soundtrack which is one of the worst I've ever had the misfortune to listen to: constantly accompanied by an other-worldly squeak, it also became echoey towards the end making much of the listless dialogue all the more unintelligible. Furthermore, the DivX version of the film I got saddled with is probably taken from a public domain budget DVD release which even omits the opening credits almost in their entirety!

Dr Lawrance (PETER CUSHING) is a defrocked priest who has a terrible secret hidden in his attic - his cannibalistic son whom he is good enough to supply with suitable victims.Tyburn was the production company fronted by director Freddie Francis' son Kevin Francis. THE GHOUL was the first of two films that Freddie directed for him, the other was LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF. There is a nice feeling for period detail here and Peter Cushing is as reliable as ever. However, the film is actually a rip-off from PSYCHO and it's certainly far from the best genre movies that Francis directed. The golden age of the British horror film had long gone by the time that this last gasp was produced. Interestingly, the cast includes John Hurt whom Francis would work with when he photographed THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980) for David Lynch. After LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF, Francis elected to quit horror films and returned to his roots as a successful cinematographer picking up his second Oscar in 1989 for his colour camera-work on GLORY which starred Denzel Washington. Francis is the only Englishman to have won Oscars for both black and white and colour.

SPOILAGEI enjoyed this movie to a certain degree. It's a passable time killer, and it presents an interesting situation (if overly inspired by "Psycho"), but the real interest here lies in the sets, particularly the sprawling mansion where the action takes place. Filled with ornate woodwork, yawning fireplaces, and staircases that go up, up, and further up, this place is a morbid dream house. The fact that it is isolated on an English moor makes me wonder if places like this actually exist. What I mean is, why would anybody with the money to build such a magnificent home want to put it in the middle of the marshes? Why would they choose such an inhospitable place to live?Ah but anyway, back to "The Ghoul". Snooty partygoers get drunk on champagne and make an ill-advised effort to "race" their cars to Land's End.It doesn't really go as planned, however, and one couple breaks down near the manse of Peter Cushing, which houses "The Ghoul"--Cushing's insane son who is into cannibalism. One of the women wanders to the mansion against the warnings of the mad groundskeeper, and she winds up as ghoul-bait. The groundskeeper kills her male companion (what, the ghoul doesn't like male flesh?) and eventually another couple comes looking for them. The scenario is repeated, but Cushing has reached the breaking point and decides to shoot his son, and himself.There's a lot of kookiness going on in this movie, and some uncomfortable positioning of Indian culture as some exotic evil, but as I said before, what really makes this movie work at all is the attention that went into the building of the sets. I have no idea if the house is real or just a set itself, but those staircases...and that woodwork!