Rating:  -
Pretty dull, until the last 20 minutes or so. Karloff is obsessed with egyptian mythology. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of his now-vacant mansion, he's only MOSTLY dead.
Worth a rental if you're a Karloff fan. Otherwise, skip it.
Rating:  -
MGM bare bones dvd. Really good early 1930's horror has Boris Karloff rising from the grave for revenge. Can you beat that? The transfer is excellent for a film of this age. Still good without extras.
Rating:  -
"The Ghoul," a British production that Boris Karloff starred in shortly after achieving stardom with "Frankenstein," opens impressively with some excellent, literate dialogue and the promise of first class chills to come, then rapidly descends into a fairly campy retread of "The Mummy."
The impressive cast almost redeems this minor horror effort, with Ernest Thesiger - yes, Horace Femm of "The Old Dark House" and Dr. Pretorious of "Bride of Frankenstein" - stealing the show as Karloff's prissy, Bible quoting man-servent.
"The Ghoul" is worth a look for fans of both Karloff and '30's horror films, but its relative obscurity is deserved.
Brian W. Fairbanks
Rating: -
The Ghoul quite has the sense of a lost treasure, it is brilliantly filmed with dark, moody sets and strong, sparse, directional focused lighting, giving an all over creepy feel to a movie where the title role of 'the ghoul' is only actually seen in about three scenes and is never a real threat to anybody. It boasts stellar performances from Boris Karloff and his fellow cast members, particually Kathleen Harrison as Kaney, a simple, quirky, overly cheerful girl besotted with a phony Sheik who seems destined never to amount to anything other than the leading lady Dorothy Hyson's supporting role, but out of sheer chance ultimatly saves the day.
The sound is dreadful and it is quite difficult to hear the words beyond the muffled spits and scratches of the deteriated film, but don't let this put you off. Generally if you love films of this period as I do you are used to, even enjoy their historic aging. Considering this film was lost until the late 1960s when it was discovered in someones basement, you really have to expect a certain amount of spits and scratches and honestly this very poor quality adds much of the atmosphere and sense that the viewer is watching something unseen for generations.
Rating:  -
This is a hard-to-find Karloff film, done in England. It's very atmospheric and it has some fascinating characters, not the least of which is that hoot of an old queen, Ernest Thesiger, in one of the meatiest roles he's done since THE OLD DARK HOUSE. The restoration is wonderful.
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