I Watch Films: The Ghoul

 

The Ghoul

Professor Morlant (Boris Karloff) is obsessed with Ancient Egyptian magic and believes he has a formula that will allow him to return from the dead if he uses the gem Eternal Light on the god Anubis. He promptly dies and is buried in a faux-Ancient Egyptian tomb. A variety of people arrive so his servant, his dubious solicitor, his two closest relatives who are his heirs, the local parson etc are all in the house. Unfortunately someone stole the gem from his hand after he was prepared for burial so the ritual is incomplete. He rises as an undead monster seeking revenge.

A silly, mostly predictable early monster film, that swings wildly from incredulous comic relief heirs to savage murderous monster. It moves fairly briskly and has some striking scenes and one or two clever moments.

Watch This: Karloff is always watchable and there’s some fun moments
Don’t Watch This: If you’ve seen one monster returning from the dead film you’ve seen them all