The Ghoul (1975 film)
| The Ghoul | |
|---|---|
dvd.jpg) UK VHS cover | |
| Directed by | Freddie Francis |
| Written by | Anthony Hinds |
| Produced by | Kevin Francis |
| Starring | Peter Cushing John Hurt Veronica Carlson |
| Cinematography | John Wilcox |
| Edited by | Henry Richardson |
| Music by | Harry Robertson |
Production company | Tyburn Film Productions |
| Distributed by | Rank Film Distributors |
Release date | May 1975 (UK) |
Running time | 93 minutes (Uncut theatrical release). 88 min/80 min (2002 DVD unauthorized release) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Ghoul is a 1975 British Tyburn Film Productions horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Peter Cushing, John Hurt, Alexandra Bastedo, Veronica Carlson, Gwen Watford, Don Henderson and Ian McCulloch. In the United States, the film was released as Night Of The Ghoul and The Thing In The Attic.
Plot
In 1920s England, a party of friends challenge each other to an automobile race to Land's End. One couple, Daphne Wells Hunter and Billy, run out of petrol, so Billy goes to look for a garage, but takes so long that Daphne goes to search for him. Billy is unable to find a garage and returns to the car to find Daphne gone. Meanwhile, Daphne locates a mansion, but the caretaker, Tom Rawlings, warns her not to go in, fearing that she may never come out alive, but she ignores him. The owner, Mr. Lawrence, a former clergtman, invites her inside to rest and sends Tom to find Billy. Tom finds the car, but there is no sign of Billy. Billy finds the other couple, Angela and Geoffrey, who won the race, and informs them of Daphne's disappearance, so they search for her.
Meanwhile, Lawrence tells Daphne in flashback about his missionary work in India, where a satanic cult kidnapped his son, Simon, and corrupted him by coverting him to an evil faith. This caused Lawrence to renounce his faith. Lawrence allows Daphne to stay in the guest room for the night. Seeing this, Lawrence's Indian servant, Ayah, lets out a deformed man from the attic, who goes into Daphne's room and stabs her to death. Afterwards, Ayah cooks Daphne's flesh and feeds it to the man.
Billy, Angela and Geoffrey report Daphne's disappearance to the local police, but the police refuse to search for her as they are afraid of the marshlands, leaving the group to search for her themselves. They split up, and Angela locates Lawrence's mansion, where Tom begs her not to go in, but she ignores him. Lawrence invites her to stay the night in the guest room and sends Tom to find Billy and Geoffrey. Tom finds them and tells them that Daphne was fed to a cannibalistic man in Lawrence's attic, but they do not believe him, and Tom reluctantly leads them to the mansion, where they hear a noise coming from the attic. Suspicious, Geoffrey goes into the attic and is killed by the cannibal. Lawrence reveals to Billy and Angela that the cannibal is his son, who has been in a cannibalistic state since his conversion, and Ayah is a sacrificial cult member who Lawrence hired from India to prepare Simon's food. Lawrence has kept his son alive and protected him because he promised his wife on her deathbed he would do so.
Simon escapes from the attic. Meanwhile, Tom sneaks into the guest room and attempts to help Billy and Angela escape, but Simon enters and kills him. Simon attempts to kill Billy and Angela too, but Lawrence enters and reluctantly shoots him dead, saving them both. Heartbroken by what he has done, Lawrence commits suicide by shooting himself. Ayah allows Billy and Daphne to escape as morning rises.
Cast
- Peter Cushing as Mr. Lawrence
- Stewart Bevan as Billy
- Alexandra Bastedo as Angela
- Ian McCulloch as Geoffrey
- Veronica Carlson as Daphne Wells Hunter
- John Hurt as Tom Rawlings
- Don Henderson as Simon Lawrence
- Gwen Watford as Ayah
- John D. Collins as Party Guest
- Dan Meaden as Police Sergeant
Production
This was the second film produced by Tyburn Film Productions.[1] It was shot on location at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England from 4 March 1974.[1] While the film was in production, actor Peter Cushing went through emotional turmoil: before he signed on to do this film, he lost his beloved wife Helen to natural causes, leading him to wish he would die himself and soon. According to co-star Veronica Carlson, director Freddie Francis made Cushing do multiple takes during the scene where he talks about his love for his late wife. This caused Cushing great distress and reduced the widowed actor and some of the crew to tears. Cushing played other men who lost family members in other horror films in the 1970s, including the 1972 film Asylum and the 1973 film The Creeping Flesh.
Reception
Variety praised the "assured acting" and "impressive set decoration" but called the film "far too tame for its own good," with a script that "moves from A to Z without generating much excitement and surprise in between."[2] Geoff Brown of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that the revelation of the titular character near the end was "hardly worth the wait," and that "only John Hurt injects more than a fraction of life into his character and dialogue."[3]
TV Guide gave the film two stars out of four, writing that "Cushing and other familiar Hammer faces give this the old college try, but Francis' dull direction--endless shots of Henderson's legs creeping down the stairs--makes the cause hopeless."[4]
References
- ^ Jonathan Rigby, English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema, Reynolds & Hearn 200
- ^ "The Ghoul". Variety: 19. 11 June 1975.
- ^ Brown, Geoff (July 1975). "The Ghoul". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 42 (498): 155.
- ^ "The Ghoul". TV Guide. Retrieved 10 October 2018.