Karloff Almost Seems Out of Place.

I just got done watching The Ghoul and a couple of things spring to mind. One, it's a very stylish and fun-to-watch classic horror movie of the "Old Dark House" type. Two, it's interesting to see Boris Karloff in such an antiquated genre compared to, say, Frankenstein or the movies he made with Val Lewton. Karloff is such an established "Grandfather of Horror" that it's weird to think of a time when he was new blood - but here he is in The Ghoul doing his thing while the rest of the cast almost seem to be in a different movie. Or, they would be if Karloff had brought more of the humanity that he brought to his monsters in Frankenstein or Black Friday. Here, despite a fantastically creepy make-up job, he pretty much just stalks the house, looking for victims, while the victims alternate between intrigue, comedy, and fearful shrieking. It almost reminds me of Psycho and the way Norman Bates seemed to come from a different dimension than the more traditional Janet Leigh and the rest of the cast. Very good movie, for a lot of reasons. 9/10.

What's the Spanish for drunken bum?