The Ghoul was a great movie, one of the best of the seventies.
And how the two guys got killed! The most shocking was where the guy who starred in the TV series The Survivors got that knife right through his forehead and he staggered back down the stairs with blood pouring from his face! Grisly stuff!
Why hasn't this movie been released on DVD in the UK?
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ughh noooo, this is terrible. I don't understand why this movie had so many pointless pan shots. Was that supposed to be atmospheric & create tension? Pans of rooms, corridors & fireplaces that seemed to run forever. John hurt was okay but it's john hurt- Personally, I'm glad they don't make them like they used to.
With ref to dvd, I've seen quite a few hammer horrors in those dvd bargain bins so maybe it's out there somewhere under a classics collection distributor.
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I must admit, I enjoyed this film for the wrong reasons. The plot was poor and the effects laughable and I enjoyed a couple of the lines in a comedy fashion. I watched it with a friend and we both laughed out loud at a couple of scenes.
However, I did think that the Hindu bashing was a little extreme. Especially when the woman is getting stabbed and it keeps cutting to the statue. It is quite baffling as well considering how anti-violence Hinduism is.
On the plus side for this film I thought the acting by John Hurt and Peter Cushing were, as always, excellent.
"A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government."
>>>It is quite baffling as well considering how anti-violence Hinduism is.
I appreciate that this is largely true, but presumably the Thuggee fell under the heading of Hindu? I mean, Kali is a Hindu goddess...
Of course I realise that there are plenty of Kali-worshippers today who are entirely non-violent - what I mean is that there are recognised instances of violence perpetrated in the name of religion under the Hindu umbrella - that's where we get the word 'Thug' from in the English language!
With this in mind, I imagine this film was still very much from a 'colonial' perspective, the same kind of thing found in Conan-Doyle, where overseas cultures harbour dark and sinister secret practices and the like - The Ghoul probably just taps into a tradition that includes recollections of the 'Stranglers of Bombay' (indeed, there was a Hammer film of this name about the Thuggee, though I doubt it'll show up on TV any time soon for obvious reasons).
It certainly is a very good movie. It has been one of my all-time favourites since I was 13. That scene where John Hurt says "come and catch Private Rawlings" has me nearly p***ing myself laughing every time I see it.
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