Scarecrow-88 Although the quality of print was less than ideal, the film is dark and often murky, it nonetheless offers another fun spooky mansion, and Spooks Run Wild uses Bela Lugosi beautifully. By the early 40s, Lugosi was consigned to roles painting him as the bogeyman, but this film, while playing off the Dracula persona, does offer a pleasant twist regarding who he really is. There's an irony in this film: the East Side kids are creeped out by him so they always assume the worst, constantly trying to leave or flee his presence. Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and their New York City Bowery buds are up to no good, caught being mischievous and shipped off to a camp for rehabilitation, go for a walk in the woods, when one of them (David Gorcey) is injured on a barbwire fence. Locating the old Billings mansion, the boys find Lugosi and his dwarf assistant, needing a place to rest and possible medical care. The night in this ominous mansion, where candlelight is the method of seeing in the dark, proves eerie for the boys as David walks about in a trance with the expected cobwebs, spiders, skulls, objects moving on their own, and never-ending rooms in the place while they try to find their pal. Lugosi is obviously enjoying the part as he never appears too malevolent or sinister, except the iconic "camera draws in to his predatory face as he approaches in close-up", talking to the boys with that thick accent (I personally never tired of despite his criticism for not trying to master the English language) that is almost always polite and civil. It is exactly right to me, this approach, so that what he might or might not be is left to us to determine. The radio announcement of this 'monster killer' does lay seed to whether or not Lugosi is him. Subplot includes a nurse (Dorothy Short) looking for the boys while the camp counselor (Dave O'Brien) remains disenchanted with being nursemaid to them. Dennis Moore is supposed killer hunter out to find Lugosi, but his presence seems anything but heroic. Good atmosphere and Lugosi's charisma help balance the film's dedication to the quipping kids always scattered and confused. Favorite scene for me: the knight's armor and how some of the kids no not what to do. As often was the case, the cops only show up at the very end once the killer is revealed. How the supposed haunts are explained away when Lugosi's occupation is revealed is quite the twist.

tavm Earlier this year, I had watched the East Side Kids' horror/comedy Boys of the City. So this one is in the same vein with the added attraction of Bela Lugosi to provide the atmospheric flavor. I remember enjoying the earlier one but this one had me partly bored since it took a while before Bela showed up and I didn't notice too many wisecracks from the kids during most of the narrative. In fact, whatever funny lines and scenes there were came mostly from Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison doing a patented scared Negro stereotype caricature but not in too demeaning a manner. There's also some nice scares near the end and I also liked the final scene. So on that note, Spooks Run Wild is at the least, worth a look for fans of the East Side Kids and Bela Lugosi.

bkoganbing Would anyone have believed that an Academy Award would be in the future for one of the participants in Spooks Run Wild back in 1941? I think one would have been told to get a cranial examination. Yet Carl Foreman who wrote the screenplay would be getting one eleven years later for High Noon. Unfortunately blacklist was also in his future.Academy Award winners didn't usually work at Monogram Pictures, but one starts to learn the trade somewhere in the film business. In this case it's with The Bowery Boys. They've been sent in the charge of Dave O'Brien and Dorothy Short to a summer camp. The boys go wandering off and come upon a haunted house occupied by Bela Lugosi.The usual Bowery Boy monkeyshines are present throughout. When the boys go wandering off however, we're informed that a serial killer is also loose in the area. It's from Monogram so don't expect all that much. Still it's interesting to see the genesis of High Noon?

Spuzzlightyear Although the Bowery Boys are (say it isn't true!) starting to grow on me, and I had somewhat high hopes for Spooks Run Wild, because you never know what will happen when Bela Lugosi is on the scene. Unfortunately the 'Running Wild' portion of the title can be aptly used to describe the movie, because this just goes all over the place, and uses weak excuses to justify it's actions. When the boys are on their way to Juvvie camp for getting into trouble, they stop in a town overnight. Also happening to be in this town are a mysterious stranger (Lugosi) and his, uh, midget friend, who everyone is convinced is some sort of monster killer but don't bother to do anything about it. The kids are stuck in Lugosi's creepy house, and basically silly situation after silly situation transpires, without any logic or reasoning building up to a ridiculous conclusion that, if you were casually paying attention, you could have easily picked up from the start.