Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

alexanderdavies-99382 "The Mad Ghoul" is the only one of its kind. George Zucco gives the best performance in this film as a mad professor. (how often did he play those??)David Bruce as the luckless student is OK, Evelyn Ankers does her usual and Turhan Bey is about as wooden as they get. Not longer after "The Mad Ghoul," his career came to an end and he was forgotten. Robert Armstrong as the journalist is good and he livens up the proceedings. A shame he couldn't have had more screen time.The production values are pretty much what you would expect. The make-up used to make David Bruce look ghoulish works very well. The film has a fair bit of incident and being only on for about 65 minutes, works to the films advantage.

bkoganbing In between the films with Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and the Wolfman, Universal Pictures occasionally turned out the oddball horror film not belonging to anyone of the series they did. Such a film is The Mad Ghoul and it stars a whole lot of players most familiar with the Gothic horror genre.Head of the cast is George Zucco who gets control of the mind and soul of David Bruce who was a former medical student of his before Zucco turned to ghoulish experiments. He's discovered an ancient gas used by the Mayans to turn people into mindless and soulless killing machines who obey commands by whomever controls the gas flow.In this case Zucco has a mad case of ghoul type lust for Bruce's fiancé Evelyn Ankers who is a concert singer on tour with her accompanist Turhan Bey. And Bruce is jealous of Bey being around Ankers and working so close with her.Later on in the Forties Zucco did some horror films for poverty row Monogram Pictures. This one is far from as bad as those were, but compared to other Universal fright fests it's second rate.Others in the cast are cops Milburn Stone and Charles McGraw and reporter Robert Armstong whose quest to find the Mad Ghoul ends in tragedy. They all make The Mad Ghoul better than a typical Monogram product, but that's not saying much.

Michael_Elliott Mad Ghoul, The (1943)** 1/2 (out of 4) Decent Universal chiller has a doctor (George Zucco) experimenting with a Mayan gas that can bring life to the dead. He uses the gas on his partner (David Bruce) turning him into a zombie-like creature but one who still has feelings for his girlfriend (Evelyn Ankers). It also turns out that the gas eventually wears off so the doctor is constantly in search of fresh hearts to keep his zombie/assistant going. THE MAD GHOUL will never be confused with the Universal classics but at the same time it's actually on the mark with many of the studios outings from this period. I think the biggest problem with the film is its actual screenplay because once "The End" comes up you'll realize that not too much happened throughout the 65-minutes. Many elements are borrowed from 1935's THE RAVEN including the relationship between the doctor and his assistant. As in the Karloff-Lugosi picture, the relationship here as the doctor being the evil one and the film tries to get us to have sympathy for the monster who is actually the innocent victim. One really shouldn't come into this thing expecting any sort of logical story because once you really look at the material you'll probably have quite a few unanswered questions including how the zombie, who isn't suppose to remember anything, still manages to be a brilliant surgeon in his dead state. I'd also question how on Earth the doctor was able to discover this mysterious gas but that's another issue. What makes the film worth viewing are the performers as they all fit their roles nicely and add to the entertainment level. Ankers wasn't the greatest actress in the world but there's no doubt she was the Queen of this period of Universal films. Whenever she appears you can't help but have a smile on your face and in the films she's not in you often find yourself wondering why the studio didn't put her in the part. Bruce is pretty good as he manages to make you believe he is this smart character and he also handles the part of the monster and makes us feel for him. Zucco could play this type of role in his sleep so he delivers the goods as usual. Robert Armstrong appears briefly as a newspaper man trying to solve the case. He gives a good performance but I think the film could have done just fine without his comedy bit. Jack Pierce's make-up effects are rather cheap but effective. I liked the white face make-up and the skeleton like look that he gave the actor.

twanurit Another Universal pleasure, spinning out a horror framework behind a story of three men in love with the same woman. Evelyn Ankers is the beauteous object of affection, playing a concert singer engaged to a handsome college student (David Bruce), but she's fallen for her pianist (Turhan Bey), while the student's mad scientist mentor (George Zucco) is hopelessly smitten. The scientist achieves a "living death' syndrome to his unwilling student, eventually using it as a tool to rid the pianist. The stars are great, earnest and engaging, particularly Bruce and Zucco. Grand soundtrack and fog-shrouded, shadowy scenes abound. A fun, time-capsule flick from the masters.