Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

azathothpwiggins After a lengthy, rather silly voice-over intro about dreams, THE NIGHT WALKER begins. Irene Trent's (Barbara Stanwyck) blind, jealous, clock-collecting husband, Howard (Hayden Rorke) suspects his wife has been seeing another man. Howard's suspicions are mostly based on his overhearing of Irene's dreams. Soon enough, tragedy strikes, resulting in a spook-o-thon. But wait! Is anything as it appears to be? While this could have been a fascinating experiment in psychological horror, it is instead, another William Castle cheeeze-log. Forever attempting to be another Hitchcock, the terminally un-subtle Castle, unable to help himself, opted for long, dull stretches of nonsense, interrupted by his signature "rubber-mallet-to-the-cranium" approach to suspense. One feels great sorrow for Ms Stanwyck, who must have been wondering what she had done to deserve such a fate as this cinematic absurdity. At one point, her overwrought screams seem to say, "My god! What happened?! I was in DOUBLE INDEMNITY! Noooo!" Actually, the best thing about this movie is the theme music by none other than Vic Mizzy (the genius behind the music for THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN and TV's THE ADDAMS FAMILY). Other than that, expect non-stop malarkey...

Coventry Say what you want about William Castle but, even without silly gimmicks and avant-garde marketing tricks, this man was able to deliver competent and solid atmosphere-driven horror tales! "The Night Walker" is perfect proof of this statement, because even though the screenplay (by none other than Robert "Pyscho" Bloch") is occasionally too slow-paced and predictable, Castle still managed to turn it into a mysteriously ominous thriller with a handful of authentic fright-moments, hypnotizing music, eerie imagery and strong performances. The voiceover intro is rather dumb and redundant, as it's an exaggeratedly theatrical lecture about the phenomena of dreams and dreaming. Basically, it's just a lot of pseudo-intellectual and pretentious mumbo-jumbo that ends with the nonsensical phrase: "When you dream, you become a night walker". Hence the title, huh? Thank you, Mr. Castle! Immediately after, however, "The Night Walker" becomes tense and compelling. The wealthy, blind and downright petrifying Howard Trent confronts his wife with his suspicion that she's cheating. Irene confesses, but only in her dreams, because she never leaves the house and Trent is cruel and possessive when it comes to her. When Trent dies in a freaky accident in his laboratory, Irene still isn't care-free. She still dreams of her inexistent (or not?) Prince Charming, but also suffers from nightmares in which Trent looking even more terrifying now since half of his face is burnt, comes back from the dead to kill her. Irene receives help and moral support from Trent's handsome lawyer Barry Morland and her beauty salon employee Joyce, but inevitably her mental state deteriorates further. You don't exactly require a PhD. in criminology to figure out what is going on, but William Castle nevertheless admirably attempts to retain the mystery aspects. He reveals very little until the climax, comes up with a few efficient plot twists and successfully makes you wonder if Barbara Stanwyck's visions are real or imaginary. The make-up/mask worn is by Hayden Rorke is fantastically horrific and the, hands down, best quality of "The Night Walker" is the spellbinding music by Vic Mizzy.

moonspinner55 Wealthy widow in Los Angeles dreams of a handsome mystery man who romances her--also of the walking corpse of her blind husband, who may not have perished in an explosion as she was told. Robert Bloch was the writer William Castle wanted to work with most. Bloch, who helped bring new shocks to the screen with his script for "Psycho" in 1960, came up with a fairly straightforward thriller here, one that producer-director Castle then marketed his own way ("Are you afraid of the things that can come out of your dreams...Lust. Murder. Secret Desires?"). However, just because "The Night Walker" is relatively gimmick-free doesn't mean it's a washout. Far from it, as Barbara Stanwyck is very good in the leading role, creating a savvy, quick-thinking businesswoman who is also prone to screaming fits (the latter trait doesn't quite pay off, as Stanwyck just isn't a Scream Queen). Eerie thriller on a low budget has a quietly menacing ambiance that is intriguing. Vic Mizzy contributes one of his finest background scores to the film, and the cast is full of pros, including Robert Taylor, Stanwyck's real-life ex-husband. The kitschy opening about the world of dreams is pure William Castle (and has next-to-nothing in common with the movie that follows), but there are many amazing sequences here to cherish. Good fun! *** from ****

bkoganbing William Castle was always one for gimmicks to get attention for his product. Whether it was those tinted glasses for 13 Ghosts or those insurance policies for Macabre, Castle always had a keen eye for publicity. For The Night Walker he did things the more conventional Hollywood way, he reunited two stars from Hollywood's golden age of the studio who happened to be married to each other at one time.This was done once before, for William Powell and Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey. The trade papers were buzzing about how the former marrieds would get on. Actually they did and they produced a classic motion picture comedy.Would that The Night Walker did the same for Taylor and Stanwyck. Neither was especially fond of the project although they behaved professionally whether the cameras were rolling or not. I agree with a previous reviewer, you either love the film or you can't understand it. I belong in the latter category.Barbara is a beauty parlor owner married to a really creepy blind guy in Hayden Rorke. He's got the idea she's cheating on him and with his attorney Robert Taylor. Later on he's killed in an explosion in the house. After that Stanwyck starts having nightmares, so much so she can't tell reality from dream. The audience has some problems in that regard as well.A really talented cast milks whatever entertainment value can be gotten from The Night Walker. Let's just say that at the end of the proceedings only one is left to tell the tale, a tale the police are going to have a lot of problems believing.Castle puts his usual chilling atmosphere on the proceedings. But I assure you if you think about the plot the whole thing is quite ridiculous.