The Night Walker (1964)

Director: William Castle

Cast: Robert Taylor, Barbra Stanwyck, Judi Meredith

Synopsis: A woman is haunted by recurring nightmares, which seem to be instigated by her late husband who was supposedly killed in a fire.

“I can’t wake up!” screams Barbara Stanwyck (The Lady Eve, Double Indemnity) at one point in this clunker of a movie and, boy, do I sympathise with poor old Babs (who looks pretty good for someone nearing 60). Watching this movie, I felt as though I were trapped in a nightmare also. Those who defend movies like The Night Walker purely because the movie is camp seem to believe that is reason enough to excuse ludicrous plots and leaden pacing, well for most people it’s not. The ending is laughable – believe me, if you’ve ever seen an episode of Scooby-Doo you’ll know what I mean (in fact, Scoobs would have solved this ‘mystery’ with an hour to spare). Game old troopers Stanwyck and Robert Taylor (The Power and the Prize, The Law and Jake Wade), who were both nearing the end of their careers, lend a little class to the lost cause but, other than these two, The Night Walker has got very little going for it.

(Reviewed 1st April 2002)