Night of the Ghouls, 1959 directed by Ed Wood

Night of the Ghouls is an American horror film written and directed by Ed Wood, and shot between April and May 1958. The film features some reoccurring cast members and characters from the 1955 Wood-directed film Bride of the Monster, including Tor Johnson reprising his role of Lobo and Paul Marco again playing the character of Kelton the cop, while the Amazing Criswell plays himself in the film’s frame story. Another returning character is Police Captain Robbins of Homicide, although the character was played by Harvey B. Dunn in Bride of the Monster, and by Johnny Carpenter in Night of the Ghouls.

Following a preview screening held in 1959 at the Vista Theatre in Los Angeles, Wood felt that Night of the Ghouls required further editing. Correspondence between Wood and associate producer Anthony Cardoza indicates that Wood had plans to re-edit Night of the Ghouls, but was unable to do so because of unpaid bills owed to the film laboratory that developed the film. In the 1980s, Kansas City film hobbyist-entrepreneur and Wood fan Wade Williams located the film, paid the overdue bills to the lab, and claimed full ownership of it, releasing the film on VHS in 1984.