Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

JohnHowardReid Admittedly the plot is absurd and even on its own unbelievable level, it's full of holes and unexplained incidents, but Castle's direction is more inventive than usual and delivers all the expected shocks with dramatic effectiveness. Barbara Stanwyck in her final theatrical film before confining her appearances to TV, makes a moderately attractive figure – and she certainly screams to chilling effect! However, the acting as a whole could be justly described as little more than adequate. Robert Taylor lets the opportunity to deliver a performance of some depth slip by and is content to drift through the film using his usual surface characterization. Jess Barker is practically unrecognizable in a brief but efficient portrayal as a man from the coroner's office, while Hayden Rorke is submerged in convincingly frightening make-up. The movie's imaginatively designed Prologue has actually little to do with the plot but it does set an appropriately creepy mood. Likewise, Vic Mizzy's music score with its tapping cane leitmotif is powerfully atmospheric. Indeed all the special effects are first class. A pity the movie itself is not wholly successful but it's still worth buying.

LobotomousMonk Castle follows the Strait-Jacket formula in The Night Walker by casting a couple of former heavyweight champs (Stanwyck and Taylor) and retaining Bloch for another script. Castle's direction is less inspired than Strait-Jacket although the mise-en-scene and depth of field become compelling for creating an ironic sense of claustrophobia and solitude. The opening sequence is sans Castle prologue, but Bloch has written in a poetic voice over address accompanied by a surreal and technically proficient montage sequence. The shot-reverse-shot is sloppy and overt at times and fails to use alternating sound design. There is little alternating shot scale within a scene and few closeups during intense moments. All these elements combined make close psychological identification with characters difficult. Castle keeps the mood eerie through good noir lighting setups, dense smokescreens and mysterious explosions. I wouldn't say that the film follows a dream logic but it shows a significant repression in such a regard and is at least conscious of doing so. This self-reflexive aspect of the film text provokes questions from the spectator which likely aids in retaining engagement given that the pace can lag. The special effects are pretty crumby and the film had no gimmick support. The twists at the end can only be supported through the most convoluted of contrivance, making this film's resolution rather dreary.

MARIO GAUCI The "Grand Guignol"-style in horror movies became a hot box office commodity after Robert Aldrich's runaway hit WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962)and, true to form, legendary film-making showman William Castle jumped on that band wagon (quite successfully, I might add) with one of that film's stars, Joan Crawford, in STRAIT-JACKET (1964). This immediate follow-up exercise in similar vein adds an intriguing element of Freudian psychodrama and cleverly casts a former royal couple of Hollywood, Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck (whose final theatrical feature film this turned out to be!), in the leading roles; I should be following this with their much earlier on screen collaboration, THIS IS MY AFFAIR (1937). Opening with a remarkably eerie animated sequence on the nature of dreams – I even seemed to recognize the silhouette of the titular creature from that crazy Mexican flick, THE BRAINIAC (1962) as one of the haunting nightmare figures! – it gives the audience its very first jolt immediately as a creepy, Mabuse-like, eyeless figure comes pacing towards the camera! It turns out he is no figment of the imagination but Stanwyck's blind, embittered millionaire husband (Hayden Rorke – whose decidedly effective facial make-up is first-rate) walking around his mansion as his wife has her nightly dream of a romantic liaison with a mystery man (compulsively recorded on tape, as is every other conversation held within his household)! Taylor plays the millionaire's lawyer and, suspected of being his wife's lover, learns that his employer has had Stanwyck followed by detective Lloyd Bochner. After Rorke's death in an inexplicable explosion in his laboratory(?!), Stanwyck (who was virtually held captive by her deeply suspicious husband) bafflingly goes to live in the back-room of a hairdressing salon headed by young Judi Meredith who, lo and behold, is not really as sweet-natured as her attractive exterior suggests! As can be expected from such 'let's-drive-an-heiress-mad' scenarios, the plot thickens with new twists and turns every few minutes and, among the highlights we have: Stanwyck's dead-of-night wedding – in a supposedly abandoned chapel – with Bochner (who is amusingly billed as "The Dream" in the opening credits) presided over and witnessed by waxwork dummies and the climactic fistfight between Bochner and Taylor in Rorke's lab – which is about to blow up for the third time in the film! Driven by a minimalist but catchy score by Vic Mizzy (of TV's "The Addams Family" fame) – even if the main musical motif is oddly reminiscent of the "Food, Glorious Food" number from Lionel Bart's musical "OLIVER!" – THE NIGHT WALKER is possibly the second best – after the utterly unique oddity SHANKS (1974) – of the 8 William Castle films I have watched so far (although, thankfully, I will soon be filling in some of the remaining gaps with 4 more)…which makes its absence on DVD (I had to make do with a full-frame VHS rip of acceptable quality) almost as big an enigma as the strange occurrences that befall the sturdy Stanwyck throughout the film!

Scarecrow-88 Howard Trent(Hayden Rorke), hideous face with creepy white eyes, whose cane taps the floor loudly wherever he walks, suspects his wife, Irene(Barbara Stanwyck)of adultery due to her "sleep-talking" embracing her gentleman caller within the realm of blissful fantasy. He suspects that his attorney, and confident, Barry Moreland(the dashing Robert Taylor, always the kind of leading man with the ability to conceal whether he's trustworthy or carrying malicious intent)of being her lover. The third party of the story is private investigator George Fuller, hired by the insanely jealous Howard to follow Irene. When Howard dies in an explosion within his private laboratory, Irene is haunted by dreams/nightmares depicting her dream love(Lloyd Bochner), Howard's interference on her encounters with him and various places that she is taken by her fantasy-man which feel so incredibly & vividly real. With Trent's hesitant assistance(he carries a look of concern for Irene as if wondering whether or not she should see a shrink), Irene seeks answers to the riddles of her dreams and does indeed find that places she was taken to by her dream lover are real, but unlike the way she saw them the night before. Does Irene truly experience real encounters with a real man, or is she truly completely bonkers?Through the wizardry of director William Castle and writer Robert Bloch, this wonderfully campy delight runs the gamut of twists and surprises. They use dreams/nightmares as a psychological tool to craft their tale and we follow Irene's journey through the unusual crisis she faces. I thought Rorke's Howard was perfectly sinister..they really dress him up as a creepy intruder to Irene's serene, while also strange, encounters with her ideal man. Taylor, as I mentioned above, again appears sympathetic to Irene's cause, showing that he would like to believe that what she experiences is true. The third party, Lloyd Bochner has a pivotal role in this flick..his character is the one who leads Irene through all the bizarre scenarios that occur in the supposed dream-world they inhabit. One particular sequence, my favorite of the film, has Bochner's dream man and Irene associated in an eerie ceremony, in a chapel, where the parties involved(priest, pianist & witnesses)are plastic mannequins, interrupted by Howard.The film opens splendidly with a montage of images with the deep resonant voice of the narrator asking us, "What are your dreams" What do they mean? What do you know about the secret world you visit when you sleep?" It goes on for minutes and I can imagine the groaning of many having to sit through it. But, I thought it was hokey, well-intentioned fun. Babs' histrionics might make her devoted fans cringe, and her character is a bit naive, but she's always a pleasure to watch. I've read that many compare this film to Babs to Crawford's final role in TROG, but I think that's way off base. If you love William Castle and know what to expect(..gorgeous B&W moody cinematography, a plethora of red herrings piled on each other, schlocky & gimmicky narrative), this should be right up your alley.