Customer Reviews

Spooks Run Wild

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The East Side boys make more trouble again. Usually they are sent back to reform school. But this time they are put in a bus and taken to a small town. At a soda fountain shoppe, they hear on the radio that a "monster" killer is on the loose. The boys have a room to sleep in at the camp. At a gas station, Bela Lugosi as "Nardo" (Dracula (75th Anniversary Edition) (Universal Legacy Series) [1931]) comes to town with his midget assistant, "Luigi" (Angelo Rossitto). They are looking for the Billings Estate. The gas station attendent says no one has been there since the killings ten years ago. Later, the gas station attendant meets Dr. Von Grosch (Dennis Moore). He tells the doctor he knows who he is and that he is looking for the "monster" killer. The man up ahead is the monster killer. The gas staion attendent keeps the secret of Von Grosch being in town. The boys go roamin' and they come across the graveyard at the Billings Estate. They are taken into the estate and there they meet the killer. They must stay in this spooky manor overnight. They want to get back to the camp, but they can't leave Pee Wee (played by David Gorcey, Leo's brother) who is under a spell. This is one of the more entertaining and popular films of the series.
Next film in the series is: Mr. Wise Guy (1942)(1943).
In this his last feature film, Donald Haines ("Pee Wee"/ "Skinny") enlisted as an aviation cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps on December 10, 1941. He was in World War II. They believe he was killed in action on February 20, 1943.
Bela Lugosi returned in East Side Kids - Ghosts on the Loose (1943).
Bela Lugosi with dwarf Angelo Rossitto later appeared in Scared to Death (1947).

Here we have Bela Lugosi in a horror/comedy movie with the East Side Kids. The Kids are sent to a summer camp where they learn about a monster killer that is loose in the area. While passing through a cemetery, late at night, one of them is shot and they seek help at an old house where Bela, as Nardo - dressed in his Dracula outfit, is a magician who terrorizes the Kids.

The quality of the DVD is fair.

At a certain point in his career Bela Lugosi decided that he would take any film that came his way and Spooks Run Wild is a strong example of this.

What you get is a teen summer camp comedy that sticks Lugosi in as a strage ghost/monster/madman as a way to bring the rest of the comedie clips together.

This film is definantly geared towards children with Lugosi stuck in as a name star to draw parents along with them.

Watching it today, it's the sections that were meant to be serious that are the most hilarious and campy, while the orignal jokes fall flat (as they must have even back in 1941.)

Overall a good unusual genre piece.

Lugosi plays it straight and the Boys ham it up. Just what you'd xpect. Good fun

This entry in the Eastside Kids series finds the boys at a country summer camp for inner-city troublemakers. One of them gets hurt and they wind up in a house "haunted" by Bela Lugosi.
Production values are low (typical Monogram) but the fun factor is high as Bela chases the boys around for 2 or 3 reels until the rather disappointing finale.
Best for fans of the Eastside Kids/Bowery Boys or Bela Lugosi but B-movie fans should also enjoy it.

SPOOKS RUN WILD has been widely available on home video for three decades. Dubs are usually from well-aged 16mm broadcast films of quality that varies from below fair to almost good.

This MONOGRAM Studios East Side Kids programmer was co-written by Carl Foreman. He's best-remembered for scripting the 1952 western, HIGH NOON. Here, a gang of miscreant inner city youths are sent by a judge to a mountain retreat. While investigating rumors of a local killer, one is wounded. They seek help at a creepy mansion owned by Bela Lugosi, and the fun begins!

Lugosi was on loan to Monogram from UNIVERSAL Studios. His steady career skid since DRACULA (1931) hit a new low here. In '42, Bela would play the monster for his home studio in THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN.

Lugosi's little cohort is Angelo Rossitto, aka the brainy half of Master Blaster in MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME (Australia/USA-1985). Even in 1941, Angelo had that unique "Master" way of speaking.

The film resumé of 'Sunshine' Morrison (Scruno) includes many silent Hal Roach Rascals shorts. Dave O'Brien (Jeff) appeared in the cult classic REEFER MADNESS (1936), in singing cowgirl films with Dorothy Page, and in Pete Smith's series of comic MGM shorts. Dennis Moore (Dr. Von Grosch) and Dorothy Short both starred in many 'B' westerns and serials.

Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(5.6) Spooks Run Wild (1941) - Bela Lugosi/Leo Gorcey/Bobby Jordan/Huntz Hall/'Sunshine' Sammy Morrison/Dave O'Brien/Dorothy Short/David Gorcey/Donald Haines (uncredited: Pat Costello/Joe Kirk)

The film begins in an urban setting. The East Side Kids are taken in and placed on a bus for a ride into the country for two weeks. They hear a warning about a maniac who has killed three persons and may be in the vicinity. At night the boys hear some howling. A stranger comes to visit the long empty Billings estate. Dr. Van Grosch shows up next and asks the station master to keep his presence secret. The boys go exploring the countryside at night; a shot is fired and the boys seek refuge at a lone house. The owner leads them upstairs to a bedroom so PeeWee can rest well. The others will stay in another room. [There is no electricity in those days.]

PeeWee awakes and walks out of the room. The boys show up and search for him. They wander around the house. Some of the jokes are no longer funny. A stranger offers a ride to the nurse and she accepts. In town the men get their firearms to search for the monster at the Billings estate. The identity of the mysterious stranger is revealed. Linda screams and the men rush to her aid. The monster is caught for a happy ending. [This story will not strain your brain.]

There isn't much middle ground when if comes to opinions on the east side kids/Bowery Boys. People seem to love them or hate them. I've always been a fan since I was a kid and a local channel used to show one of their movies every Saturday afternoon.

Spooks Run Wild is the first meeting of the Kids and Bela Lugosi. The second being Ghosts on the Loose. In it..the kids are travelling to a camp out in the sticks where the "monster killer" just happens to be on the loose.

The kids sneak out of their cabin in the middle of the night to walk into town. Cutting through a cemetary Pee wee is shot with buckshot by a night watchman. The rest of the boys carry pee wee to a mysterious old mansion on top of a hill.

The mansion just happens to be home of Bela Lugosi (Nardo the Magician)and his midget assistant Luigi (played by Freaks star Angelo Rossitto).

Well as you might expect the kids run wild throughout the mysterious mansion, hiding out from Lugosi who they are convinced is the killer.

Along the way there's the usual slapstick humor that the kids are known for with Muggs (Leo Gorcey) bossing around the rest of the group. Scruno (Sammy Morrison)steals as he does in ghosts on the Loose with his wide-eyed panic routine.

Of course, Lugosi would turn out to be (once again) the red-herring and the real killer is later revealed as the kids save the day and catch the fiend.

Good fun and just over an hour so it's not a great commitment. Lugosi is his usual menacing self who somehow doesn't remember to tell the kids he's a magician just to make it even more menacing.

Lugosi plays it straight and the Boys ham it up. Just what you'd xpect. Good fun

The East Side Kids meet Dracula, er, Bela Lugosi. Our daring and resourceful heroes, convicted of inner-city mayhem, find themsleves sentenced to a reform-school camp in the country. These little low-buget movies don't pretend to be more than they are. The comedy is low-brow but harmless. The thrills and chills are mild enough to qualify for family viewing. Bela Lugosi had become a low-budget standby at this point in his career. The Eastside Kids, if not lovable, are tolerable in small doses. Huntz Hall and Sunshine Sammy make the most of their comedic opportunities. Depending on your point of view, this is a good Halloween party tape for "G" rated audiences, or for more sophisticated viewers who enjoy humor that's so dumb it's funny. Don't spend time analyzing this film. Just kill and hour and enjoy it.