As Universal's B unit horror films became cheesier and campier, their go-to guys for boogie men skipped past Karloff and Lugosi and went straight to either the junior Chaney, Lionel Atwill or George Zucco. Here, Georgie boy gets the job, and he's subtle in his performance as a seemingly devoted scientist professor who falls for pretty concert singer Evelyn Ankers and uses her boyfriend David Bruce and another admirer (Turhan Bey) in his scientific experiments to get rid of each other. Bruce ends up the ghoul man of the title (as does Bey later), but tough reporter Rose Hobart smells a good story and steps in to get the dirt.
Both Bruce and Bey as ghoul men get to look like zombies, but it's Zucco who gets the meat to chew up from the script. Ankers doesn't get the screams of her other B Universal horror films, and pretty much gets to look lovely as she reacts to the confusion around her or sing as Bey plays the piano. There are a couple of very intense moments, but for the most part, the film just lays there with little going on. That makes this quite a disappointment among the catalogue of Universal thrillers although there's a nice twist at the end. Painless time filler that also gives a good role to veteran actor Robert Armstrong.
Both Bruce and Bey as ghoul men get to look like zombies, but it's Zucco who gets the meat to chew up from the script. Ankers doesn't get the screams of her other B Universal horror films, and pretty much gets to look lovely as she reacts to the confusion around her or sing as Bey plays the piano. There are a couple of very intense moments, but for the most part, the film just lays there with little going on. That makes this quite a disappointment among the catalogue of Universal thrillers although there's a nice twist at the end. Painless time filler that also gives a good role to veteran actor Robert Armstrong.