The Ghoul (U.S. titles: Night Of The Ghoul and The Thing In The Attic) is a 1975 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Peter Cushing, John Hurt, Alexandra Bastedo, Veronica Carlson, Gwen Watford, Don Henderson and Ian McCulloch.
Daphne wants to drive to the beach, and her boyfriend Geoffrey has a nice car, so they get ready to go.
He asks her where she left the car and has creepy servant Ayah prepare a room for her.
Lawrence tells that he spent many years in India, and brought Ayah back with him.
He used to be a clergyman, but something “vile and obscene” happened over there that caused his wife to kill herself and his son was corrupted.
She comes downstairs and finds Lawrence praying asking to, “release me from my vow.” That night, after Daphne has gone to bed, Ayah goes upstairs and unlocks a door.
When she leaves the room, he steals a piece of Daphne’s body, which he stashes in his cabin.
The green, bald, blurry man stabs Tom to death and closes in on Angela until Lawrence shoots him several times.
[1][4] According to Veronica Carlson[citation needed], Francis made Cushing do multiple takes during the scene where he talks about his love for his late wife.
Having recently lost his own wife, this caused Cushing great distress and reduced him and some of the crew to tears.
Geoff Brown of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "It comes as a slight surprise to find that Freddie Francis hasn't directed a film called The Ghoul before, but this connoisseur of creeping flesh, deadly bees, skulls and psychopaths now repairs the omission for Tyburn, with his son Kevin acting as producer.
A person of revolting inhuman tastes"), but for half of the movie Francis keeps his exemplar well out of sight; then he starts to appear from the waist downwards, two blood-stained legs walking around in sandals; in the final minutes the whole body lurches into view, but the mild frisson of horror proves hardly worth the wait. ...
only John Hurt injects more than a fraction of life into his character and dialogue, and the clichés quickly dominate: Peter Cushing brings out his violin for a soothing spot of the classics, the local copper mutters veiled warnings before trundling off on his bike, and thick fog swirls round the exterior sets at the drop of a cannister.
"[5] Variety praised the "assured acting" and "impressive set decoration" but called the film "far too tame for its own good," with a script that "moves from A to Z without generating much excitement and surprise in between.
"[6] TV Guide gave the film two stars out of four, writing that "Cushing and other familiar Hammer faces give this the old college try, but Francis' dull direction--endless shots of Henderson's legs creeping down the stairs--makes the cause hopeless.
"[7] The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "A nice feeling for the 1920s period atmosphere and a crazed performance from John Hurt give this fractured slow-mover a few extra kicks.
"[8] Leslie Halliwell said: "The build-up is too slow, the revelation too nasty, and the whole thing is a shameless rip-off of the structure of Psycho.