The Night Walker (1964) User Reviews (65)

Castle Chiller Saved By Its Stars

[phillindholm · 7/10 · 17 April 2007]

Producer/Director William Castle, famed for his low-budget shockers complete with assorted gimmicks, had by now reached his "Star Stage." He had featured Vincent Price in two of his films, and in 1964 really scored a coup when he signed Joan Crawford for "Strait- Jacket." Thanks mostly to her drawing power (she would later do "I Saw What You Did" for Castle) the film was a hit - and her publicity appearances on behalf of it didn't hurt, either. So, for his next project, Castle signed both Barbara Stanwyck and her initially reluctant ex-husband Robert Taylor to headline "The Night Walker" from a script written by "Strait-Jacket's" Robert Bloch (who also penned the book "Psycho").

In this psychological mystery melodrama, Stanwyck plays the wife of a rich, blind scientist (Hayden Rorke) who suspects her of having an affair. He hires a detective (Lloyd Bochner) to determine whether his wife is only dreaming of a lover or actually has one. Shortly thereafter, he is killed in an explosion, and his now very rich widow is plagued with nightmares in which he is pursuing her (when she's not dreaming of her mystery lover, that is). Taylor is her late husband's lawyer whom she turns to for help when her dreams begin to drive her mad. And so goes the plot...

Most critics saw this as another "Horror Hag" movie, in other words, a lurid yarn featuring a Golden Age star, a cycle which began with "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?" (with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford) and continued with "Strait-Jacket" (Crawford); "Lady In A Cage" (Olivia De havilland) and Ann Sothern) "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" (Davis, De havilland and Agnes Moorehead) etc. This time around though, the still- beautiful Stanwyck was cast as a victim, rather than a villainess (as most of the veteran actresses ended up playing in these films were) and she generated a good deal of sympathy-(besides being a terrific screamer). The supporting players (Bochner, Judi Meredith, Rochelle Hudson and Marjorie Bennett) are capable and game, the production is well photographed and features a truly creepy score from the great Vic Mizzy ("The Addams Family, "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken"). Famed voice-over king Paul Frees (for some reason credited as 'Ted Durant') sets the scene beautifully with a short but effective prologue. What really makes this work, however, are the still-potent talents of Stanwyck and Taylor, both of whom are really better than the material, but give it their all nevertheless. Alas, though profit participant Stanwyck toured with Castle to promote it, "The Night Walker" was a box-office flop, and it would take "Rosemary's Baby" which Castle only produced, to put him back on top. It's still an above-average film of it's type though, and pretty scary to watch alone at night.

When you dream you become a Night walker

[sol1218 · 7/10 · 2 April 2004]

Dark and spooky movie about murder and deception with a number of twists and turns to it that keeps you guessing until the very last frame.

"The Night walker" is one of those films that doesn't seem to be what you at first think that it is; Something between a horror and psychological movie. The movie skillfully goes from one side of of line to the other throughout it's almost entire time on the screen until that last ten or so minutes when you really see it for what it is and it's very effective in doing it.

"The Night Walker" starts out like something out of the "Twilight Zone" or "One Step Beyond" with a very good prelude about the world of dreams and how we who dream becomes "Night Walkers" in them. Howard Trent, Hayden Rorke, is a blind millionaire who's suspicious of his wife Irene, Barbara Stanwyck. Howard thinks that Irene is cheating on him but all the evidence that he has is a number of audio tape recordings he secretly recorded in her bedroom while Irene was talking in her sleep.

Howard tells his friend and lawyer Barry Moreland, Robert Taylor, how he feels about his wife Barbara at the start of the movie. You somehow at first think that it's Barry who's the man who having the affair with his Irene. It's seems that the blind but very cagey and clever Howard is manipulating both Barry and his wife Irene is some kind of sub-rosa plan that he's cooking up for them. A little later after Howard got into a fight with Irene he goes into his secret room where he keeps all of his audio equipment and tapes, as Irene runs out of the house, and the room suddenly explodes with him being blown to bits to where there's nothing left of Howard but molecules and atoms. With her husband dead and Irene now all alone in the house her dreams,or better yet nightmares, become more and more pronounced and real to the point where she has to leave the house in order to keep from going insane.

Moving into a room at the back of a beauty shop that she owned now instead of her dreams stopping they become even more real to the point where she can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Irenes conjures up this "Dream Man" Lloyd Bochner, who appears to Irene at night. The "Dream Man" is so real that when he gets her to go out with him one evening to a chapel to get married the next day when Irene was driving with Barry through the city streets Irene recognizes the places that she went with her "Dream Man"! Is Irene dreaming all this or is it real? if it is real why and who is behind all this? and even more if it's real what are the reasons for doing this?

Plays like a very good whodunit with Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck giving the movie the attention and class that it wouldn't have gotten if it had much less known actors in those two top roles. The ending to the movie was not at all that contrived as if the screenplay was written only for shock value. The ending tried and succeeded in tying all the loose ends together and giving the film a satisfying instead of a confusing ending.

Terrific William Castle thriller with pop-psychological prologue...

[moonspinner55 · 7/10 · 27 May 2016]

Wealthy widow in Los Angeles dreams of a handsome mystery man who romances her--also of the walking corpse of her blind husband, who may not have perished in an explosion as she was told. Robert Bloch was the writer William Castle wanted to work with most. Bloch, who helped bring new shocks to the screen with his novel "Psycho", came up with a fairly straightforward thriller here, one that producer-director Castle then marketed his own way ("Are you afraid of the things that can come out of your dreams...Lust. Murder. Secret Desires?"). However, just because "The Night Walker" is relatively gimmick-free doesn't mean it's a washout. Far from it, as Barbara Stanwyck is very good in the leading role, creating a savvy, quick-thinking businesswoman who is also prone to screaming fits (the latter trait doesn't quite pay off, as Stanwyck just isn't a Scream Queen). Eerie thriller on a low budget has a quietly menacing ambiance that is intriguing. Vic Mizzy contributes one of his finest background scores to the film, and the cast is full of pros, including Robert Taylor, Stanwyck's real-life ex-husband. The kitschy opening about the world of dreams is pure William Castle (and has next-to-nothing in common with the movie that follows), but there are many amazing sequences here to cherish. Good fun! *** from ****

Atmospheric and Eerie

[laffinsal · 22 February 2002]

One of the last of the great William Castle's horror/schlock masterpieces from the 60s. This one doesn't have quite the tongue-in-cheek humor of some of his earlier efforts like "The Tingler", or even "Homicidal", but it's still worth looking into. Barbara Stanwyck's acting is solid in this film, although her screaming-hacking cough borders on the ridiculous after awhile.

There are, however, two excellent sequences in this film that are not to be missed. One is the expressionistic prolouge, narrated by Paul Frees in his recognizably sinister voice, and the other is the late-night marriage ceremony, which is also eerie and well done.

Another great facet of this movie is the music score by Vic Mizzy. Mizzy did many excellent scores to minor films during the 60s, but this one is perhaps his very best one. It adds greatly to the film's atmosphere and suspense.

One of Castle's Best

[Space_Mafune · 7/10 · 21 December 2002]

This is an highly imaginative and entertaining spookfest with a focus on nightmares and dreams. It lacks William Castle's usual gimmicks to attract an audience yet stands out as a fine film effort.

When a blind man - suspicious of his wife's loyalty to him due to her dreams of another lover - dies in a bizarre laboratory explosion, his wife begins to have nightmares about him and begins to suspect she may be going crazy.

There's a good creepy atmosphere here and to think it's achieved without many of the expected gimmicks and thrills - the chapel-wedding sequence with the mannequins, spinning chandelier, candles being particularly effective.

Barbara Stanwyck is quite good in this but they do have her just stand still and scream too much in this movie. The ending too is not without its problems but still this film makes for enjoyable late-night viewing.

Effective Castle chiller without gimmicks

[Coventry · 7/10 · 6 June 2018]

Say what you want about William Castle but, even without silly gimmicks and avant-garde marketing tricks, this man was able to deliver competent and solid atmosphere-driven horror tales! "The Night Walker" is perfect proof of this statement, because even though the screenplay (by none other than Robert "Pyscho" Bloch") is occasionally too slow-paced and predictable, Castle still managed to turn it into a mysteriously ominous thriller with a handful of authentic fright-moments, hypnotizing music, eerie imagery and strong performances. The voiceover intro is rather dumb and redundant, as it's an exaggeratedly theatrical lecture about the phenomena of dreams and dreaming. Basically, it's just a lot of pseudo-intellectual and pretentious mumbo-jumbo that ends with the nonsensical phrase: "When you dream, you become a night walker". Hence the title, huh? Thank you, Mr. Castle!

Immediately after, however, "The Night Walker" becomes tense and compelling. The wealthy, blind and downright petrifying Howard Trent confronts his wife with his suspicion that she's cheating. Irene confesses, but only in her dreams, because she never leaves the house and Trent is cruel and possessive when it comes to her. When Trent dies in a freaky accident in his laboratory, Irene still isn't care-free. She still dreams of her inexistent (or not?) Prince Charming, but also suffers from nightmares in which Trent looking even more terrifying now since half of his face is burnt, comes back from the dead to kill her. Irene receives help and moral support from Trent's handsome lawyer Barry Morland and her beauty salon employee Joyce, but inevitably her mental state deteriorates further. You don't exactly require a PhD. in criminology to figure out what is going on, but William Castle nevertheless admirably attempts to retain the mystery aspects. He reveals very little until the climax, comes up with a few efficient plot twists and successfully makes you wonder if Barbara Stanwyck's visions are real or imaginary. The make-up/mask worn is by Hayden Rorke is fantastically horrific and the, hands down, best quality of "The Night Walker" is the spellbinding music by Vic Mizzy.

The acting and style of the film were far better than the story itself.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 17 October 2018]

"The Night Walker" is a very strange film which is in some ways a bad film and in others it's quite good. The bad is the story itself. Although it has some great elements, it really doesn't make all that much sense (such as why didn't the lady ever seek out the police??) and it's best you just turn off your brain and enjoy this one.

The film is made by William Castle...so it's not surprising it starts off weirdly. The prologue is indescribly weird...like taking a hit of acid. You just have to see it to believe it. After, the actual story begins. It seems that a nutty old rich blind guy (Hayden Rorke) thinks his wife is cheating on him. Soon after talking to his lawyer about this, the guy burns up in a fire. Despite him being dead, the wife dreams of him and her dreams are incredibly vivid and disturbing. It has her beginning to question her sanity...as do appearances by a pretty young lover who doesn't seem to be real. What is really going on here?

Pairing Barbara Stanwyck and her ex-husband, Robert Taylor, was an interesting choice....and the film is filled with fantastically eerie camerawork and music...which, along with the husband's make-up, really terrify. If only the story were a bit more logical, I would have rated it higher, as the movie (much like Castle's "Strait-Jacket") is highly entertaining and creepy.

Was the music of this film adapted by John Green in Oliver! only to win an Oscar?

[JuguAbraham · 7/10 · 26 April 2018]

Vic Mizzy's musical notes in this 1964 film sounds exactly the same as the notes of the song "Boy for sale" in the 1968 film "Oliver!" John Green adapted the music and walked away with the Oscar. Nobody seems to have noticed because "The Night Walker" is rarely discussed.

Viewing the film a second time after 50 years, this film is still a good thriller and less of a horror film as most people classify it. Very good performances to boot.

Few realize that the author of the story wrote "Psycho" directed by Hitchcock, and that the director of the film produced "Rosemary's Baby."

Dreams

[EdgarST · 8/10 · 18 June 2006]

I watched this film so many times in my youth that I lost the count. Maybe it was because William Castle produced it, or the handsome "dream lover", the music by Vic Mizzy, its surprise ending (which I should have known from reel one), or the happy time I was having when it was released: I was 13 years old, The Supremes had their first hits, and many stars of the past were back in action. Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Tallulah Bankhead, and real-life sisters Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine, all starred in black-and-white horror and suspense vehicles in which grand guignol reigned. In this film (written by "Psycho" author, Robert Bloch), Barbara Stanwyck is rather restrained compared to her peers, as a widow having strange dreams (in which Lloyd Bochner seduced her), with ex-husband Robert Taylor lending a hand to solve the mystery. Even knowing the ending, I still enjoyed it again and again.

Predictable, but overall a solid shocker.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 11 November 2017]

From writer Robert Bloch of "Psycho" fame and the gimmick-loving producer-director William Castle comes this entry into that genre crudely referred to by some people as "hag horror". (Popularized by the legendary "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?".) Barbara Stanwyck, in her final feature film, stars as Irene Trent, who's unhappily married to embittered blind man Howard Trent (Hayden Rorke). When Howard dies in a suspicious explosion, she becomes a very rich woman. But she continues to be haunted by recurring dreams, in which she is romanced by a handsome young stranger (Lloyd Bochner). Her well-meaning lawyer friend Barry Morland (Robert Taylor) tries to help her solve this puzzle in her life.

Castle does some great things with atmosphere, and his direction is stylish. One scene certainly leaves an impression, the "wedding" which is attended by mannequins. Ultimately, the story is resolved in a "realistic" manner which does negate all the surrealism created by Castle, cinematographer Harold E. Stine, and company up to that point. It's not a terribly surprising reveal, but it is a fun one, and in general the movie is quite enjoyable, gimmick or no gimmick. It does keep you engrossed for quite a while, although after some time has passed you do get a sense of where it is going. It's also enhanced by a repetitive, but catchy, music score by Vic Mizzy, somewhat reminiscent of the classic 'Twilight Zone' theme.

Stanwyck is very appealing, with top billed Taylor offering solid support as the lawyer. Rorke ('I Dream of Jeannie') is absolutely great; Judi Meredith ("Queen of Blood"), Rochelle Hudson ("Rebel Without a Cause"), Jess Barker ("Scarlet Street"), Marjorie Bennett ("What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"), and Tetsu Komai ("Island of Lost Souls") co-star. The opening narration, ruminating on the entire concept of dreams and nightmares, is spoken by the great Paul Frees.

Good fun, and rather under rated as far as Castles' output and the entire "older women in shockers" genre goes.

Seven out of 10.

The Night Walker: Thorough mess

[Platypuschow · 3/10 · 11 October 2018]

When a womans much older wealthy possessive husband is killed in an explosion she finds herself experiencing vivid dreams including him and a mysterious handsome stranger. But what do they mean?

The Night Walker looks great and has some very advanced sfx for its time, for that I congratulate the creators. However I'm left thinking some more of that budget should have gone to the writers as the plot is a baffled mess.

It all starts competently enough, then it goes into the realms where you find yourself concerned whether everything will be fully explained by the end. Well.............actually it's not, not when you think about it anyway.

The concept is there as is the delivery but the plot itself is a frustrating mess and everytime Stanwyck screamed I died a little inside.

Certainly not the worst, but I'd definetly advise skipping over it.

The Good:

Great opening sequence

SFX are ahead of their time

Robert Taylor

The Bad:

Story is an absolute mess

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Barbara Stanwyck has the worst scream in cinema history

Surprisingly good!

[Oriel · 8/10 · 31 March 2002]

Perhaps the key to enjoying this movie is to come to it with no expectations, as I did--or to be a fan of William Castle (as I am becoming!). If you know William Castle's work, you know to expect low-budget chills that don't take themselves very seriously. What's surprising about this film is that it's actually fairly sophisticated. The plot has some excellent twists; the chills are more psychological and less gore-dependent than in other Castle films I can think of; and it's just fun to see two great (albeit aging) stars get their teeth into a horror script. Barbara Stanwyck is excellent, and Robert Taylor comes a close second.

Why this little gem isn't available on DVD with (what I consider to be) lesser Castle works baffles me. It's definitely worth seeking out for your next cheesy horror fest.

Majorly good!

[mcalister_tyler · 7/10 · 19 June 2018]

Incredibly well written, somewhat hammy acting at some points, overall, a masterfully told story with great twists and turns!

Clunky horror film from William Castle capitalizing on two stars...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 27 August 2006]

The best thing one can say about THE NIGHT STALKER is that the ending is entirely unpredictable. Of course, it's also entirely unbelievable for the wind-up to a tale that really loses all credibility when you start to examine it.

BARBARA STANWYCK does her best to put some professional zing into her role of a woman who dreams too much and ROBERT TAYLOR, as an overly concerned lawyer friend, does his best to make things believable, but the script by Robert Bloch defies reasoning. The trick results are more perplexing than frightening. It's the sort of deceptive thriller that should have been much better written and directed, especially when stars like Stanwyck and Taylor were assigned to it.

The opening segment is an expressionistic montage of the dream world that has a certain fascination and promise. But what follows is an extremely artificial tale involving the woman's blind and jealous husband, her concerned lawyer and a muddled mixture of nightmares that plague the woman until the deceptive revelation at the end.

Stanwyck and Taylor have clearly seen better days, but fans of the stars will no doubt enjoy seeing them coasting along on their former reputations in a horror film not really worthy of them.

Even though Babs is not a very convincing shrieker, I like this one!

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 16 April 2021]

I remember watching it when I was a kid and it scared me badly. Revisiting it so many years later, not so much. Maybe it was the Watergate era in the intervening years that makes everybody suspect anybody and everybody else. But I digress.

Barbara Stanwyck, still a handsome woman at 57, plays Irene Trent. She's married to a wealthy maimed blind ....scientist???...Howard Trent, who is over the top jealous and thinks because his wife talks in her sleep about some dream lover she is actually having an affair. They have a confrontation about his suspicions, he tries to strike her with his cane, and she runs into the street. At about that time there is smoke coming from Howard's lab. And yet blind, he goes up into that lab to handle this himself, there is a fiery explosion, and no more Howard.

And I mean literally no more Howard as in no body. The arson squad guy thinks this is not odd and says there was such extreme heat that the body disintegrated, while he stands next to all kinds of electrical equipment that is undamaged. And the fireproof door saved the rest of the house, and yet there is a hole in the floor. Is there a physicist in the house?

So the thing is, Irene starts having vivid dreams, as in a young man who comes to her, even marries her, with each dream ending with a burned Howard appearing. She feels like these "dreams" are actually happening, not just her imagination. What is going on here? Watch and find out.

So many questions and issues. How did Howard and Irene meet and why would she marry him? She seems to completely loathe every aspect of the guy. She had/has her own business that is doing well, was it just his money? This is never explained. The creepy organ music seems to be "Food Glorious Food" from Oliver, four years before the fact. And there are some very large plot holes - I'll let you find them - I still can't explain. And finally a warning - the film's prologue about dreams goes on forever.

And yet, in spite of all of this, I still like it. It is very much an example of "last gasp of the production code" horror. No gore, no "blood feasts", no hippies. Everybody is always dressed like they are going to work. It uses actual suspense - and mannequins! - to scare you. I'd recommend it.

THE NIGHT WALKER (William Castle, 1964) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 22 March 2009]

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!

Kind of spooky but slow and long

[preppy-3 · 6/10 · 23 October 2000]

This movie begins with a very scary, well done expressionistic montage about nightmares and dreams. Then the movie starts. Unfortunately, none of the movie lives up to that opening. Barbara Stanwyck (very good in her last theatrical role) is married to a bitter, blind man. He dies (maybe) in an explosion. However, she starts to have dreams about him being alive and they begin to drive her mad. Is he alive, or dead, or is she just going crazy?

Not a bad premise...some of the nightmare sequences are spooky and the great music score is very eerie, but the film doesn't have enough material to sustain and hour and a half length. This would have been a great hour long short. Also Robert Taylor looks miserable (he was suffering from cancer at the time) and the ending is confusing (and ridiculous). Also having Stanwyck scream was a bad idea (her voice is so low, the scream sounds very strange). Worth seeing if you're home alone late at night. Otherwise, forget it.

Grotesque quite sure, spooky a little, predicable never, assigned by Castle's trademark!!

[elo-equipamentos · 7/10 · 25 March 2021]

The worshipped director William Castle was so notorious director for made low budge horror pictures in a couple weeks or so, all those movies were highly creative to outweigh the scarce money involved on the production, also Castle was a crafty snaky charm, he was able to sell dry grass getting fire so easily with high power of inducement, clearly due the absence of offers by the majors studios he got contract the classy Robert Taylor and the lady Barbara Stanwyck for this bleak endeavor.

As Castle's precedent works "The Night Walker" doesn't won't run of this path, which Castle make a fortune, the storyline is pretty scary about a pretty old woman Irene Trent (Stanwyck) married with a blind elderly man Howard Trent (Hayden Rorke) actually a wealthy husband, his bookkeeper is the sophisticated Barry Morland (Robert Taylor) who manage all Howard Trend's huge properties, sadly Irene has been haunted by successive nightmares about a young good-looking tall man with blue eyes, meanwhile ruthlessly surveilled by his jealous ugly and impolite spouse.

After a quarrel with Irene, Howard Trent enters in his laboratory which came to explode, killing the man whose the body was never found, Irene decides moves due the recurrent bad dreams to her little house attached at her beauty parlor, drearily the change shows useless, the awkward nightmares carry on, so Barry Morland tries help the frantic woman taking her on those places which Irene barely remember, at long last she finds a clue over a chapel that supposedly she gets married at his dream.

Seemingly it's sounds, silly, grotesque and highly far-fetched, whereby really is arguably, although it was enough exciting and heavily daunting, a splendid ood entertainment even such level of the oddity, however one thing it isn't at all, foreseeable never, the viewer will he a great shock assigned by William Castle's trademark, don't miss it for nothing!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2021 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

What's the problem???

[mercury4 · 10/10 · 23 August 2002]

Really, what is the problem? This movie has a great script, a great score, great actors and a great director. There really is nothing to hate about this movie. The Night Walker is similar to William Castle's other films; like House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler, and this movie is just as creepy. It's basically about nightmares. Are they nightmares or are they more. Great story line. But there is also a great twist. I rented this movie, but I was at first going to buy it to add to my William Castle collection. I rented it and expected a terrible movie. I was surprised to see that it wasn't a terrible, but a great horror movie or a great mystery. I especially like the part where Barbara Stanwyck is screaming, "I can't wake up!" "I can't wake up!" This is a great movie. See it and you won't be disappointed.

I've Fallen Asleep and I Can't Wake Up

[LobotomousMonk · 6/10 · 1 March 2013]

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.

Let's Scare Barbara To Death

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 14 February 2009]

William Castle was always one for gimmicks to get attention for his product. Whether it was those tinted glasses for 13 Ghosts or those insurance policies for Macabre, Castle always had a keen eye for publicity. For The Night Walker he did things the more conventional Hollywood way, he reunited two stars from Hollywood's golden age of the studio who happened to be married to each other at one time.

This was done once before, for William Powell and Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey. The trade papers were buzzing about how the former marrieds would get on. Actually they did and they produced a classic motion picture comedy.

Would that The Night Walker did the same for Taylor and Stanwyck. Neither was especially fond of the project although they behaved professionally whether the cameras were rolling or not. I agree with a previous reviewer, you either love the film or you can't understand it. I belong in the latter category.

Barbara is a beauty parlor owner married to a really creepy blind guy in Hayden Rorke. He's got the idea she's cheating on him and with his attorney Robert Taylor. Later on he's killed in an explosion in the house. After that Stanwyck starts having nightmares, so much so she can't tell reality from dream. The audience has some problems in that regard as well.

A really talented cast milks whatever entertainment value can be gotten from The Night Walker. Let's just say that at the end of the proceedings only one is left to tell the tale, a tale the police are going to have a lot of problems believing.

Castle puts his usual chilling atmosphere on the proceedings. But I assure you if you think about the plot the whole thing is quite ridiculous.

Strange, surreal "Twilight Zone"-esque offering from Castle

[drownsoda90 · 8/10 · 30 January 2022]

"The Night Walker" follows a woman who is widowed when her blind, pathologically jealous inventor husband is killed in an explosion in his laboratory. She is soon plagued by bizarre nightmares in which she is whisked away by a mystery man in the night, and subject to increasingly strange experiences.

Famous for being Barbara Stanwyck's last theatrical film, this offering from gimmick master William Castle is actually quite un-gimmicky, aside from a psychedelic, Salvador Dali-esque didactic prologue about dreams and the subconscious that prefaces the film.

Written by "Psycho" author Robert Bloch, "The Night Walker" plays out like a feature-length episode of "The Twilight Zone," and is riddled with odd details and unusual settings: Everything from the blind inventor husband's sprawling estate (complete with an in-house Frankenstein-esque lab!), to the beauty salon (where Stanwyck's character lived prior to marrying the abusive inventor), to the rundown chapel where one of the film's nightmarish centerpiece sequences occur. It is all underpinned by a strange, almost hypnotic score, and a series of chilling, surreal sequences that are truly the stuff of nightmares. Stars Stanwyck and Robert Taylor (her real-life ex-husband) gives solid performances, and Stanwyck (at times appearing to do a Marion Crane impression) never veers into full-fledged hysterics, though she comes close.

The film's final act is a bit of a letdown in the sense that it is somewhat anticlimactic, though it is not entirely a failure. All in all, "The Night Walker" is an effective, unusual horror film, and an oddball entry in Castle's filmography in that it does not feature an extra-diegetic gimmick or Castle's signature sense of playfulness. In a sense, it is a darker entry in his body of work, though it still possesses some semblance of levity, hence the "Twilight Zone" comparison. 8/10.

solid B-horror

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 6 September 2017]

Irene Trent (Barbara Stanwyck) is struggling with her nightmarish world. Her possessive blind inventor husband Howard supposedly dies in a laboratory fire but she continues to be haunted by his presence. Her lawyer Barry Morland locks up the destroyed lab and she moves out of the home.

This is solid for a modest B-horror. It has veteran actress Barbara Stanwyck and serves as her last theatrical performance. There is a good nightmare world. It's lower budget with limited sets. Some of it is definitely older style horror. This is not going to break the mold but I always like Stanwyck.

The Mean Universe.

[rmax304823 · 3/10 · 15 January 2014]

After the opening credits, a kind of prologue rolls on for five minutes, narrated by Paul Frees (whose voice you'll recognize) doing a parody of himself. "What happens when you sleeeep? You dreeeem. And the dreeeems are filled with terror." We're treated to drifting images -- expanding spider webs, floating silhouettes, a surrealistic fist clutching a surrealistic eyeball that stares helplessly out of the screen.

Are your dreams like that? If so, you should stop dreaming at once. Statistically, the most common dream isn't of flying or appearing naked in public but of being pursued. They're not much fun. I'm usually chased by some unidentified monsters but I'm trying to slog my way through some bog filled with molasses so I have to run in slow motion. The sex dreams are usually amusing, at least until the censor brings in the hobby horses.

"Dreeems are filled with meeeening," the narrator tells us, but the most recent theory, last time I checked, was that they aren't. While we're asleep, certain structures deep in our brains are defragging themselves, getting rid of some memories, assembling others. It generates a lot of neuronal activity and randomly bombards the cortex, the reasoning part of the brain. The cortex weaves all of this stuff together and tries to make sense out of what is essentially nonsense. Some people take all this more seriously than others. The tribes of Central Australia had a concept of "dream time," in which these imagined events actually took place in a kind of mystical alternative universe.

Why do I go on like this, you ask? I don't know. Maybe I'm just dreeeming that this is being written. Who knows? A poet of ancient China, Zhuangzi, once remarked that last night he dreamed he was a butterfly. Today, is he a butterfly dreaming that he is Zhuangzi?

Okay. I think the Thorazine has hit bottom. Back to the movie. I remember seeing it when it was released and I thought it was spooky. It still has its spooky moments but it takes a while to get going because the beginning resembles an episode from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." Stanwyck is married to a bitter blind man. The blind man's attorney is Robert Taylor. The blind husband is apparently killed in an explosion and a sleekly handsome younger man, Lloyd Bochner, begins to show up at night, when she's supposed to be sleeping, and squires her around. Stanwyck can't tell the dreams from the reality.

The reason it's still a bit spooky is that the director uses every tried and true cliché in the book, no matter how hoary. If a frightened woman is standing in the middle of the frame, a hand reaches in from off screen and grasps her shoulder. (Twice.) Stanwyck screams more often, and louder, than in all her previous movies put together. The plot is ludicrous, which is why I'm not getting into it in any more detail, and the drollery is helped immensely by the score. The "suspense" music, built around four notes on an upright bass, is straight out of an Abbott and Costello movie.

It's utter schlock that leaves multiple loose ends dangling. (How did the fake wedding ring get on the floor of the fake chapel?) I've now seen it twice and that's enough.

You Just Might Have A Nightmare Of Your Own!

[james362001 · 7/10 · 15 February 2002]

The blind man was haunting me from the very beginning of this film. It wasn't until the scene just before he went the the reel-to-reel recorder that I finally recognized the man as Hayden Rorke who went on to do the tv series "I Dream Of Jeannie" the next year after this film was released. This William Castle film is a little better than The Tingler but ends as abruptly as House On Haunted Hill did. You might yearn for more. Since this film deals with imagination, dreams and nightmares, you just might have a nightmare of your own. This film proves once again that Barbara Stanwyck is a wonderful screamer.