Crazy chemistry professor Dr. Alfred Morris (George Zucco) deliberately exposes his assistant, student Ted Allison (David Bruce), to an ancient Mayan gas that puts the young man into a zombie-like state. In order to keep Ted alive, Morris needs to repeatedly inject him with a serum produced from the hearts of the recently deceased, the professor turning to grave-robbing and murder for his supply of organs, with obedient Ted aiding him in his nefarious work. With Ted in his control, Morris also plans to 'steal the heart' of his assistant's fiancé, singer Isabel (Evelyn Ankers), although his romantic intentions are in vain, for she is really in love with her suave pianist Eric (Turhan Bey).
The Mad Ghoul is one of those daft B-movies that makes one question the point of the villain's ghoulish experiments. What is the purpose of recreating the gas? Does doing so offer any benefits whatsoever other than providing the makers of this film with a flaky premise for another low-budget chiller? I guess that's why they call them mad scientists. Of course, the insanity of the plot is the kind of thing that we B-movie fans adore, but this one falters (like so many do) by being very monotonous after the initial set-up: Ted repeatedly falls back into zombie mode, Morris is forced to find another heart, repeat.
That said, the film's best moment comes when reporter Ken McClure (Robert Armstrong) lays a trap for the killer by posing as a corpse in a funeral home: rather than capture the maniac as he plans, he becomes another victim of the heart-snatching ghoul - I didn't see that coming! It makes a welcome change for the clichéd reporter character to become the subject of a sensational headline himself.
The film ends predictably, with Morris ordering Ted to kill Eric and then commit suicide, unaware that he himself has been exposed to the Mayan gas.
The Mad Ghoul is one of those daft B-movies that makes one question the point of the villain's ghoulish experiments. What is the purpose of recreating the gas? Does doing so offer any benefits whatsoever other than providing the makers of this film with a flaky premise for another low-budget chiller? I guess that's why they call them mad scientists. Of course, the insanity of the plot is the kind of thing that we B-movie fans adore, but this one falters (like so many do) by being very monotonous after the initial set-up: Ted repeatedly falls back into zombie mode, Morris is forced to find another heart, repeat.
That said, the film's best moment comes when reporter Ken McClure (Robert Armstrong) lays a trap for the killer by posing as a corpse in a funeral home: rather than capture the maniac as he plans, he becomes another victim of the heart-snatching ghoul - I didn't see that coming! It makes a welcome change for the clichéd reporter character to become the subject of a sensational headline himself.
The film ends predictably, with Morris ordering Ted to kill Eric and then commit suicide, unaware that he himself has been exposed to the Mayan gas.