Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7668 in VHS
• Released on: 1996-10-01
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Customer Reviews

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!
I absolutely love this movie. Okay, I know some could pick it apart saying what is wrong with it, but that doesn't sway me. I love it. I can't even say how many times I have watched it...ha. The one thing that upsets me about it though is that it isn't out on DVD yet, I wait anxiously for that day. Am I alone in my obsession for this movie? If not please join me at group I have created especially for this movie. A place where fellow devotees can congregate and talk and wait and see who we can put the pressure on to get this movie on DVD. [...]
Fellow devotees unite!

...Did you ever see a dream walking?
"Together again!" blurted the ads for this William Castle thriller. The ads meant, of course,former husband and wife Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, who had a rather acrimonious divorce in the early 1950s. "Everyone probably thought we were going to beat each other up", said "Missy" Stanwyck, when asked about how their screen reunion went. Well, they didn't beat each other up, but gave good performances in this Robert "Psycho" Bloch-scripted film, one of William Castle's best. "The Night Walker" is the tale of attractive Irene Trent (Stanwyck), who is married to blind, jealous and abusive scientist Howard Trent, played by Hayden Rourke (He was "Captain Bellows" on TV's "I Dream of Jeannie"!). Marriage to Howard, in Irene's words, "Is like a nightmare!" In her frustration, she dreams of a young, handsome and attentive lover, and talks in her sleep. Howard accuses her of having an affair with their attorney, Barry Morland (Taylor). They quarrel,(Stanwyck's tirade is a masterpiece of vitriol!), she runs out of their gloomy old mansion, and Howard is incinerated in a mysterious explosion in his laboratory. Irene, feeling uncomfortable living in the house, moves into the small apartment behind the beauty parlor she owns. Her dreams of a dream lover continue, (Are they dreams? Are they real?) and then they become terrifying nightmares. She sees Howard, his face hideously burned, and her "dream lover" (Lloyd Bochner) marries her in a positively frightening ceremony in an abandoned chapel. Irene begins to doubt her own sanity...Surprisingly, "The Night Walker" was a box-office dud. It is a very entertaining film, with a great cast, which includes familiar old faces such as Rochelle Hudson, Marjorie Bennett, Jess Barker, and Tetsu Komai (he was one of the manimals in "Island of Lost Souls"). "Missy" Stanwyck looks great, though she possessed one of the most unmelodious screams ever heard on screen (it sounds like a foghorn!), but she gives, as always, a believable performance. She was great. Robert Taylor is good, though he was never one of my favorites, and his once-handsome face had not aged well, and his bad facelift did not help matters. The musical score is rather noteworthy. It was composed by Vic Mizzy, who has, to his credit, "The Addams Family", "Green Acres", "The Pruitts of Southhampton", and a quartet of Don Knotts comedies, including "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken". It is a very entertaining, catchy score, praised by Bernard Herrmann! The picture quality on this tape is excellent, and the original teaser trailer is loads of fun ("Do you dream of SEX?") So, for an enjoyable 85 minutes, curl up with a bowl of popcorn and "The Night Walker"! Pleasant dreams....

Creepy camp shocker has hoots, howls and thrills
I first saw this gem on TV in the mid 1970s on a Saturday afternoon. It frightened me as a child and fascinates me as an adult. Another in a string of William Castle shockers, this film has a great performance from Barbara Stanwyck along with plenty of cheesy thrills and campy dialogue as only Castle can deliver ("When I'm awake with you my life is like a nightmare!"). Memorable music adds to the spell. The recent horror hit "House of Wax" pays homage to "The Night Walker" in a key scene. Why isn't this on DVD?