Moe, Larry, and Shemp have decided to take up detective work and they get their first client when a man reports that his daughter has been abducted.With the highly original disguise of people giving away free pies as a promotion in the neighborhood, the boys start knocking on doors hoping to locate the missing young lady, Norma Randall. A few well chosen screams give the idea that something is amiss at one location.Spooks is a combination of the Bela Lugosi/Ritz Brothers film The Gorilla and Abbott&Costello Meet Frankenstein. A couple of scientists Philip Van Zandt and Tom Kennedy are working on transferring the woman's brain into their body. Why they would want to do that to a pretty young thing like Randall shows how mad these scientists are. She's not happy and the gorilla is real resistant to the idea.Don't forget about those pies, saved for the climax. Spooks is ripped off from those other classics, yet the Stooges bring their own unique brand of burlesque humor. It's even in 3-D.

Directed by Jules White, "Spooks!" is a pretty good Three Stooges short starring Larry, Moe, and Shemp. As the title suggests, this film takes place in a haunted house full of spooks! The Stooges are amateur sleuths posing as pie salesmen in order to recover a pretty lady (Norma Randall) from the clutches of a mad scientist (Philip Van Zandt) and his assistant (Tom Kennedy), who abduct her for a brain transplant experiment. The Stooges decide to use their most common weapon against the two fiends: pie-throwing!Highlights from "Spooks!" include the following. The Stooges encounter a bat with Shemp's face! At the end, the scientist's gorilla throws pies at the Stooges and the girl. When Shemp describes the gorilla to Moe and Larry, he calls it a "chimney-panzee" and says, "He looked just like my mother-in-law!" As the Stooges try to escape through a window, Moe gets bashed in the head twice."Spooks!" was the first of two Stooge shorts in 3-D! The only real problem with this format is that the slapstick, when directed toward the camera, is quite exaggerated when you watch the films in 2-D. On the other hand, the one shot of the scientist approaching the camera (representing the gorilla) and holding up his hypodermic needle directly in front of the lens is quite frightening indeed!

This was a truly hilarious short, 3-D or no 3-D. There were so many visual gags, including the one where the bat is actually Shemp barking like Curly.But one of the most notable things about this short is how Shemp shows himself as a hipster when he learns they are looking for Bea Bopper. He responds by saying such hip terms as "Hey man!" and "Cool, Daddy-O!" It begs the question: Who came first, James Dean or Shemp Howard? And I think I know the answer to this one! I almost think Shemp was a a '60s person before his time: A meek guy who had longish, limp hair, who used hip expressions!!! Oh, the things you learn in Stooge shorts!!! No wonder why these shorts are great!! Chalk up another classic for these three goofs!!

Stooges at their spookiest. Funny short has the boys trying to rescue a girl from the evil clutches of Dr. Jekyll. "Dr. Jekyll. We must hide." Says Shemp in a funny line. This episode has all the elements of a stooge classic. It has absolutely everything. Their is an ape. A pie fight between an ape. A mad doctor. A spooky location. Witty writing. 3-D action, pitchforks and fingers fly right towards your eyes. And a bat that does an impression of Curly.This episode has to be seen to be believed. A Stooge gem that has always been overlooked. Catch this one if you can, or I'll gouge your eyes out! Whoo whooh whooh whooh whooh whooh!