The Night Walker (1964) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Irene Trent (Barbara Stanwyck) is accused by her blind husband of having an affair because when she dreams she speaks of a much younger man. The blind husband is killed in an accidental explosion and soon afterwards Irene's dreams continue but soon they turn into nightmares as her dead husband seems to be coming back for her.William Castle's THE NIGHT WALKER is a rather interesting horror film that has some good ideas that aren't fully realized but there are certainly enough good moments throughout the picture to make it worth watching. I think it should be noted that the film has a few similarities with A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and it makes you wonder if Wes Craven had seen this film at some point. Either way, Castle turns in a film that fans of his should enjoy even though it doesn't have the typical gimmicks.What I enjoyed the most about this picture was the atmosphere that was created by Castle and especially early on. The film is basically about Stanwyck having these awful visions yet she's never quite sure if they are real or if they are from her dreams. The "nightmare" sequences are actually very well directed and they also manage to be quite creepy in their own way. It also helps that Stanwyck herself is so good in the role and she certainly makes you believe that you're watching someone in terror. Robert Taylor is also very good in his role as is Judith Meredith and Hayden Rorke.There are some flaws with the film including the screenplay not doing enough with the set-up. After a while it seems as if the film isn't moving anywhere as we're basically getting the same thing over a over (is it a dream or reality?). I do wish the screenplay had done a bit more and I'd also argue that there just wasn't quite enough done in the picture. Again, the set-up works perfectly but after a while the repeating stuff just grows a bit tiresome.With that said, fans of Castle will still want to check this film out as there are enough good moments to make it worth sitting through.

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.

As I look back toward my youth in the 1950s and 1960s, there are a handful of films that I remember most -- "Gone With The Wind", "Ben Hur", a few other greats...and this one. Now that's odd, because this is a suspense film done on the cheap (and to some extent, it shows). But I was attracted to the presence of two formerly married actors (Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck) getting back together to star in a film together...and I love a GOOD horror film. What surprised me even more was that as I watched this film 50 years later, how much of the film I actually remembered. However, as is often the case, the film isn't near as good as I remembered it being Robert Taylor was looking almost old here, although Barbara Stanwyck was still quite beautiful. Taylor's performance is good enough, although for some reason in the early half of the film he has an odd smirk on his face that I just don't understand. Stanwyck is good throughout. This was Stanwyck's last film, but Taylor made a few more.The other key player here was Llodd Bochner, and oddly handsome actor. It's not a particularly memorable role. It was his second film. After a few years he spent more time on the small screen.It's a decent who-done-it, and hardly a horror film, although that's the way it's often pegged. Perhaps "suspense" is a better descriptor. The new DVD release is decent, though there is some deterioration of the negative, though not enough to affect one's viewing of the film. To be honest, and to my surprise, I ditched the DVD after watching it once...just not as good as I remembered. A modest "7".

Funny, it almost doesn't seem quite as bad as I remember it -- except for the ending and Stanwyck's usual overwroughtness in the wrong places.Who made the creepy -- and downright good -- ghostly avant-garde prologue montage, narrated by Paul Frees? It's the best thing about the movie and it's pretty obvious that William Castle, no auteur he, was not responsible for it.The eerie 1964 Cold War black-and-white photography with an equally eerie Vic "Addams Family" Mizzy score. And yet, after the first 16 or 17 minutes, it slips into TV sitcom crap. Only it's funny unintentionally. I still say the whole thing would have been granted a little extra dignity if they had ended on Stanwyck awakening one more time, hearing men's voices down the hall, and her going to find her husband and the lawyer in the study, reliving completely the first scene in the study from the beginning of the movie, Stanwyck in the doorway of the study in terror, camera zooms up to her left eye. Movie ends.She's still locked in the dream. She still can't wake up.That would give the literal crime story wrap-up of the film the chance to be disavowed for its stupidness.