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I first saw NIGHT OF TERROR in 1962 on Shock! Theater, and I liked it. Then I saw it again about a decade later on Fright Night, and I still liked it. Now I've just taken another look at it, my first in almost 45 years, and dang if I still don't like the shabby thing.

What's not to like? It's got Bela (!), an ugly fanged killer called "The Maniac", a mad lab, secret passages, a creepy housekeeper, a trance or two, a suspended animation drug, Bela (!!), a nighttime "funeral", a seance, a burying-alive, a neat Old Dark House, Wallace Ford, a s-s-scared black guy, Loretta Young's cute sister, and, of course, BELA(!!!)

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Mr. Lugosi as delivery boy.

Is it a silly old thing? Why, yes, it is! Does it look older than the pyramids? Absolutely. Is it a fun, pleasant hour? You bet your schmickus it is.

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A pre-made grave, ready for immediate occupancy.

Though I had a normal, youthful resentment of monster movies without monsters, or at least spooky supernatural stuff, this one passed muster with me. For one thing, The Maniac was pretty darn close to being a real monster. Secondly, there was so much there, so much that hewed so close to horror or science-fiction that sheer weight of near-horror carried the day. I mean, the suspended animation drug is a fake, but still the guy is puttering around a mad scientist's lab. The burial-alive may be a trick, but there is a coffin and pallbearers and a grave. And The Maniac! That guy was real...what was up with that ugly dude anyway?

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The mad lab is a little meager, but it's still acceptably MAD!

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Bela with scared black servant. Nothing racist here, move along.

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Sally Blane looks quite a bit like her MUCH more famous sister, Loretta.

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   And as a bonus to all the main stuff, we get pince-nez dude and Weird Beard. Cool.

NIGHT OF TERROR is silly, ancient, creaky, laughable, and generally ridiculous...but it's a rare treasure for all that.  Maybe because of that.

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            Pleasant dreams...

All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people.