The Night Walker - A Horror Film

 

 

The Night Walker (1964) is a very suspenseful horror film, directed by William Castle, and written by Robert Bloch (Psycho). It stars Barbara Stanwyck and her ex-husband, Robert Taylor (yes, really). Lloyd Bochner, Hayden Rorke, Rochelle Hudson and Judi Meredith are also on the scene.

Beauty shop owner Irene (Stanwyck) is married to rich man Howard (Rorke), who is blind and extremely jealous. He hires a detective, George (Bochner), to find out who Irene keeps talking to in her romantic dreams. Then, Howard dies in an explosion in his lab, and Irene begins to have stranger and stranger dreams that turn into nightmares, some involving Howard, while others seem to be memories of her marriage to her handsome dream man. Irene feels that the dreams are real, and is determined to discover what's going on.

She asks Howard's attorney, Barry (Taylor) to help her discover the truth. They trace her memories to real locations, and sense there is some sort of plot to drive her insane. I won't reveal the rest, in case you haven't seen it and would like to be surprised. 

Stanwyck proves to be a phenomenal scream queen. You can't help but feel sympathy for her, especially since the story lets the viewer know more than her character does about the true nature of her dreams! 

It's a William Castle film, after all, so some histrionics are to be expected. I happen to be a big fan of his work. He knew how to keep an audience on the edge of their seats!

The music in The Night Walker, played mostly on a haunting (or haunted) piano, is big, bold and loud, and will hum in your ears long after the film is over! 

I recommend this film if you're in the mood for something scary but not gory, intense but not requiring a lot of thinking, or just a fun escape from reality! It fits all three descriptions!