“They may be underprivileged but they sure ain’t under developed.”
Members of the New York City East Side boys club—leader Muggs (Leo Gorcey), Danny (Bobby Jordan), Glimpy (Huntz Hall), Scruno (Sunshine Sammy Morrison), Skinny (Donald Haines), and Peewee (David Gorcey) are put on a bus and sent to summer camp in the country.
On the way the bus makes a pit stop at a small town. The kids go into a near-by soda shop. The TV in the soda shop has a news bulletin about a “monster killer” roaming the countryside in the area they are going to. The bus continues on to the camp. At night, three of the boys sneak out. The others aren’t far behind. They all get lost and end up in a grave yard.
In the meantime two mysterious men show up at the local gas station looking for directions. One is a dwarf named Luigi (Angelo Rossitto) and the other calls himself Nardo. They are heading for the Billings estate. Soon after another man stops at the station. He presents himself as Dr. Von Grosch (Dennis Moore), a self proclaimed monster hunter.
Peewee is shot by a grave-digger, and they are forced to seek aid. They end up at the Billings Estate. Nardo insists they spend the night. When the guys see Peewee walk around the house in a trance they decide that he is a zombie and that Nardo is a vampire.
“Spooks Run Wild” was released in 1941 and was directed by Phil Rosen. It is a comedy/horror movie. The movie features Bela Lugosi and The East Side Kids. Lugosi made a couple movies with the East Side Kids. This one and “Ghosts on the Loose” 1943. It is also one the nine movies that Lugosi did for Monogram Pictures. The East Side Kids were a bunch of adults playing juvenile delinquents. They did a bunch of pictures for Sam Katzman under Monogram as well.
Leo Gorcey was 24 when he made this movie. Huntz Hall was 21. Not exactly juveniles in my book. The two chaperones on this field trip are not much older. Dorothy Short who plays Linda Mason was 26 and Dave O’Brien who plays Jeff Dixon was 29. Earnest Morrison, who plays Scruno, was 29 himself.
Not exactly a horror movie “Spooks Run Wild” features The East Side Kids or Bowery Boys or Dead End Kids or Little Tough Guys or whatever you want to call them. That being said it’s not much of a comedy either. The jokes were well used even back then. It’s still amusing in an Old Dark House way. I remember watching East Side Kids/Bowery Boys movies on TV, when I was a kid so I have a fondness for them even if the jokes are old. Unfortunately the movie fell into public domain so there are a lot of crap transfers out there.