The Ghastly Ones (1968)

User Rating:

3.6/10   

Director:

Andy Milligan

Writers:

Andy Milligan (screenplay)
Hal Sherwood (screenplay)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

A Gruesome Orgy of Human Mutilation!

Plot:

Three married couples are forced to spend the night in a Victorian-era house where they start getting killed off by a deranged psycho who's bent on claiming an inheritence they are all entitled to.

Plot Keywords:

Mansion | Psycho | Pitchfork | Gore | Rabbit

Cast

Veronica Radburn	...	Martha
Maggie Rogers	...	Hattie
Hal Borske	...	Colin Trask
Anne Linden	...	Vicky
Fib LaBlaque	...	Rich (as Fib La Blaque)
Carol Vogel	...	Liz
Richard Romanus	...	Don (as Richard Romanos)
Eileen Hayes	...	Veronica (as Eileen Haves)
Don Williams	...	Bill
Hal Sherwood	...	Walter
Neil Flanagan	...	Lawyer Dobbs (as Niel Flanagan)
Ada McAllister	...	Ada
Robert Adsit	...	Robert

Also Known As:

Blood Rites

Runtime:

81 min | USA:72 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:R | UK:(Banned) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

ASA Productions

Trivia:

Film debut of Richard Romanus.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Night to Dismember (1983)

Andy Milligan's mystery/gore film worth a look at

THE GHASTLY ONES is one of Andy Milligan's films that delt with mystery combined with the slasher film genre. Well made with some heavy atmosphere, THE GHASTLY ONES succeds in being a good low budget film. The plot is pretty simple. Taking place in the Victorian period, three couples go to an island off the coast of New York to recieve an inheritence from their fathers mansion. Inhabiting the house is two old maids and a hunchback. Soon grisly murders take place and the question is "Who is the killer?"

Milligan supplies the good photography on his 16mm camera while the acting is convincing. And for a film on a $10,000 budget, that is saying alot! The gore is also on the level from convinving to just plain silly. Brutal killings involve a pitchfork shoved up someone's neck, a victim being sawed in half, a head on a platter, meat cleavers cracking skulls, and other bizare occurences.

THE GHASTLY ONES was filmed for J.E.R. Pictures for Jerry Balsam in 1967. J.E.R. would also distribute Milligan's DEPRAVED! and THE DEGENERATES during that same year. Also, THE GHASTLY ONES played on a double bill in the early 1970's with THE HEADLESS EYES.

Milligan was probably unhappy with the results of THE GHASTLY ONES, so he tried it again in his film SEEDS (1968) and LEGACY OF BLOOD (1978).

I recommend THE GHASTLY ONES to true Andy Milligan fans. And I am one of them.