Day Five: Directed by Phil Rosen, released on October 24, 1941, tonight's film continued the East Side Kids trend away from Dead End-type urban drama to out-and-out comedy.

There's a killer on the loose, and Bela Lugosi, holed up in an old mansion with his faithful dwarf sidekick (Angelo Rossitto) is everybody's number one suspect, including Dr. Von Grosch (Dennis Moore), vampire hunter. Into the mansion stumble the East Side Kids (former Dead End Kids Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and Bobby Jordan, former Our Gang kids Donald Haines and Sunshine Sammy Morrison, and Leo's brother David Gorcey), who are on the lam from a camp for wayward yout'. Dave O'Brien and Dorothy Short are the love interest in the film, added because there has to be love interest, but off-screen for nearly the entire running time of the picture, which bothers nobody a whit.

Fave dialog: Huntz Hall, advised they're being shipped off to a summer camp: “I’m disappointed. I thought we were goin’ to reform school. I woulda been a sophomore this year!”

David: “How can you read in the dark?” Huntz: "I went to night school.”

Fave Lugosi dialog: "Da CITY off da DEAD. Do dey TOO hear da HOWLING of da FRIGHTENED DOGS? Heh-heh-heh-heh!”

Spooks Run Wild doesn't mix its chills and laughs very well, and although it's only 65 min. long you'll find yourself checking your watch from time to time. Good ol' Bela seems to be having a fun time spoofing his Dracula character, though, and he always did look great in a tux, no? Plus, in the end sequence, which has him performing a magic act with the Kids, he seems to be genuinely enjoying himself. Good for him. He'd be back with the East Side Kids a couple of years later, in a film that's coming up later this Monogram Week.

Return to our Monogram Home page to revisit previous screenings for BelaBration 2008, and our Message Board to visit other movie fans just like you, only probably not as good looking!