Ghouls In Films

The ghoul is a popular character in television and films; although there were several films and television films featuring ghouls, the first ever ghoul to be a main character on the screen was the pseudo-god of the horror genre, Boris Karloff. The Ghoul was produced in 1933, in Britain with Boris Karloff playing a near death Egyptologist, who insisted on being buried with a large gem, call The Eternal Light. The story goes that Boris was going to present this jewel to Anubis in the afterlife, and be granted immortality, and that if anyone stole it, or caused the scheme to go awry, the he’d return from the grave and punish them. later on, after his death, his greedy and argumentive heirs and associates steal the gem, and bring the almighty wrath of Boris Karloff’s ghoul down on them.

Most people also aren’t aware that in 1968, when George Romero produce Night of the Living Dead, the “zombies” in his film were actually first called ghouls by him, and thought of that way. He didn’t actually start calling them zombies until later on, when he learned about the creature and its Carribean origins. A comedy was made about ghouls in the 1976 Turkish film, “Milk Brothers.” In that portrayal, a ghoul has the extra power of frightening adults, whereas in the old days, ghouls were only able to frighten little children. Another British film called The Ghoul emerged in 1975 about a defrocked missionary, whose son has developed a taste for human flesh while he was in India. Meanwhile, the good missionary locks his lunatic cannibal son up in the attic, and starts feeding him dead teenagers. In the classic anthology film, “The Monster Club” from 1975, a boy encounters a village full of ghouls, escapes with the help of a half human girl, but then is once more kidnapped by the representatives of the ghouls in his own human world.

In 2006, the children’s book author and illustrator Grisly Grim debuted with his first film, “Cannibal Flesh Riot.” In this film, two ancient ghoul best friends, Stash and Hub, prowl the cemeteries at night digging up dead bodies at night and eat them. Last but not least is the famous Ra’s al-Ghul from …guess where? Bat man! He’s batman’s arch-nemesis, and sometimes strange guide. Ra’s al-Ghul is actually the ancient Arabian name for the triple star constellation known as Algol, and it means “the monster’s head.”