East Side Kids - Spooks Run Wild poster & wallpaper
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Bela Lugosi, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, David Gorcey ... see more see more... , Sammy "Sunshine" Morrison , Donald Haines , Dave O'Brien , Dorothy Short , George Pembroke , Guy Wilkerson , Jack Carr , East Side Kids , Joe Kirk , Dennis Moore , Angelo Rossitto , Patrick Kelly

In their first of two Monogram spook comedies, the East Side Kids and Bela Lugosi square off in yet another haunted house. On their way to summer camp, the malapropism dependant East Siders are warned... read more read more... of a "monster killer" loose in the area, and, sure enough, almost immediately encounter Nardo (Lugosi) and his weird little helper Luigi (Angelo Rossitto). Nardo does very little to repudiate the Kids' impression of him as a vampire (the Kids say "vulture" lest Monogram should get in trouble with Universal, who held the rights to Dracula), but is he really the monster killer? Perhaps Doctor Von Grosch (Dennis Moore) knows, the famed mystery writer and "monster hunter" having arrived like clockwork at the creepy Billings mansion with camp nurse Linda Mason (Dorothy Short) in tow. Although Peewee (David Gorcey) is at one point feared to have become the victim of the "vulture," the smart aleck turns up safe and sound, and Muggs (Leo Gorcey) and the Kids decide to trap the killer. And so they do, ably assisted by young attorney Jeff Dixon (Dave O'Brien), who, for reasons not immediately clear, has a vested interest in the well being of the East Side Kids. O'Brien and leading lady Dorothy Short were married in real life. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

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38% liked it

1,346 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 4 min.

Directed by: Phil Rosen

Release Date: October 24, 1941

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DVD Release Date: June 4, 2002

 

Stats: 38 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (38)

  • SirPant
    April 23, 2012
    SirPant
    Spooks run wild is an odd one. Cashing in on the comedy horror films that Abbott and Costello were doing at the time, it was to appeal to a younger audience but apart from the obvious coup of bagging Bela Lugosi, the script was much better than many of A&C films and I found it a ... read morelittle funnier. The East Side Kids made it what it is, wise-cracking young NY hooligans with silver tongues, most of them were quite funny - certainly outshining Lugosi. It also stars a young Leo Gorcey, a personal favourite of mine from old Hollywood - he made it worth watching alone.
  • CHILIcheeseDONUTSwithTUNAonTOP
    December 4, 2009
    CHILIcheeseDONUTSwithTUNAonTOP
    The first East Side Kids comedy, and the first with Bela Lugosi. Reportedly, this was made to capitalize on the success of the Abbott and Costello horror-comedy, Ghosts on the Loose (which would make a great double-bill). The gang gets sent to the country in order to spend time c... read moreamping, but soon get themselves in trouble. While taking a short-cut through a cemetery, the groundskeeper shoots one of the gang. They seek help at the closest residence which happens to inhabited by someone they believe to be of the undead. They think he has turned their injured friend into one too. Of the three horror-comedies I have seen by these folks (this, Ghosts on the Run and Boys of the City), this was my 2nd favorite (if mostly for seeing Lugosi as a ?vampire? in near perfect form).

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Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz
November 15, 2007
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The only real horror is in how unfunny is the juvenile comedy. Full Review

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