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A small village, deep in the heart of Africa, is plagued by a series of
killings that would suggest vampiric origin - superstitions that the
(white) establishment of the village laughs off of course. So Roy (Charles
Gordon), right-hand man of Vance (Emmett Vogan), who runs most of the
local plantations, embarks on an expedition to some local tribe suspected
of involvement into the crimes. He is accompanied by Fallon (John Abbott),
a local barowner who knows more about the jungle and its tribes than
anyone, and he seems to be a tiny bit sinister, to say the least, so much
so that the natives suspect him to be a vampire. Needless to say, the
natives are totally right, Fallon is a vampire, but when they try to kill
him with a spear dipped in silver, he is saved by Roy, who finds out his
secret along the way though, so Fallon puts him under his hypnotic
command. Eventually, Roy returns home struck by some jungle fever, and
Vance's daughter Julie (Peggy Stewart) nurses him back to health - without
any success, because she is aided by Fallon, who keeps Roy under tight
hypnotic control so he can't spill his secret. Also, Fallon has fallen in
love with Julie and wants to make her his companion ... Eventually, the
natives plan an uprising and want to have their revenge on Fallon, so
Vance, who is still convinced of Fallon's innocence, suggests that he
leaves the region for a month or so, just until things quiet down. Fallon
is quick to agree - but what Vance doesn't know is that Fallon plans to
put Julie under his hypnotic spell and take her with him. Meanwhile, Roy
receives a visit from Father Gilchrist (Grant Withers), and of course it
takes a man of the cloth to break Fallon's spell over Roy. By then though,
Julie is long gone with Fallon, and now Roy, the priest, and Vance take up
pursuit, finally tracking them down to a temple to an evil deity where
Fallon wants to perform his blood wedding to Julie - but our heroes
interfere just in time, free Julie, injure Fallon with a spear dipped in
silver, then burn down his temple - and him with it of course ... A
cheap jungle-set vampire picture that leaves a lot to be desired no matter
how you look at it: The story is silly and riddled with plotholes, the
jungle sets are limited and hardly convincing, almost no advantage is made
of the exotic settings (probably because the film was studio-set), and the
direction is purely functional and suspense- and atmosphere-free. Still,
the film has a certain chrm to it, a charm that it shares with many other
under-budgeted shockers of its time that has to do with the
devil-may-care-approach to its subject matter, its unapologetic use of
pulp mainstays, and its unpretentious execution. All of this makes The
Vampire's Ghost anything but a genre classic, but fun to watch
nevertheless ...
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