THE NIGHT WALKER:: Babs has fallen asleep and she can't wake up!

For me the high point of THE NIGHT WALKER was Barbara Stanwyck lying in bed and screaming "I can't wake up! I can't wake up!!"  I know how she felt. This 1964 horror is a nightmare for pretty much everyone involved - the cast and the viewers.

Stanwyck's final cinematic release is a huge disappointment. It's not even Joan Crawford in 'Trog' bad - it's just bad. 'Trog' has undeniable camp appeal but this is a third rate piece of schlocky junk with no redeeming value other than Stanwyck's presence. She holds on to her dignity and gives a typically professional performance but it's so sad to see her reduced to this.
She plays Irene Trent, a wealthy woman increasingly terrorised by a series of nightmares involving her blind, jealous husband who was recently killed in a explosion at their home. These night terrors also feature a handsome mystery man who initially fulfills some of her romantic fantasies before he too starts menacing her.
Understandably concerned that she's going mad she turns to her late husband's lawyer (Robert Taylor) for help, but is he really the comforting presence he appears to be?
The convoluted plot is considerably more ridiculous than this brief summary might suggest, and so full of holes it's incredible that the whole thing doesn't just collapse in on itself. The reason for watching is not to be entertained by the story but to gawp at Stanwyck and Taylor - former husband and wife - reunited for the first time since their divorce 12 years earlier.
Stanwyck reportedly continued to carry a torch for her former matinee idol ex even after he had remarried and had 2 kids, but she succeeds in keeping whatever flames may still have been burning well hidden during their scenes together. Taylor looks like an older, heavier set version of his earlier pretty-boy self now deathly dull and middle aged. He plods through his scenes like a man who's idea of bliss is sitting in a wing back leather armchair smoking a cigar and reading the Wall Street Journal.
Producer-director William Castle was the man responsible for bringing together the former love birds and exploiting the interest in their public reunion. By 1964 he had became infamous for a series of low budget horror movies which peddled lurid special effects, silly gimmicks (like wiring up the seats to give cinema-goers a mild shock) and over the hill film stars. Taylor and Stanwyck were but his latest prey, to be sandwiched inbetween a couple of shockers starring the aforementioned Miss Crawford (they play like 'Citizen Kane' compared to her final film 'Trog' which - amazingly - he was not responsible for).
Anything Stanwyck appeared in is worth watching simply because she's in it, and she is always a compelling presence regardless of the material, but THE NIGHT WALKER tested my loyalty. I'm glad I stuck with it but let it now never be mentioned again.