William Castle's The Night Walker is pure schlock, but it's the kind of schlock that's difficult to resist. Clearly inspired by the runaway success of such films as What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? on the one hand and Psycho on the other, The Night Walker is neither as deliciously over-the-top as the former nor as masterfully frightening as the latter. Robert Bloch, who wrote the book upon which Psycho was based, has here penned a screenplay that's full of plot holes you could drive a hearse through. Worse, the dialogue is stilted and unbelievable. Fortunately, William Castle clearly couldn't care less; he has a field day going for the cheap scares, and so lovingly (if obviously) sets up his "fright pieces" that the viewer is generally willing to go along with him. However, even Castle's enthusiasm wears thin after a while, and even Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor, who make the most of this familiar material, can't keep the film from sagging in places. Stanwyck, especially, gives it her all, but she can't quite rise to the camp heights that, say, Joan Crawford would have attained in the role. Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of Walker is Vic Muzzy's atmospheric, characterful score, which makes especially deft use of a harpsichord for surprisingly chilling effect.