At least the title delivers. The rest is a so-boring-it's-boring collection of non-happenings. A non-Russian mad scientist tries to develop a gas to turn all Americans into docile idiots (non-zombies), instead of waiting a few decades to let them achieve that state naturally.
To this end, she cages the most boring teenagers the world has ever seen. Someone in a non-gorilla costume runs around. Nothing happens. A lot. Sometimes you can detect camera non-movement so still your mind expands. Sometimes you are not sure if a non-event occurs or if you just hope it does. Slowly you realize the terrible truth. This is not a movie. Not even a non-movie. It is Jerry Warren's grand achievement: a door to hell. Satan is boring.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
The Horror!? 25: The Ghost Walks (1934)
And another mansion mystery. You know the drill: people meet in an old and mysterious things start to happen, until...the film pulls the rug from under your feet with something you really didn't seem coming.
If not for the badly dated humor and the anti-climactic finale, I could even recommend it to people with a more mainstream bend in taste.
If not for the badly dated humor and the anti-climactic finale, I could even recommend it to people with a more mainstream bend in taste.
The Horror!? 24: The Vampires Night Orgy (1973) (hey, not my title)
A handful of travelers strands in a small Spanish village, after their driver suddenly dies. They could hardly have known that their generous hosts are a bunch of slightly uncanonical vampires.
Sometimes the humble viewer gets more than expected. In the case of The Vampires Night Orgy (thus sayeth the title credit) this doesn't come as a big surprise - the movie is all over the place. I'd really like to know how a film becomes a mixture of so many different moods. It is at times eerie (the final flight scene, some of the murders), sleazy (our "hero" watching our heroine through a peephole), outrageous (fun with cannibalism), goofy (fun with cannibalism again) and honestly disturbing (the fate of the little girl). Add to this Leon Klimovsky's (not always seen in other movies by him I know) moody direction and a funky soundtrack and you get something incoherent but very effective.
Darling of the Day:
"The countess says you can do your work...with just one arm."
Sometimes the humble viewer gets more than expected. In the case of The Vampires Night Orgy (thus sayeth the title credit) this doesn't come as a big surprise - the movie is all over the place. I'd really like to know how a film becomes a mixture of so many different moods. It is at times eerie (the final flight scene, some of the murders), sleazy (our "hero" watching our heroine through a peephole), outrageous (fun with cannibalism), goofy (fun with cannibalism again) and honestly disturbing (the fate of the little girl). Add to this Leon Klimovsky's (not always seen in other movies by him I know) moody direction and a funky soundtrack and you get something incoherent but very effective.
Darling of the Day:
"The countess says you can do your work...with just one arm."
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Horror!? 23: Blood Tide (1982)
I am quite sure that in the minds of its creators Blood Tide is a really profound piece of art. If it just wouldn't be so terribly boring.
Its problems are manifold, but gravest is the absolute inability to make anything of a possibly intriguing idea (which I won't explain to not further entice anyone into a coma). Or get James Earl Jones to stop mutilating Shakespeare.
Damn, now I'm even to bored to write more about it.
Its problems are manifold, but gravest is the absolute inability to make anything of a possibly intriguing idea (which I won't explain to not further entice anyone into a coma). Or get James Earl Jones to stop mutilating Shakespeare.
Damn, now I'm even to bored to write more about it.
The Horror!? 22: The Bowery at Midnight (1942)
Bela Lugosi strikes again. In this feature Bela is a kindly psychology professor by and a soup kitchen chef and homicidal criminal mastermind by night. Sadly all weird science is relegated to his drug abusing doctor friend and not important before the very end of the movie.
The whole movie is a relatively competently made lurid pulp crime story without any real drive or outrageous ideas, which should still lead to a watchable movie, but makes this the least entertaining of the Lugosi films in the box set.
It isn't good enough to be thrilling and just not bad enough to be entertaining.
The whole movie is a relatively competently made lurid pulp crime story without any real drive or outrageous ideas, which should still lead to a watchable movie, but makes this the least entertaining of the Lugosi films in the box set.
It isn't good enough to be thrilling and just not bad enough to be entertaining.
The Horror!? 21: Evil Brain From Outer Space (1956?, 1964?, the internet is divided)
An interesting specimen. Three or four parts of a Japanese serial (TV show? Reports conflict) re-cut and atrociously dubbed for the American market. It seems to be about the invasion of Earth by an alien brain called Balasar and its mutant henchthings. The only thing that stands between mankind and destruction is a certain Star Man (or Space Giant, as the original seems to call him), sent from the Emerald Planet to thwart the brainy plans.
That's as much of the plot as I can comprehend, the rest is completely nonsensical running, flying and fighting in the patented superhero serial style. Some of the monster designs are commendably weird, if dirt cheap.
People like me, who like the Turkish Kilink movies or the American Captain Marvel serials can expect a modicum of fun (and an early directorial outing by Teruo Ishii as one of three listed directors).
Also, I bet this thing is from 1956.
Darling of the Day:
"I bring orders from Balasar's brain."
That's as much of the plot as I can comprehend, the rest is completely nonsensical running, flying and fighting in the patented superhero serial style. Some of the monster designs are commendably weird, if dirt cheap.
People like me, who like the Turkish Kilink movies or the American Captain Marvel serials can expect a modicum of fun (and an early directorial outing by Teruo Ishii as one of three listed directors).
Also, I bet this thing is from 1956.
Darling of the Day:
"I bring orders from Balasar's brain."
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Cloverfield (2008)
So much has already been written about my new second favorite giant monster movie (just behind the Japanese cut of the original Gojira) that I'll just add a few thoughts.
- I was completely unprepared for how Lovecraftian the outlook of Cloverfield is. In the end, all our little heroics, our best intentions and our love just don't matter to the universe at large, and will most certainly not save us. In this sense the relative shallowness of the characterization not only does not matter, but is admirably used to heighten this effect.
- Another thing that did surprise me was the brilliant transition from the boring but necessary party scenes in the beginning to the catastrophe. Also the transition from boredom to feelings of helplessness and even panic. At least for me.
- Damn, that's a beautiful monster!
- If a movie's sound design is effective enough, it doesn't need a score. (Although the ending theme has a nice classical monster movie soundtrack feel to it.)
Darling of the Day:
"If this is the last scene you see...That means I died."
Look what I am!
Dein Ergebnis:: The Basic Feminist
You are 71% on your way to being a Feminist!
You're a Feminist! Congratulations!
You have a good idea of what sexism is, how to avoid it, and how to stand up for women and/or yourself. You might have read some basic Feminist literature or thought in passing, and thought that it was pretty good. Sometimes you baulk a little at overtly identifying yourself as a Feminist due to the negative stigma. Don't be ashamed of being right! Just keep on doing what you're doing and exploring more ways to treat everyone with respect because of their humanity, not their parts, and you're helping to fix the problem!
All Results:
The Wife Beater
The Antifeminist
The Traditionalist
The Egalitarian
The Basic Feminist
The True Feminist
| Link: The Feminist Test written by proudfeminist on OkCupid Kostenloses Online Dating |
The Horror!? 20: Night Fright (1967)
Mere words can hardly contain the glowing brilliance of this film. Just listen to the basic plot: NASA tests the effect of cosmic radiation on animals. Their test rocket crashes near a small Texan town (of course, we are shown nothing of this) unleashing a man in an ape monster costume (what is it with all these apes anyway?) who stomps stealthily through the woods and kills (more or less off-camera) obnoxious teenagers. The local sheriff (only -kind of- actor in town John Agar) uses both of his brain cells to trap the creature.
But a mere plot outline cannot describe pure genius. True beauty lies in the execution. And what execution it is. The 75 minute running time is filled with approximately 40 minutes of people getting in and out of cars, people driving said cars veeeerrryyyy sloooowly, people walking through the woods, people walking through the woods some more, people running through the woods. Also, we are treated to about twenty minutes of dialogue about nothing much of import to the plot, but spoken with the kind of unconvincing conviction only the worst of actors can achieve and only if and when blessed with dialogue as poetic as in The Giant Claw.Then, there are ten minutes (or hours?) of dancing. Oh, the dancing!
And as if all that wasn't already more than enough: An explosion! But don't blink, or you'll miss it.
Just as praiseworthy as the explosion are some dadaist attempts at suspense. Will the deputy sheriff return from the percolator fast enough to hear the death screams of his co-deputy on the radio? Oh no! He forgot the sugar!!!
I could go on and on...
Alright, I am going to be honest: I would marry this movie, but am too afraid of the form our mutant love child would probably take.
But a mere plot outline cannot describe pure genius. True beauty lies in the execution. And what execution it is. The 75 minute running time is filled with approximately 40 minutes of people getting in and out of cars, people driving said cars veeeerrryyyy sloooowly, people walking through the woods, people walking through the woods some more, people running through the woods. Also, we are treated to about twenty minutes of dialogue about nothing much of import to the plot, but spoken with the kind of unconvincing conviction only the worst of actors can achieve and only if and when blessed with dialogue as poetic as in The Giant Claw.Then, there are ten minutes (or hours?) of dancing. Oh, the dancing!
And as if all that wasn't already more than enough: An explosion! But don't blink, or you'll miss it.
Just as praiseworthy as the explosion are some dadaist attempts at suspense. Will the deputy sheriff return from the percolator fast enough to hear the death screams of his co-deputy on the radio? Oh no! He forgot the sugar!!!
I could go on and on...
Alright, I am going to be honest: I would marry this movie, but am too afraid of the form our mutant love child would probably take.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
The Horror!? 18: Rattlers (1976)
Now this, on the other hand, accomplishes all a bad movie could set out to do: It captures a place and time (Nevada, 1976) brilliantly, is badly acted and produced in a very heartwarming way and is quite stupid (of course not as stupid as -let's say- a Michael Bay movie, but hey, that guy has a lot more money to burn).
So, why are the rattlesnakes near a small desert community running amok? Could it have something to do with the nearby military base? Will our herpetologist-hero and his photographer-love-interest solve this riddle? Will you survive the romantic interludes? How clever and stealthy can these rattlesnakes get? What's up with the doctor's hair? What exactly is my definition of "genius"?
If you want the answers to these questions and others that you never dared to ask before, run out and find yourself a copy of this small work of genius!
So, why are the rattlesnakes near a small desert community running amok? Could it have something to do with the nearby military base? Will our herpetologist-hero and his photographer-love-interest solve this riddle? Will you survive the romantic interludes? How clever and stealthy can these rattlesnakes get? What's up with the doctor's hair? What exactly is my definition of "genius"?
If you want the answers to these questions and others that you never dared to ask before, run out and find yourself a copy of this small work of genius!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
The Horror!? 17: Death by Dialogue (1988)
And then there are the movies even I won't watch to the bitter end. The honesty of the title is of course commendable, although I would have gone with (slightly more unwieldy, but even more honest) "Death by Dialogue, Acting, Direction, Boredom and the Damn Worst Soundtrack Evah". And nope, it isn't even funny-bad.
The Horror!? 16: Hands of Steel (1986)
This might well be the best arm-wrestling-killer-cyborg-with-a-conscience movie in the history of Italian cinema. Of course it has none of the style (or budget) of director Martino's earlier gialli.
Only John Saxon as evil (and really, is there any other kind?) industrialist and George Eastman (in a very small cameo) do something I can describe as "acting", the budget was obviously as low as conceivable, but there are enough silly little ideas and quite dynamic action scenes to make it worth watching.
And for the ladies: Beefcake!
The Horror!? 15: The Ape Man (1943)
Buy war bonds!
You may remember Bela Lugosi, mad scientist. At this point in his acting career the great man was reduced to playing a "gland expert" who should know better than to try self experiments, but tries his new "serum" (whatever it may be meant to achieve) out on himself anyway, only to mutate into a bad case of ape man make-up. His only hope to become fully human again is to kill people for their spinal fluid. So he and his assistant (a bad case of "man in shoddy gorilla suit") go on a killing spree.
It is equally sad and hilarious to watch Lugosi in his ape man get up, trying to imitate an apelike gait and playing the doomed scientist with as much pathos as he can.
You may remember Bela Lugosi, mad scientist. At this point in his acting career the great man was reduced to playing a "gland expert" who should know better than to try self experiments, but tries his new "serum" (whatever it may be meant to achieve) out on himself anyway, only to mutate into a bad case of ape man make-up. His only hope to become fully human again is to kill people for their spinal fluid. So he and his assistant (a bad case of "man in shoddy gorilla suit") go on a killing spree.
It is equally sad and hilarious to watch Lugosi in his ape man get up, trying to imitate an apelike gait and playing the doomed scientist with as much pathos as he can.
The Horror!? 14: Beast From Haunted Cave (1959)
I didn't want to end yesterday's movie binge on a note as sour as Don't Open Till Christmas, so I watched another -much better- one.
The directorial debut of Monte Hellman, whose energetic style and sense for dialogue reminds me of another great singular director, Sam Fuller.
The plot itself is nothing special: A small group of gangsters robs gold. To distract the police, they blow up an old gold mine, unwittingly releasing a creepy web-spinning thing with tentacles. Which of course follows them to their hide-out.
What makes the film special is its sense of style. There's not a single moment that is not in some way interesting to look at, no single small gesture of the actors that doesn't make sense. Even the monster is surprisingly horrific and much weirder than usual in films of this time.
The directorial debut of Monte Hellman, whose energetic style and sense for dialogue reminds me of another great singular director, Sam Fuller.
The plot itself is nothing special: A small group of gangsters robs gold. To distract the police, they blow up an old gold mine, unwittingly releasing a creepy web-spinning thing with tentacles. Which of course follows them to their hide-out.
What makes the film special is its sense of style. There's not a single moment that is not in some way interesting to look at, no single small gesture of the actors that doesn't make sense. Even the monster is surprisingly horrific and much weirder than usual in films of this time.
The Horror!? 13: Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)
Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop.
Ahem, sorry, but this British slasher may be the most charmless and hurtfully inept piece of crap I have exposed myself to in a long time. It's about a killer who specializes in eviscerating people in Santa Claus costumes. And turning the viewer's brains to mush with irritation. In this sense it is very effective, but so is cooking one's head in an oven.
Ahem, sorry, but this British slasher may be the most charmless and hurtfully inept piece of crap I have exposed myself to in a long time. It's about a killer who specializes in eviscerating people in Santa Claus costumes. And turning the viewer's brains to mush with irritation. In this sense it is very effective, but so is cooking one's head in an oven.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
The Horror!? 12: Devil's Partner (1962)
Now this little movie is supremely satisfying. If I can believe the IMDb (and in this case I do) it was actually produced in 1958 and only released a few years later.
It's the story of a mean old man who makes a deal with the devil, gets rejuvenated and endowed with magic power. He tries to use his new found power to win the heart of a young woman and (very effectively) to be grudgeful.
Three things make the film interesting and well worth watching: Firstly Ed Nelson as our bad guy, slightly creepy and never overacting. Secondly the relatively small scale of the happenings. Sure, there are a few murders, but none of them is supposed to be spectacular. When Nelson uses magic to transform himself to kill someone, he doesn't become a monster, but a snake or a horse. Even his motives aren't as much apocalyptic as believably petty and egocentric.
Thirdly the sure and (again) subtle direction gives all of the proceedings a pleasant feel of realness of place and time.
Not small things for a low budget movie like this.
It's the story of a mean old man who makes a deal with the devil, gets rejuvenated and endowed with magic power. He tries to use his new found power to win the heart of a young woman and (very effectively) to be grudgeful.
Three things make the film interesting and well worth watching: Firstly Ed Nelson as our bad guy, slightly creepy and never overacting. Secondly the relatively small scale of the happenings. Sure, there are a few murders, but none of them is supposed to be spectacular. When Nelson uses magic to transform himself to kill someone, he doesn't become a monster, but a snake or a horse. Even his motives aren't as much apocalyptic as believably petty and egocentric.
Thirdly the sure and (again) subtle direction gives all of the proceedings a pleasant feel of realness of place and time.
Not small things for a low budget movie like this.
The Horror!? 11: House of Mystery (1934)
How much one can appreciate films of the mansion mystery sub-genre from the 1920s and 30s depends more or less on ones ability to enjoy a movie as a window into the pop cultural interests and obsessions of another time and the ability to ignore an awful lot of bad jokes. I, historically minded and easily amused as I am, can have a perfectly fine time with a perfectly inoffensive little movie like this, featuring everything this kind of film needs: A bad ape costume, a badly thought out plot, bad jokes, badly clichéd characters and murder.
Darling of the Day:
"We must trap the ape and whoever is behind him."
Darling of the Day:
"We must trap the ape and whoever is behind him."
The Horror!? 10: Moon of the Wolf (1974)
The story of a small community in Louisiana terrorized by a werewolf! Sounds intriguing. But suffers a lot through characterless direction, terrible accents and the problematic decision to play the story as the kind of whodunit whose solution even the most stupid viewer will reach after about ten minutes, then slogging through forty five minutes of boredom until the hero of the piece finally comes to the same conclusion and the movie to its (exceedingly unexciting) end.
The Horror!? 09: Night of the Blood Beast (1958)
A little talked about historical fact is the attraction Fifties America had for alien invaders. Today we would know little about these failed efforts to subjugate, eat and enlighten us, if not for the tireless work of the documentary producers of American International Pictures.
Night of the Blood Beast tells us about the little known case of a benevolent alien that came to this planet on board a returning terrestrial secret experimental space craft and was subsequently hunted down and burned to death by a small group of scientists and military. It was one of the greatest tragedies in the decade of the Alien Wars, caused by the ignorance and small mindedness of the human participants. Just because a creature from outer space lays its eggs in an astronaut and eats the brains of your head scientist you don't have to feel menaced, especially when the friendly creature then proceeds to tell you that it has only eaten that brain to be able to communicate with you and make your head scientist immortal. Our friend from outside even promised to help the rest of humanity in the same way!
Alas the US military of the past did not count many transhumanists in its numbers, so our savior was brutally and senselessly killed.
All that is left of its legacy is this dry but important documentary.
Night of the Blood Beast tells us about the little known case of a benevolent alien that came to this planet on board a returning terrestrial secret experimental space craft and was subsequently hunted down and burned to death by a small group of scientists and military. It was one of the greatest tragedies in the decade of the Alien Wars, caused by the ignorance and small mindedness of the human participants. Just because a creature from outer space lays its eggs in an astronaut and eats the brains of your head scientist you don't have to feel menaced, especially when the friendly creature then proceeds to tell you that it has only eaten that brain to be able to communicate with you and make your head scientist immortal. Our friend from outside even promised to help the rest of humanity in the same way!
Alas the US military of the past did not count many transhumanists in its numbers, so our savior was brutally and senselessly killed.
All that is left of its legacy is this dry but important documentary.
The Horror!? 08: The Phantom Creeps (1939)
or, The Further Adventures of Bela Lugosi, Mad Scientist.
This time around Bela has everything a man could need: a mysterious energy source, diverse coma inducing devices (including a swell metal disc/mechanical spider combination), an invisibility belt, a goofy killer robot, a healing ray, a z-ray, 'splody things, a stupid and treacherous assistant and the most ineffectual government agents this side of Inspector Clouseau on his case. But he still can't win! Oh, that dreaded megalomania strikes again!
Darlings of the Day:
"That man is dead! How fortunate! That simplifies everything."
"One by one my enemies will be disposed of...until I'm master of the universe!"
This time around Bela has everything a man could need: a mysterious energy source, diverse coma inducing devices (including a swell metal disc/mechanical spider combination), an invisibility belt, a goofy killer robot, a healing ray, a z-ray, 'splody things, a stupid and treacherous assistant and the most ineffectual government agents this side of Inspector Clouseau on his case. But he still can't win! Oh, that dreaded megalomania strikes again!
Darlings of the Day:
"That man is dead! How fortunate! That simplifies everything."
"One by one my enemies will be disposed of...until I'm master of the universe!"
The Horror!? 07: Murder Mansion (1972)
Ah, a mansion mystery. Will the handful of people stranded in the crack'd and crook'd old manse survive the night? Is the mansion overrun with the customary undead or does someone have a very silly plan to get money?
Not a very good movie, but fun all the way to the obvious end.
Not a very good movie, but fun all the way to the obvious end.
Friday, April 4, 2008
The Horror!? 06: Sound of Horror (1964)
Although made in Spain this is not a typical European horror movie of its time, but something in the tradition of American monster movies of the Fifties.
Some treasure seekers awaken an invisible monster which proceeds to kill them one by one. If you have seen a few movies of this kind, you know what to expect, even though two or three sequences achieve a little more suspense and atmosphere than the relatively unspectacular rest of the film would let you hope for.
Most interesting about Sound of Horror is the appearance of a very young looking Soledad Miranda a few years before becoming Jess Franco's muse. Not that the movie does anything interesting with her besides of a strange little dancing scene, but the presence of someone who is actually charismatic doesn't hurt it either.
Some treasure seekers awaken an invisible monster which proceeds to kill them one by one. If you have seen a few movies of this kind, you know what to expect, even though two or three sequences achieve a little more suspense and atmosphere than the relatively unspectacular rest of the film would let you hope for.
Most interesting about Sound of Horror is the appearance of a very young looking Soledad Miranda a few years before becoming Jess Franco's muse. Not that the movie does anything interesting with her besides of a strange little dancing scene, but the presence of someone who is actually charismatic doesn't hurt it either.
The Horror!? 05: Savage Weekend (1976?)
This is a prime piece of Seventies nastiness I hadn't heard about before. The movie is a surprisingly clever and stylish take on the "evil country people kill city folk" sub-genre, but plays out as a rural American variant on the Giallo. Which not only means creative, but sloppy (try to count the number of times you see a boom mike) directing, but also more strange sexual overtones and undertones than one could hope for.
And all this brought to us by a future Dallas writer. The world of weird movies is truly wonderful.
And all this brought to us by a future Dallas writer. The world of weird movies is truly wonderful.
The Horror!? 04: Condemned to Live (1935)
Don't let the friendly Imdb reviews fool you into thinking this might be worth your time. Being made in the Thirties is no excuse for acting this stiff, nor for non-existent direction.
The plot: Nauseatingly kind professor turns into bloodsucking fiend by night. Our nauseatingly good romantic lead thinks himself the killer, because his mother was once bitten by a vampire bat. Also featuring: Nauseating love triangle.
The plot: Nauseatingly kind professor turns into bloodsucking fiend by night. Our nauseatingly good romantic lead thinks himself the killer, because his mother was once bitten by a vampire bat. Also featuring: Nauseating love triangle.
The Horror!? 03: The Amazing Transparent Man (1960)
The more films by Edgar G. Ulmer I see the more I come to the conclusion that the man was one of the truly unsung heroes of B-movie direction. Taking an obviously nearly non-existent budget and a script about an ex-military man who presses a scientist, a freshly sprung safe cracker, a shady dame and some guy with a gun into his service to build an army of invisible men and making it work - not so much as a horror film, but as a fine late noir - is no mean feat.
The short duration of the movie (not even a full hour!) and solid acting help to keep things snappy and concentrated, even the script is not bad at all, if you can overlook the "army of invisible man" business. Sure, most of the characters are stock characters/archetypes, but they are used cleverly enough to make this into a strength instead of a flaw of the movie.
Darling of the Day:
"Honey, right now I need a car more than I need you."
Edited to correct my inability to count to three.
The short duration of the movie (not even a full hour!) and solid acting help to keep things snappy and concentrated, even the script is not bad at all, if you can overlook the "army of invisible man" business. Sure, most of the characters are stock characters/archetypes, but they are used cleverly enough to make this into a strength instead of a flaw of the movie.
Darling of the Day:
"Honey, right now I need a car more than I need you."
Edited to correct my inability to count to three.
The Horror!? 02: Snowbeast (1977)
What can I say about the blandness they call Snowbeast? Oh yeah, it's like a very very bland, made-for-TV Jaws rip-off in which a Bigfoot stands in for the shark, a skiing area for the island and boredom for suspense. Oh, wait, it actually is a very very bland, made-for-TV Jaws rip-off in which a Bigfoot stands in for the shark, a skiing area for the island and boredom for suspense.
Also, there's lots and lots of skiing.
Also, there's lots and lots of skiing.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
The Horror!? 01: The Devil Bat (1941)
Thanks to the wonders of the internet I recently acquired one of those cheap Mills Creek DVD box sets "100 Horror Classics". Let's see how many of the pictures I'll actually watch.
And what better way to begin this little experiment could there be than watching one of Bela Lugosi's poverty row films, the idiotic but charming The Devil Bat.
Bela plays "kindly Doctor" Paul Carruthers who moonlights as perfumer and mad scientist. Feeling betrayed by the business partners who made a fortune out of one of his fragrant inventions, he decides on a logical course of revenge: To let a bat grow enormously by treating it with electrical mad science thingies and persuade his victims to test "a new shaving lotion", whose smell drives the bat to kill them.
Given the brilliance of this plan, the stupidity of the victims and Bela's incredibly insincere kindness, nothing could possibly go wrong, if not for an annoying reporter and his even more annoying side kick.
Until Bela finds his (totally undeserved) end, he treats us to many fine moments of evil grinning and glaring, even a little evil speechifying. Sadly, not so much with the cackling.
I felt highly entertained anyway.
Darling of the Day:
Tell me, Doc - how did you develop a monster bat like that?
You wouldn't understand the scientific theory!
And what better way to begin this little experiment could there be than watching one of Bela Lugosi's poverty row films, the idiotic but charming The Devil Bat.
Bela plays "kindly Doctor" Paul Carruthers who moonlights as perfumer and mad scientist. Feeling betrayed by the business partners who made a fortune out of one of his fragrant inventions, he decides on a logical course of revenge: To let a bat grow enormously by treating it with electrical mad science thingies and persuade his victims to test "a new shaving lotion", whose smell drives the bat to kill them.
Given the brilliance of this plan, the stupidity of the victims and Bela's incredibly insincere kindness, nothing could possibly go wrong, if not for an annoying reporter and his even more annoying side kick.
Until Bela finds his (totally undeserved) end, he treats us to many fine moments of evil grinning and glaring, even a little evil speechifying. Sadly, not so much with the cackling.
I felt highly entertained anyway.
Darling of the Day:
Tell me, Doc - how did you develop a monster bat like that?
You wouldn't understand the scientific theory!
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