Skip to main content

The Devil Bat (1940) - Jean Yarbrough


Bela Lugosi was in many horror movies during this time. Still trying to shake his memorable role as Dracula. Bela Lugosi stars in this picture as a cosmetic chemist with a mean streak. He creates an after-shave lotion that attracts vicious, giant, bloodsucking bats all of which are his own creation. A couple of reporters stumble onto stories of these giant "devil" bats attacking people seemingly at random. However, they decide to follow up on all of these accusations. Someone is killing people and these stereotypical reporters are gonna get the scoop! 

Bela Lugosi is wonderful in just about everything he does. However, when I look at him all I see is Dracula. He always seemed to embrace that side of his career but at the same time hates being pigeon-holed. Unlike Karloff, Lugosi didn't really have that broad of a range while acting and kept mostly to horror/sci-fi pictures. Sad? Maybe. He has a full catalog but most of the work is all filler. 

The Devil Bat is funny and campy. It's fun to watch with friends and even better when you have a love for Lugosi's work. The movie has a far-fetched plot that seems to really go off  a deep-end. Also, the small budget didn't really give us the best effects. The bats flying around are hilarious. It's fun to listen to "Scientists" in the forties that are trying to explain things outside of their comprehension for their time. 


This movie is all-in-all pretty decent. Lugosi gives a chilling performance as a Mad Scientist and makes for a good villain. It just has a really thin plot that fades quickly. Some of the shots in the film are really interesting. The driving scene is good. I liked how raw it felt. The laboratory scenes are good. The bats aren't really scary but what do you want. Bats just are not that scary. 

Director: Jean Yarbrough
Country: USA

Did ya know...
This low-budget thriller, boosted by Bela Lugosi, was one of the biggest successes for the poverty row Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). After the war, the studio tried to recapture this success by producing an in-name-only sequel, Devil Bat's Daughter (1946), and a virtual shot-by-shot remake, The Flying Serpent (1946).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Human Monster (1939) - Walter Summers

Bela Lugosi turns in a fantastic performance. It is right on par with the exact same films that had made him famous like Dracula . My personal favorite being The Black Cat . Like the latter, this film suffered from poor circulation and lack of advertisement. Either that or the public wasn't interested in seeing Lugosi in anything else other than his famous bloodsucker. This film has a broad and well acted plot that was rich with detail.  Lugosi has two sides in this picture. His well loved and compassionate side. The other is a strict, brutal lone shark that acts as a sinister villain to blind and handicapped people. He really brutalizes his victims. It's a macabre message to pay your bills.  The film is slow moving and plagued by the usual setbacks from its time. Most of the nation wasn't really that concerned with horror at the time. But studios knew that they would always have an audience. This film is a prime example of that. It's sad because it's 
1 comment
Not scared yet? »

Ju-On (2000) - Takashi Shimizu

Watching Japanese horror is similar to watching British comedy. If you enjoy dry whit then you probably enjoy the boys of Monty Python in drag. That's the joke, they're dressed like women. Get it? Well, that's British humor. But if you're like most Americans you probably prefer Adam Sandler farting his way across a football field and hooking up with chicks that are way out of his league. Americans usually prefer this more in your face, crass brand of humor. My point is funny in England is different from funny in the US. The same goes for J-Horror. What the Japanese consider scary is very different from what Americans consider scary and it shows in this horror film. Japanese horror is generally slow (a little too slow sometimes), suspenseful and creepy. Ju-On is a creepy effing film. The movie has almost no soundtrack. It is incredibly suspenseful and the pay-offs are pretty awesome, but I think that it was done better in the American version (cultural t
Post a Comment
Not scared yet? »

Inseminoid (1981) - Norman J. Warren

What can be said for mindless schlock pictures like this one. They were pumped out in droves during the eighties. Inseminoid !? give me a break! It sounds like some pre-pubescent teenage boys came up with the title. On the plus side the movie isn't horrible to look at and it has a decent amount of gore. If you can separate yourself from the political incorrectness, then you might have a perfectly decent Sci-Fi Monster Feature.  A research team exploring caves on Jupiter accidentally awakens an ancient alien that rapes and impregnates one of the team members. She suffers from terrible shock and trauma, leading to a complete mental breakdown as her pregnancy accelerates faster and faster. Feeling threatened she decides to kill anyone she deems a threat. Can the rest of the research team survive or will they all become victims of INSEMINOID! Apparently this movie had a million dollar budget. That's really shocking considering the outcome of the picture. The acting
Post a Comment
Not scared yet? »