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A different way of telling a story

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Entertaining Poverty Row cheapie starring Dracula himself, Bela Lugosi, as a scientist who uses mutated bats to get revenge on the people who have made fortunes off of his inventions. One of the all-time great "so bad it's good" movies. Laughable fake bats complete with cheesy stock footage close-ups that don't fool anybody. Bela hamming it up in that special way only he could. The sound effect used for the bat noise sounds like a woman screaming. A reporter and his sidekick are given carte blanche by the police to do anything they want, including pull guns on suspects. A significant part of the plot involves aftershave, which is just hilarious to me for some reason. Despite its poor production values, it's really a fun B movie. One of the best Bela did for the Poverty Row studios like PRC. I think whether one views it as a straightforward low budget horror movie from the time or as an unintended comedy, you should be able to get some kicks out of it. Only stuffy 'Sam the Eagle' types will not find something about The Devil Bat to enjoy.

In my review of 1935's "The Raven", I commented on Bela Lugosi's character who is an absolute egotist and utilizes his God-given gifts to take revenge. Here, he's another mad doctor, yet unlike the jealousy of his character there, his motivation is revenge for what he feels as being taken for granted in business. Given a check for $5000 for his invention which made rich man richer, he feels he is like a dog being thrown scraps, and invents a shaving lotion that attracts the man-biting titled animal who hates the scent and is enticed to kill. Having aged much since his star-making days of "Dracula" and the Karloff pairings of the mid 1930's, Lugosi is a bit hammier and as a result is now given material of a shoddier nature that stands the test of time in film history as being fun programmers with silly stories and weak co-stars where Lugosi dominates every moment he is on screen.The actual "Devil Bat" is a silly looking creature, carried around by Lugosi upside down on a hangar and put into a vault where electric shock waves are meant to enlarge it so it will increase from the size of a sparrow to being even larger than a grown man's head. Close-ups of these bats aren't all that frightening, and inside the electric vault, Lugosi appears more to be cooking it than training it for his nefarious deeds. But in an era where "PRC" meant "Pretty Rotten Cinema", this one is actually a lot of fun. No awards, certainly, but a film that is daffy entertainment certain to create a lot of unintentional laughs.

With the October Horror Challenge on IMDb's Horror board nearing its conclusion,I decided that it would be a good time to transform my Bela Lugosi double bill (Invisible Ghost and White Zombie) of the challenge,into a triple feature!.The plot:Angry over the company that he has worked for becoming rich beyond their wildest dreams,but completely leaving him penniless, (due to signing away the rights to his inventions to the company decades ago)scientist Dr.Paul Carruthers decides to get his revenge on the company,by creating a murderous,monster bat.Being interested in targeting the people right at the top of the company,Curruthers invents a new "shaving lotion" that will secretly act as a scent for the bat.As the owner's of the company started to get killed by a mysteriously huge bat,two local newspaper reporters begin to wonder if the deaths may be connected to the company's new "shaving lotion" product…View on the film:Whilst the clear use of stock footage for the close ups of the bat,and the (very) visible use of wires does chip away at the fangs of the movie,director Jean Yarbroughis still able to give the film a bit of bite,thanks to shooting the effects scenes in a low light,which helps to give the many scenes featuring the bat a creepy eerie atmosphere.Despite Dr Paul Carruthers, (played by a charming Bela Lugosi) being clearly shown as mentally unstable,the fun screenplay by John T.Neville and George Bricker surprisingly shows a topical method behind Curruthers madness,with the big business that Curruthers works for being shown to be far from kind hearted.Along with their swipe at big businesses,Neville and Bricker also take a delightful attack at the low budget movie industry,with one of the main newspaper reporters being called "One-Shot" and the devil bat prop itself being used in a sly, fourth wall breaking,devilish manner.

Less than a decade after his iconic turn as Count Dracula, Bela Lugosi could be found slumming it in poverty row shockers, earning a crust starring in cheap bill-filling movies like this, a rather ridiculous romp in which the Hungarian horror legend plays Paul Carruthers, a mad scientist who holds a grudge against his employees for becoming filthy rich off the back of his hard work. In order to exact his revenge, Carruthers experiments with electricity on bats in his secret laboratory, growing the creatures to massive proportions and training them to attack only those wearing a special aftershave lotion that he has developed. With the police baffled, it is up to intrepid New York reporting duo Johnny Layton (Dave O'Brien) and 'One-Shot' McGuire (Donald Kerr) to solve the mystery.A seriously daft plot with hammy performances and laughable giant rubber bats suspended on wires, The Devil Bat is, unsurprisingly, utter nonsense, but if you have a hankering for some classic B-movie cheese, then the film should prove entertaining enough for the duration. An over-theatrical Lugosi chews up the scenery with gusto, and O'Brien and Kerr provide some enjoyable comedy relief, but it is the murderous flying mammal which is the real star of the film: an unconvincing inanimate model when seen from a distance, but very much alive in close-ups, it's aerial attacks are absolutely hilarious, the stiff-winged bloodsucker swooping from the sky, shrieking like a demented banshee.