Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

JohnHowardReid Ralph Morgan (Professor Kristan), Maxine Doyle (Marguerite Mane), Pedro de Cordoba (Dr Bizet), Russell Gleason (David), Mischa Auer (Zan), Lucy Beaumont (Mother Molly), Carl Stockdale (John Mane), Heida Shope (Anna), Marilyn Knowlden (Maria), Paul Weigel (doctor), Edward Cecil (Manservant), Ted Billings (bell ringer), Charles Slim Whitaker, Harold Goodwin, Dick Curtis, Frank Brownlee, Horace B. Carpenter (villagers), Jean Handel (old crone). PROLOGUE: Barbara Bedford (woman), Ferdinand Schumann-Heinck (man), Robert Frazer (doctor). Director: FRANK R. STRAYER. Original screenplay: Karen DeWolf. Photography: M.A. Anderson. Film editor: Richard D. Reed. Art director: Edward C. Jewell. Music director: Abe Meyer. Title music composed by David Broekman. Production manager: Lon Young. Assistant director: Melville Shyer. Sound recording: Richard Tyler. Producer: Maury M. Cohen. Filmed on standing sets at Universal Studios. Copyright 5 September 1935 by Invincible Pictures Corporation. U.S. release through Chesterfield: 15 September 1935. No recorded New York opening. 7 reels. 67 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A small European village is terrorized by a monster bat. COMMENT: Despite its second-string cast (only Maxine Doyle as the pretty heroine and Mischa Auer as the devoted hunchback make any sort of impression), this little "B" emerges as a fairly effective horror yarn, thanks to Strayer's suspenseful direction and Anderson's atmospheric lighting. The sets are also highly effective, and I must commend the director's decision not to use wolfish make-up for the monster but to let the actor concerned register his transformation simply by changing his facial expression from bland to menacing.

utgard14 A pregnant woman is bitten by a vampire bat. Years later, a village is terrorized by a series of murders and the woman's baby, now grown and a respected professor, believes he might be the killer. Is he a vampire? Probably not or else this might be more well-known.Well this is interesting. A neat little (sort of) vampire movie I'd never heard of nestled away in 1935, the same year as Mark of the Vampire. Ralph Morgan stars as the professor. There's also a hunchback played by Mischa Auer. Shot on Universal sets, which helps a lot. Romantic subplot about a young woman (Maxine Doyle) in love with a guy while being engaged to Morgan's character, thirty years her senior, is a negative. Doyle was not a good actress. At least there was no annoying comic relief. The movie never quite lives up to the strong opening but it's perfectly watchable and even atmospheric in some scenes. Slow-going but worth a look for classic horror fans who think they've seen everything.

HEFILM I'd never heard of this film but it's worth a look for those who can put up with 1930's style film-making and especially for genre fans.The story has elements of Jeckyll and Hyde and it has psychological overtones of the main monster character that help it. These elements help keep it fresh despite the hunchback and dated directorial non-touches and lack of much on screen violence. But the aftermath of the killings and good acting of Ralph Morgan help. The final scene is suspenseful as well and of course the whole thing is over pretty quickly, but still manages, thanks for Karn DeWolf's script to pack in quite a bit of character complication.Nice production values but the director, Frank Strayer, shows little flair. Then again he keeps things moving and the acting is good. Alpha Video copy I watched was "okay" looking a better source print is unlikely to turn up, but the movie deserves some restoration and recognition.

clore-2 Ralph Morgan, the star of this film, is the brother of Frank Morgan, who played the Wizard of Oz. I just don't want anyone to be misled by the other reviewer's comment. Not that it has anything to do with this film, which is a most interesting film from a Poverty Row outfit. Partially shot on Universal sets from "Bride Of Frankenstein," the film has a most curious appeal. As with most sympathetic "monsters" the Morgan character is doomed - his mother was bitten by a vampire, and his engagement to a much younger woman has evoked his vampiric tendencies, which are more akin to lycantropy than vampirism. The equation is lustful desires bring out the beast, and in this rather subtle (it was made in 1936) implication, the script takes a few ideas from Bran Stoker and Guy Endore. Mischa Auer is also commendable in his role as a hunchback, loyal to Morgan, and who has been keeping Morgan from discovering the truth about himself.