Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

THE DEVIL BAT

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Horace Cordier
    Senior Member

  • Devil Bat, The



    Released by: Kino Lorber
    Released on: September 17th, 2013.
    Director: Jean Yarborough
    Cast: Bela Lugosi,
    Guy Usher, Edward Mortimer, Suzanne Kaaren
    Year: 1940
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    They don't call these films poverty row for nothing folks. This 1940's ridiculously cheap horror flick has a couple of things going for it though. An irresistibly idiotic concept and the slightly fallen but still awesome Bela Lugosi as the lead makes this one a lot of fun.

    That concept? Get a load of this - Dr. Carruthers (Bela Lugosi) has been screwed by his business associates. The unseemly Morton and Heath (Guy Usher and Edward Mortimer) have been getting stinking rich with their beauty products company that relies on Carruthers' chemical formulas. But they aren't cutting the good doctor in on the windfall. Revenge will be his! Turns out our ripped off friend has a secret lab where he breeds killer bats. These bats work on a homing device concept tied to a special aftershave that Carruthers gives to his unsuspecting victims. Voila! Bat senses cheesy aftershave, swoops down and slashes throat. Next!

    Of course we can't be wrapping this thing up in ten minutes so Lugosi's nutty goggle loving doc starts off whacking some dispensable Morton and Heath relatives but soon he has another problem. A subplot involving a couple of nosy reporters - Johnny Layton and 'One Shot' Maguire (Dave O'Brien and Donald Kerr) and an attractive young girl that's part of the Heath clan (Suzanne Kaaren). As the dimwits pick up the mad doctor's trail it's a race against time. Carruthers is going for the jugular against these meddlers - will he triumph? Give it seventy minutes for the answer, people.

    What makes THE DEVIL BAT so darn entertaining is Bela. He's got loads of dialog and delivers it like he gives a damn. He's obviously enjoying himself and it shows. The set design, especially in the secret lab is total dime store Whale Frankenstein but it looks good. And while the bat effects are frankly horrendous - chicken wire and immobile rubber never looked dumber - the sound effects are prime Gorgonzola. Worship the metallic screech, evil doers! And hand it to these boys for good inserts - the nature doc shots of that nasty-ass drooling real life fruit bat are juicily sickening. Squelch!

    DEVIL BAT? I kind of love you.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    This was a public domain title for decades and has received atrocious treatment in the ensuing years - much like another Lugosi film WHITE ZOMBIE. So while Kino's fullframe AVC encoded transfer certainly won't be winning any a/v awards it looks miles better than ANY previous version. Since the producers had access to archival 35mm elements DEVIL BAT actually has some decent image clarity here. And unlike the recent WHITE ZOMBIE debacle this one hasn't been DNR'd to a smeary mess. In typical Kino fashion however (see their Jean Rollin titles) there has been no image cleanup so expect debris and specks and print damage. It isn't overwhelming though and for me personally it adds to the charm.

    The English language LPCM Mono track on offer is acceptable though flawed. Shallow and sometimes hissy it is still perfectly audible. You won't have any trouble following along. Look - this is an almost 75 year old film. Keep that in mind.

    The main extra is a terrific Richard Harland Smith commentary track. Smith knows his stuff and walks you through the history of the film, the players involved and a nice overview of the whole poverty row phenomenon. He's a fan and declines useless MST3K style snark. Indeed he's a pretty strong defender of this little film. It's an attitude I like to see - as silly as a lot of THE DEVIL BAT is it remains a fun film that a few of the people involved in the creation of cared about. Lugosi included.

    You also get a black and white still gallery and a WHITE ZOMBIE trailer.

    The Final Word:

    A completely worthy edition of a criminally abused public domain title, Kino's THE DEVIL BAT is a must have for classic horror fans. It's dumb fun and Lugosi is a hoot. Swoop in on this one and put it in your batty talons, folks. But easy on the aftershave and for God's sake don't dab that stuff on your jugular.



    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!


























    • Mark Tolch
      #1
      Mark Tolch
      Senior Member
      Mark Tolch commented
      Editing a comment
      It does look a lot better than the PD copy that I have on DVD, which is like trying to watch the film through a bedsheet. Nice review.
    Posting comments is disabled.

Latest Articles

Collapse

  • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Severin Films
    Released on: April 30th, 2024.
    Director: Lee Frost
    Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
    Year: 1969
    Purchase From Amazon

    Hot Spur – Movie Review:

    Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
    ...
    03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
  • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Mondo Macabro
    Released on: April 9th, 2024.
    Director: Max Pecas
    Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
    Year: 1985
    Purchase From Amazon

    Death Squad – Movie Review:

    Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
    ...
    03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
  • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Quality X
    Released on: February 28th, 2024.
    Director: Chuck Vincent
    Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
    Year: 1982
    Purchase From Amazon

    Roommates – Movie Review:

    Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
  • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Blue Underground
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Jess Franco
    Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
    Year: 1970
    Purchase From Amazon

    Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

    Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
  • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Saul Bass
    Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
    Year: 1974
    Purchase From Amazon

    Phase IV – Movie Review:

    Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
  • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Radiance Films
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
    Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
    Year: 1969-1972
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

    Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
    ...
    03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
Working...
X