Rating: 2/5
Hooptober X | 9/34 | Decades 3/8 | 1940s
According to the newspapers, Dr. Brewster (Bela Lugosi) has vanished, but his colleague, Dr. Randall, knows the truth. He takes the doctor’s sister, Agatha, out to a lab where Dr. Brewser and Dr. Randall had performed a series of scientific experiments. For one, Dr. Brewster offered himself up as the guinea pig, but the experiment went awry, and he became THE APE MAN
The only treatment they know of is to inject Brewster with human spinal fluid — an extraction process that guarantees death. Randall will not kill in the name of science, but Brewster will
To test it out, he kills Randall’s butler. The results see his posture return upright, but he needs much more to reverse the process, so he must kill that much more
Meanwhile, photographer Billie Mason and reporter Jeff Carter are, coincidentally, trying to do a story on Agatha Brewster, a ghost hunter. And wouldn’t you know it? They stumble into this Ape Man mess, and they become in danger of becoming spinal fluid donors
The movie doesn’t quite land in the campy fun territory — lots of wasted time threading plot points and trying to maintain some tension throughout the film. There are some funny moments throughout — every time he tried to assert dominance over the other ape I laughed — but it’s not enough to suggest watching
There’s a tone to the movie that suggests it may be trying to be funny or satirical of the genre in some way, but that only comes through when the author shows up at the end, looks at the camera, and says, “Screwy idea, wasn’t it?” like Bugs Bunny
Overall, it’s a silly little thing only for genre enthusiasts
Stray Thoughts
- “Shooting that one-eyed monster for Uncle Sam.” — the quote is about a camera, but come on man