"The Vampire Bat" is a fun period horror film taking place in Europe where some fiend is biting people on their necks and draining them of all of their blood. Naturally, the superstitious locals are quick to think "vampire", but young police inspector Karl Brettschneider (Melvyn Douglas) is a skeptic and believer in rational explanations. The main suspect is an obvious one: grinning half-wit Herman Gleib (the *always* amusing, if eternally typecast, Dwight Frye), who has a fondness for bats and considers them his pets.
This viewer had an idea before going in how things would develop with this Edward T. Lowe script, and he wasn't proven wrong, but the movie is still pretty enjoyable. It adequately goes through the paces of many a period vampire film, with much talk of the nature of blood suckers and how we are supposed to dispatch them. Ever-wonderful Frye is appealing as the ultimately harmless red herring, and character actress Maude Eburne supplies the lions' share of the comedy relief, as neurotic hypochondriac Aunt Gussie who tends to be impressed by big words. Lionel Atwill, always a welcome presence in these 1930s and 1940s genre pictures, is solid as a rock as the town doctor. Fay Wray of "King Kong" fame is enchanting as the leading lady. George E. Stone, Robert Frazer, and character actor Lionel Belmore (as the burgermeister) comprise a fine supporting cast.
"The Vampire Bat" is directed with a true cut-to-the-chase efficiency by Frank R. Strayer, who went on to direct several of the later "Blondie" feature films. It has decent atmosphere, a couple of "wipe" scene transitions, a snappy pace, and enough humor to make it rather pleasant, if not altogether memorable. The excellent cast is what makes the difference in what is a better-than-average "poverty row" type of horror film.
Six out of 10.
This viewer had an idea before going in how things would develop with this Edward T. Lowe script, and he wasn't proven wrong, but the movie is still pretty enjoyable. It adequately goes through the paces of many a period vampire film, with much talk of the nature of blood suckers and how we are supposed to dispatch them. Ever-wonderful Frye is appealing as the ultimately harmless red herring, and character actress Maude Eburne supplies the lions' share of the comedy relief, as neurotic hypochondriac Aunt Gussie who tends to be impressed by big words. Lionel Atwill, always a welcome presence in these 1930s and 1940s genre pictures, is solid as a rock as the town doctor. Fay Wray of "King Kong" fame is enchanting as the leading lady. George E. Stone, Robert Frazer, and character actor Lionel Belmore (as the burgermeister) comprise a fine supporting cast.
"The Vampire Bat" is directed with a true cut-to-the-chase efficiency by Frank R. Strayer, who went on to direct several of the later "Blondie" feature films. It has decent atmosphere, a couple of "wipe" scene transitions, a snappy pace, and enough humor to make it rather pleasant, if not altogether memorable. The excellent cast is what makes the difference in what is a better-than-average "poverty row" type of horror film.
Six out of 10.