The Devil Bat (1940)

The kindly Dr. Carruthers (Bela Lugosi) secretly harbors ill will towards the family who runs the company he makes chemicals for. He sold them his cold cream formula and made them a fortune but he was paid only ten grand. So, what’s the best way to get back at them? Why, by breeding giant bats who attack people wearing a particular aftershave lotion, of course. If only there was a wise cracking newspaper reporter to help solve this mystery.

The above might seem like spoilers, but most of it was in the opening scrawl. Besides, what idiot puts their faith in the kindly Dr. Lugosi? The family gives Carruthers a $5000 gift as a surprise thank you but that doesn’t cool his vengeance. By that way, that’d be a cool $91k today.

This poorly conceived low budget mess was actually a financial success. It’s lack of budget is evident with every scene. There were only a handful of set pieces and characters arrive at them as needed with no travel time. Something like GoT season 7. The astroturf garden set is where all the attacks happen and Bela’s laboratory had dungeon wallpaper. Bela pulls an invisible lever to enter the secret part of his laboratory. It’s quite amusing when you notice it.

Despite itself, there is a fair bit of atmosphere here. The over convoluted revenge plan can only be laughed at just like Bela being a kindly midwestern doctor. Short and sweet, The Devil Bat is far from Bela’s worst. AMRU 2.5.

“Now, rub it on the tender part of your neck.”