Even in this Age of Reason and scientific enlightenment our modern world is haunted by its demons, who dwell in the dark corners of our psyche and superstitions. This Poverty Row picture is competently directed by Frank Strayer and together with journeyman DP Ira H. Morgan, they create an enjoyable 63 minutes of mystery, suspense, humor and outright horror. Morgan’s low-key lighting and low-angle compositions create a feeling of unease, and in one sequence the use of hand-colored tints to the mob’s torches adds a chilling effect. Strayer allows the film to get too talky at times and the hypochondriac maid’s humor gets annoying, but the film has three key elements that elevate it above the mundane: Fay Wray (though she doesn’t scream once), Dwight Fry (with a pocketful of soft bats), and the distinguished Lionel Atwill.
Plot: in a rural German village, citizens are being murdered and drained of blood through their jugular (pronounced joogular). Inspector Karl Brettschneider (Melvyn Douglas) believes a human monster is responsible but must fight against centuries of tradition and superstition as the townsfolk believe they are being hunted by a vampire, which could be in human form. The Inspector teams up with the local scientist Dr. Otto von Niemann (Lionel Atwill) and his beautiful research assistant Ruth Bertin (Fay Wray) to discover the truth before a mob kills Hermann (Dwight Fry), the intellectually disabled homeless man who has a fondness for bats: he even keeps one in his jacket pocket! When he innocently offers one to the “sickly” maid Gussie (Maude Eburne) in return for an apple, it’s both shocking and fucking hilarious! Soon, fear spreads like an infection among the villagers and they chase poor Hermann until he leaps to his death (then stake his heart).
The story contrasts the power of magical thinking and rumor in the age of scientific discovery, as fear of the unknown propels the townsfolk into an absolute belief that an undead creature can transform into a giant bat and also take human form, instead of applying Occam’s Razor. Why not a human agent pretending to be a vampire? But this truth never occurs to anyone including the Inspector until the final act, after an innocent is murdered by mob rule. Seems Dr. von Niemann has a hypnotized henchman whom he communicates with telepathically, who brings bodies to his laboratory where their blood is drained using a two-pronged instrument to simulate bite marks, then the corpse is carried back to their domicile, so it appears as if they were attacked in their sleep. That’s a lot of work! And how in the world was his roof crawling cohort never seen or heard? And why go through all of this work, you may ask? To feed his fleshy potato creation that bubbles in a watery fish tank. Maybe you shouldn’t have asked.
Final Grade: (C+)
