The Devil Bat

The Devil Bat

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jean Yarbrough
Produced by Jack Gallagher
Screenplay by John Thomas Neville
Story by George Bricker
Starring
Cinematography Arthur Martinelli
Edited by Holbrook N. Todd
Production
company
Producers Releasing Corporation
Distributed by Producers Releasing Corporation
Release dates
  • December 13, 1940 (1940-12-13)[1]
Running time
 72 minutes
Country United States
Language English
The Devil Bat

The Devil Bat is a 1940 American comedy horror film produced by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) and directed by Jean Yarbrough. The film stars horror actor Bela Lugosi, along with Suzanne Kaaren, Guy Usher, Yolande Mallott, and the comic team of Dave O'Brien and Donald Kerr as the protagonists.

The film later had a 1946 sequel titled Devil Bat's Daughter.

It was the first horror film from PRC.[2]

Plot

The story involves a small town cosmetic company chemist (Lugosi) who is upset at his wealthy employers, because he feels they have denied him his due share of company success. To get revenge, he breeds giant bats. He then conditions them to kill those wearing a special after-shave lotion he has concocted. He cleverly distributes the lotion to his enemies as a "test" product.

Once they have applied the lotion, the chemist then releases his Devil Bats in the night, which kill his two former partners and three members of their families. A hot shot big city reporter gets assigned by his editor to cover and help solve the murders. He (O'Brien) and his bumbling photographer (Kerr) begin to unwind the mystery with some comic sidelights. The mad chemist is, predictably, done in by his own shaving lotion, and by his own creation—the dreaded Devil Bat.

Cast[1]

Lugosi in The Devil Bat
The "devil bat" in Dr. Carruthers's laboratory

Production

PRC was a young studio when it planned to enter the horror film genre, which had been neglected by the major studios during 1937 and 1938. Lugosi was beginning a come-back when he signed a contract on October 19, 1940, with PRC's Sigmund Neufeld to star in the poverty row studio's first horror film.[3]

The shooting of the film began a little more than one week later.[4] PRC was known for shooting its films quickly and cheaply, but for endowing them with a plentiful amount of horror,[5] and The Devil Bat established this modus operandi.[3]

Current status

Following its theatrical release, The Devil Bat fell into public domain and since the advent of home video, has been released in countless truncated, poorly edited video and DVD editions.

In 1990, the film was restored from original 35mm elements by Bob Furmanek and released on laserdisc by Lumivision.

In 2008, Furmanek supplied his original elements to Legend Films, who performed a new restoration and also created a computer-colorized version. Both the restored black-and-white and colorized versions were subsequently released on DVD.[6]

Reception

The film was re-released in 1945 on a double bill with Man Made Monster. The Los Angeles Times described the duo as "two of the scariest features on the market."[7]

In the 1993 book Poverty Row Horrors!, Tom Weaver judges The Devil Bat as one of Lugosi's best films for the poverty row studios.[8]

Sequel

2015 the Indie filmmaker Ted Moehring, directed the sequel Revenge of the Devil Bat,[9] which stars Lynn Lowry, Ruby Larocca and the veteran actorys Gary Kent, John Link, Dick Dyszel, George Stover and Conrad Brooks.[10]

See also

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 Weaver, Tom (1993). "The Devil Bat (PRC, 1940)" in Poverty Row Horrors! Monogram, PRC and Republic Horror Films of the Forties. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. ISBN 0-89950-756-5. p. 14.
  2. ↑ The Devil Bat at TCM
  3. 1 2 Weaver (1993). p. 15.
  4. ↑ Weaver (1993). p. 17.
  5. ↑ Weaver, Tom (1993). "Introduction" in Poverty Row Horrors! Monogram, PRC and Republic Horror Films of the Forties. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. ISBN 0-89950-756-5. p. xiii-xiv.
  6. ↑ Footnote, DVD Talk review
  7. ↑ Two Chillers Screened G K. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] 15 Dec 1945: A5.
  8. ↑ Weaver (1993). p. 19.
  9. ↑ Revenge of the Devil Bat Winging its Way to Fans
  10. ↑ Revenge of the Devil Bat, Sequel to the 1940 horror movie The Devil Bat.

External links

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