Night Monster (1942)

Who payed the critics

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Crappy film

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This one is full of atmosphere: spooky old house, fog, croaking frogs, chirping crickets, Lugosi and Atwill's presence, a man without limbs, a killer on the loose, supernatural occult elements, a mystery to solve and more. This is one Universal Horror Classic that you do not want to miss.It's too bad that Bela Lugosi's role was not bigger but then again his part as a creepy butler made the film all that much more fun to watch. Lionel Atwill is just as scary to watch.The climax of the film is a real treat as the mystery is solved, the murderer reveled. Hard to take your eyes off the last 15-20 minutes of it.Watch this one on a (cliched) "dark and stormy night".8.5/10

*Spoiler/plot- 1942, A Lugosi film as he plays the butler to a crippled eccentric millionaire that blames a medical team for his loss of arms and legs. Several strange occurrences and deaths occur at the creepy estate needing investigation by local police and press writers. The use of the occult is attributed at the end.*Special Stars- Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, *Theme- If you believe hard enough, a person's physical limitations can be rectified for mayhem or vengeance.*Based on- Hindu mystic theories.*Trivia/location/goofs- The film ending is quite confusing, unsatisfactory, and leaves the viewer wanting an explanation to the nonsense given.*Emotion- A somewhat forgettable 'who done it' Bela Lugosi film. Lugosi is lost in an actual supporting 'butler' role while Atwill steals the film's plot until his character is murdered off. Both stars are a sad loss for the light-weight film.

Crippled Kurt Ingston (Ralph Morgan) has no arms or legs despite the fact that three doctors tried to save him (from what is never said). He invites all three of them to his creepy estate and says there are no hard feelings...but then the doctors start getting killed and his house is full of suspicious characters.I caught this on late night TV when I was a kid and remember being pleasurably spooked by it. It's nice to see it still holds up all these years later. First off don't let the top billing of Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill fool you--they're hardly in the movie. Lugosi is totally wasted as a sinister butler and Atwill chews the scenery but is gone halfway through the movie. Most of it deals with Morgan and various supporting characters. The good thing is all the supporting actors are interesting and well-acted especially by Leif Erickson as a lecherous chauffeur and Nils Asther as a sinister yogi. The direction is very good and the movie has a nice dark atmosphere. There's a VERY spooky scene where one of the doctors is approached by the killer. Another nice touch is all the frogs and animals in the swamp surrounding the estate go dead quiet when the killer appears. The sudden dead silence is more than a little unnerving. The final sequence when you find out who the killer is doesn't make a lot of sense but the movie is so good that you let that go. A low-budget horror from Universal that is exceptionally well-done. I give it an 8.

Frail rich recluse Kurt Ingston (well played by Ralph Morgan) invites the three doctors who turned him into a hopeless cripple to his remote desolate mansion in the swamps so they can get their just desserts. Naturally, said doctors are start getting bumped off left and right. Director Ford Beebe, working from an absorbing script by Clarence Upson Young, relates the compelling story at a steady pace, develops a good deal of tension, and does a stellar job of creating and sustaining a strong sense of dread and gloom, with especially inspired use of the secluded fog-shrouded marshland location. This film further benefits from sound acting by a sturdy cast, with stand-out contributions by the always great Bela Lugosi as stern and sinister butler Rolf, Lionel Atwill as the pompous Dr. King, Leif Erikson as smarmy cad chauffeur Laurie, Irene Hervey as charming psychiatrist Dr. Lynne Harper, Don Porter as dashing writer Dick Baldwin, Nils Asther as exotic mentalist Agor Singh, Fay Helm as Ingston's neurotic sister Margaret, and Doris Lloyd as snippy housekeeper Ms. Judd. Charles Van Enger's sharp black and white cinematography offers plenty of memorably eerie images (you gotta love those huge creepy shadows cast on walls!). The robust film library score likewise hits the shuddery spot. But it's the extremely spooky ooga-booga atmosphere with the ever-present pervasive thick mist and ominous chorus of croaking frogs that suddenly become silent which in turn makes this movie so much fun to watch. Well worth seeing.