The Doctor is Out, Madness is In

"What's your theory of the killer, doctor?"
"A neurotic, of course. Some poor devil suffering from a fixation."
"Fixation? What do you mean?"
"A knot or kink tied to the brain by some past experience. A madness that comes only at certain times when the killer is brought in direct contact with some vivid reminder of the past."


"You know this really is all your own fault. You have absolutely no business photographing so attractively. And I have a habit of collecting pictures of beautiful girls."

Precode most definitely!

• After Die! Monster, Die! I had plans to watch classic horror films all year as opposed to just October, the second of which is Doctor X (1932). Warner Bros has the Technicolor, Grot sets, Max Factor makeup, eyeraising subject matter, and Curtiz cinematic touch. Yes, it has the Tracy wisecracking news reporter hunting for the big story on the Full Moon serial killer and his tiresome era-defined zingers. Tracy has this neverending gag involving a hand buzzer, and his less-than-subtle seductive efforts to win Fay Wray. The buzzer is used at the end when Wray invites Tracy to cut the lights out, offering a cute retort that identifies support in the device...if you know what I mean. Lionel Atwill maintains a questionable edge to him, starring as a master surgeon and father to Wray. Wray is often conveyed as potential bait for the killer, her lying body held captive in terror at the end in just a night gown while other candidates were latched in chairs while the psychopath holds sway covered in synthetic flesh, an idea brought about by spending time with cannibals and toying with human flesh! The police give Atwill some time to investigate his group of academy scientists, all working on breakthrough hopefuls. Using strangulations, a surgical cut to the brain, and cannibalism all done to victims, the diabolical nature of the Full Moon killer (light of the full moon seems to trigger the psychopathy) definitely goes total Precode. Wray screams and has her beach outfit providing allure, and the killer goes out a window when Tracy smashes a lamp across his face. Plenty of gnarly, suspicious faces as the eccentric scientists, an amusing bit with Tracy in a room containing skeletons, a sinister castle overlooking an ocean, and dark city nights with body-filled morgues, houses of prostitution, and eerie alleys.