Night Monster (1942)

The recognizable score of the latter 40s Universal Monster staple, such as "Ghost of Frankenstein" presents this effective chiller in the grand old tradition of dark castle murder mysteries, with the addition of not only mind over matter but mind actually producing matter with a will of revenge so inherently driving the killer that despite being a cripple without legs and and an arm he can still move about and murder those he considers responsible for his handicap condition. Despite Lugosi and Atwill receiving top billing, neither is actually in the film much, with the former a butler who discovers bodies and the latter one of the first victims. But there's plenty of spooky fog, particularly in the slough outside the estate of Mr. Ingston, and atmospheric mood, especially when Ingston's sister speaks of a lurking figure in the night when talking to Dr. Harper, a visiting psychiatrist, as the moon and shadow light her face. There's plenty of dead bodies with bloody clinched fingered hands, looming silhouettes engulfing victims before their strangulations, a sheriff just willy-nilly looking to arrest folks because "he has to arrest somebody", staff about looking suspicious, and scared inhabitants hoping they aren't next on the killer's hitlist. The occult reason for how the killer gets about is quite unique if preposterous. I wish Lugosi mattered more but unfortunately he's reduced to a member of the staff with a few lines here and there. 3/5

Here's user comments from 2010 when I first watched it from my wonderful Universal Classics Movie Archive:

The foggy Pallard slough is nearby a gigantic mansion known as the towers and lurking about is a killer who seems to target doctors responsible for the unfortunate crippling of a millionaire, a paralyzed and mangled shell. Through a Hindu "yogist", Mr. Ingston has learned of a possible method to restore his tissues and give him the ability to use his arms and legs once again. Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill both get star treatment, although neither popular Universal studios actor has so strong a role to earn such honors. Lugosi is stuck with the butler-who-may-know-more-than-he-is-letting-on role while Atwill is a haughty scientist who thinks highly of himself and his talents as a doctor. Atwill is one of the three doctors whose operation was unsuccessful on Kurt Ingston(Ralph Morgan). We see how the staff who works for Kurt attempt to hide the truth about a recent murder of a doctor, found strangled in the slough, his face frozen in horror. A maid who has had enough of working for such a wacky family decides to quit, but she knows too much and winds up another victim of a "night monster", body found like the previous doc, in the slough. When the other doctors are picked off one by one, a few try to solve the mystery before they wind up victims next, such as a detective novelist, Dick Baldwin(Don Porter)and a psychiatrist, Dr. Lynn Harper, called on by Kurt's sister, Margaret(Fay Helm). Margaret is considered off-her-rocker, often ordered around by the persistent Main Maid, Ms. Judd(Doris Lloyd), who tries to keep her away from Harper as not to convey possible information perhaps viable to identifying the culprit behind the serial strangulations. Leif Erickson steals his scenes as a chauffeur who can not keep his hands to himself as it pertains to the "dames." Erickson's Laurie is a snooper and keeps his ears open as to what's going on, warning, at one point, the maid who quit to keep her mouth shut or else. Laurie is a suspicious character because he has a hard time taking no for an answer when "dames" are vocal, loud and clear, in regards to his off-putting remarks and gestures, wanting a little something-something and coming up empty time and again because he's such a lout. Erikson is also a rather imposing man with a viper smile, so when he compasses Harper at one point, you kind of figure that unless someone interrupts, he'd have his way with her regardless whether or not she consented. Lugosi's butler doesn't play as viable part in the grand scheme of things as you'd think..even though his star wattage was dimming even by '42, to have such a limited role in the meat of the plot is a disappointment, at least for me, a definite fan of his. Nils Asther is Agor Singh, the Hindu who teaches Kurt the art of "materialization", this arcane ability used at one point to reveal a skeleton holding a jewel box containing a cursed blood diamond. When Singh's concentration is broken, the skeleton dematerializes, a blood puddle remaining. This detail is of great importance because at each crime scene a small puddle of blood is left behind. The Universal studios sets are well utilized and director Beebe maintains enough atmosphere to make NIGHT MONSTER a decent enough little chiller which works best as a developing mystery.