The Vampire Bat (1933)

I think this little horror film, with a unique cast of characters, makes for a very interesting discovery. I fell into it by accident, as it played as an addition to this night of horror classics on Turner Classics. It was probably 11:30 that night, and that is perfect for this 60 minute gem worth looking for. You can easily find it in the public domain, but unfortunately because this isn't a major studio release, it will probably never get a legit restoration. This was right after Douglas starred in "The Old Dark House" for James Whale, and after this he would go on to be a big star in A pictures with a plethora of leading ladies, completing his career with horror films such as "The Changeling" and "Ghost Story". Fay Wray and Atwill had their own horror classics in this period, "Doctor X" and "Mystery of the Wax Museum". And Frye was just in "Dracula" and "Frankenstein". Eburne as hypochondriac, Aunt Bessie, along with Frye, easily steal the film, and Belmore (another Burgermeister in this film) even stars in a supporting part. Frye, poor Frye, yet again dies, this go-around a victim of being "different", described as a misfit, loving bats and blood, both comforting to him. He's run into Bronson Caves, townsfolk with lighted torches, believing he's some vampire that bites throats and drains the blood from victims.

The print is a bit weathered through its years of disregard, not a film well taken care of. It's a film with lots of night scenes, obviously since the killer works using the dark as an advantage, also capitalizing on village superstition. Frye appearing as such a wide-eyed, toothy, enthusiastic, curious, simple-minded man-child, pro-bat and singled out, although it was obvious he was harmless, allowed for the red herring, eventually ruled as innocent, albeit too late. This death snakebites Atwill later, as Frye as suspect threw suspicion off him, with Wray, as his student, serves as a lady in peril. The house maid isn't even safe and the manservant is hypnotized to work as Atwill's "muscle". The blood for living tissue mad science at end does feel like a Frankenstein rip, though. Atwill locked down the psychopathic doctor role in the 30s. 3.5/5

I gave this a surprisingly favorable write-up in 2007, as mentioned above, during an October late night. IMDb user comments:

Someone(or, something thing..)is leaving puncture marks on the jugular and draining victims of their blood till dead. Police detective Karl Brettschneider(Melvyn Douglas, before slipping out of the B-movie horror genre for greater heights)is stumped at who..or what..is behind these notorious crimes. The village is overcome by hysteria and Karl depends on his trusted medical genius, Dr. Otto von Niemann(Lionel Atwill, in yet another effective mad scientist role)to provide some feedback as to what might be causing the deaths of innocents. He also fears for the safety of his beloved Ruth(the lovely Fay Wray who stars for the third time with Atwill after "Doctor X" & "The Mystery of the Wax Museum")who is Niemann's assistant.

Dwight Frye steals the film as a rather loony village idiot who collects bats and carries a demented demeanor wherever he goes..it's easy to see why he becomes a suspect as local paranoia is at a fever pitch. Maude Eburne provides the film's humor as a very naive(..and easily influenced)patient of von Niemann's who believes she has ailments she reads about in books near the laboratory where he works. She's impressionable and often von Niemann just humors her and constant fictional illnesses she feels plagued with. Lionel Belmore returns as yet another frightened, superstitious Bürgermeister.

Creaky, static, but rather entertaining nonetheless thanks to the cast. The film is obviously as low-budget as they come, but this doesn't hurt the film too much since it's put together rather well by director Frank R Strayer and his crew. I'm certain the film's print has seen better days, though. This is the kind of B-horror item you'd find packaged in with 50 other random cheesefests and poverty row programmers. The film's villain..and his motives for feeding a synthetically made biological creature..certainly provides a different take on the Frankenstein formula. Many might be disappointed with the end results as the film strays away from being an actual supernatural tale about a real vampire killer causing the murders.