The Vampire Bat (1933)

I totally get why anyone who takes a chance on a little chiller that is barely over 60 minutes like The Vampire Bat might ask themselves what is the point. I realize there is a niche audience who just enjoys these 30s and 40s B&W horror films, many of them made with very little money, on borrowed or reused sets, with plots just piecemealing elements in the hopes of cashing in on successes that were currently or just recently very popular…sound familiar? 

It is no surprise to find Fay Wray, Lionel Atwill, and Dwight Frye were cast in this 1933 cheapie since they had been so noteworthy for “Doctor X” and “Dracula” just a year or two before. Frye, I think, is perhaps the reason to watch this ‘33 film, since a majority of the film takes place within the manor of Dr. Otto (Atwill), a mad scientist (obviously) keeping tissue living outside the body, using blood from victims to continue his experiments, arranging a ruse of the vampire bite (by hypnotizing his assistant and ordering him “in motion”) to keep the superstitious village (and police, though Melvyn Douglas’ detective believes there is a more realistic, pragmatic reason behind the murders and the one responsible) at bay. Frye sort of takes from Renfield and Fritz certain characteristics and mannerisms while also adding enough innocence and child-like behavior for us to determine he’s just misunderstood by ignorant people looking for a monster to pin murders on they can’t solve. Poor Lionel Belmore was as typecast as Burgomasters as Frye was to frowned-upon misfits trying to co-exist among locals who mostly cast distrusting side-eyes. Belmore is often the village authority many cling to for advice, more or less made a fool of, often unable to solve any issues under his watch. What’s amazing is that Douglas’ career lasted until 1981. He has two films I hope to get in this year that I really enjoy: “Ghost Story” and “The Changeling”. Here, you would think: Oh, no, this poor guy will remain in B-movie hell, stigmatized by Hollywood as that tier of actor. But he escaped unlike others. He doesn’t really do anything memorable in the film besides his romance with Wray…they really convince as young lovers with googly-eyes and this inability to remain unattached from each other when they are in the same space. Douglas is tasked with trying to determine who (or what) is responsible for all the murders to the women in the village (including under the same roof of Otto!), as Atwill plots while standing next to him how to remain elusive. It is amusing to me to watch Douglas poo-poo and mock the villagers for believing vampire bats or vampires are on the loose bleeding out women while they sleep.

Frye’s approach to his Herman is very minimal in terms of education, too much trust in those around him, with the protective safeguards of nuance and subtlety lost on him since he just thinks surface level since he has the mind of a child. There is a moment in the film I really enjoyed where he pulls down a bat from a lamp post in town as the villagers hide in a store with worried eyes as he pets the bat and hisses at them with that Renfield giggle…again, this is really a child-man seeing bats as friends, treating them that way, still walking among the very same people often disregarding him. Some are kind to him or just know how to talk to him, while others see him simply as a threat or annoyance. I have two autistic teenagers so I really feel for this character and sympathize with him.