best movie i've ever seen.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Director: JEAN YARBOROUGH (sic in credit titles). Screenplay: John Thomas Neville. Story: George Bricker. Photography: Arthur Martinelli. Release prints processed in sepia. Film editor: Holbrook N. Todd. Art director: Paul Palmentola. Music director: David Chudnow. Production manager: Melville De Lay. Sound engineer: Farrell Redd. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: Guy V. Thayer jr. Producers: Jack Gallagher, Sigmund Neufeld.Copyright 17 December 1940 by Producers Releasing Corp. U.S. release: 13 December 1941 (sic). Opened in New York, but not reviewed by The New York Times. Australian release through Hoyts: 17 May 1945 (sic). 7 reels. 6,260 feet. 69 minutes.Alternative title: Killer Bats.SYNOPSIS: Crazy scientist nurtures a giant bat in his secret laboratory.NOTES: Directorial debut (for features) of former prop man, Jean Yarbrough.COMMENT: The new DVD version in which the original sepia tones are accurately reproduced is infinitely more watchable than the old black-and-white prints that surface from time to time on late-night television. True, the inert dummy that does duty for the comatose giant bat is as tacky as ever, but the sets are reasonably impressive, whilst the players, led by over-zealous Bela Lugosi, personable hero Dave O'Brien, lovely Suzanne Kaaren and the talented Yolande Dolan (here masquerading as Yolande Mallott), do their level best to keep the silly plot pacing along, despite Yarbrough's somewhat static direction.

This is one of the best horror movies ever. See it. It has great acting. It has a great story line. It is a very scary movie. Bela Lugosi was one the best actors of this time. He is very scary in this movie. There are some very scary monsters it this movie. It a very good movie.. Scarier then The Shinning that is not easy to do.This a horror classic.

With the October Horror Challenge on IMDb's Horror board nearing its conclusion,I decided that it would be a good time to transform my Bela Lugosi double bill (Invisible Ghost and White Zombie) of the challenge,into a triple feature!.The plot:Angry over the company that he has worked for becoming rich beyond their wildest dreams,but completely leaving him penniless, (due to signing away the rights to his inventions to the company decades ago)scientist Dr.Paul Carruthers decides to get his revenge on the company,by creating a murderous,monster bat.Being interested in targeting the people right at the top of the company,Curruthers invents a new "shaving lotion" that will secretly act as a scent for the bat.As the owner's of the company started to get killed by a mysteriously huge bat,two local newspaper reporters begin to wonder if the deaths may be connected to the company's new "shaving lotion" product…View on the film:Whilst the clear use of stock footage for the close ups of the bat,and the (very) visible use of wires does chip away at the fangs of the movie,director Jean Yarbroughis still able to give the film a bit of bite,thanks to shooting the effects scenes in a low light,which helps to give the many scenes featuring the bat a creepy eerie atmosphere.Despite Dr Paul Carruthers, (played by a charming Bela Lugosi) being clearly shown as mentally unstable,the fun screenplay by John T.Neville and George Bricker surprisingly shows a topical method behind Curruthers madness,with the big business that Curruthers works for being shown to be far from kind hearted.Along with their swipe at big businesses,Neville and Bricker also take a delightful attack at the low budget movie industry,with one of the main newspaper reporters being called "One-Shot" and the devil bat prop itself being used in a sly, fourth wall breaking,devilish manner.

Less than a decade after his iconic turn as Count Dracula, Bela Lugosi could be found slumming it in poverty row shockers, earning a crust starring in cheap bill-filling movies like this, a rather ridiculous romp in which the Hungarian horror legend plays Paul Carruthers, a mad scientist who holds a grudge against his employees for becoming filthy rich off the back of his hard work. In order to exact his revenge, Carruthers experiments with electricity on bats in his secret laboratory, growing the creatures to massive proportions and training them to attack only those wearing a special aftershave lotion that he has developed. With the police baffled, it is up to intrepid New York reporting duo Johnny Layton (Dave O'Brien) and 'One-Shot' McGuire (Donald Kerr) to solve the mystery.A seriously daft plot with hammy performances and laughable giant rubber bats suspended on wires, The Devil Bat is, unsurprisingly, utter nonsense, but if you have a hankering for some classic B-movie cheese, then the film should prove entertaining enough for the duration. An over-theatrical Lugosi chews up the scenery with gusto, and O'Brien and Kerr provide some enjoyable comedy relief, but it is the murderous flying mammal which is the real star of the film: an unconvincing inanimate model when seen from a distance, but very much alive in close-ups, it's aerial attacks are absolutely hilarious, the stiff-winged bloodsucker swooping from the sky, shrieking like a demented banshee.