What kind of a thing is it?

Night Monster
1942 | B&W | 73 Min | 1.37:1 | NR | Mono | Horror | Universal

Director: Ford Beebe

Writer: Clarence Upson Young

Stars:
Bela Lugosi
Lionel Atwill
Leif Erickson

Dr. Lynn Harper, psychologist, has been called out to the old Ingston Mansion, a dark and mysterious place with a very bad reputation, in order to make an assessment of the sanity of Margaret Ingston, daughter of patriarch Kurt Ingston. She claims to be sane, but she is clearly very disturbed; we can't be certain, although the doctor gives her a clean bill of health. But then Dick Baldwin shows up on the scene, just when Dr. Lynne has been receiving thinly veiled threats from the inhabitants of the house.

I have not been having much luck latly with watching Svengoolie. First Hold that Ghost was out of Sync and that bummed me out then the movie I was looking forward to Monster On Campus did not DVR thanks to a Northwestern Football game. Normally I'm pretty happy about the Wildcats on TV but not that day! Then came along Night Monster and... well....

I was not impressed at all! The goofy plot was easy to figure out early and was not very original. Lionel Atwill's character was the only strong one in the movie and poor Bela was a waste of time as a butler. Now the cast played well off of each other and the location was perfect for the setting which really helps move the movie along. 

The biggest surprise for me had to be Janet Shaw. This may have been the first movie I have seen her in and she is so easy on the eyes! In fact, it's kind of eerie but as I write this and long into her career she died on this date (10/15) 2001! I will be looking for Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943) just to watch her follow up.

The special effects or on par for this timepiece nothing that blows you out of the water. They skeleton trick was pretty basic there for did nothing to wow me but in 1942 I'm sure it was cool as hell! As far as the soundtrack goes it's pretty much just background music nothing that sticks out in my mind.

Sven's schtick was funny and as always quite enjoyable but sorry folks as for Night Monster well I can not say I liked it. Did not hate it did not like. The ending was way to predictable and I found myself at times doing other things rather than watching.

Sorry, big guy...

2 Bloody Brains