The tyranist's thoughts
Not to be watched when you are sleepy, this old British horror flick has an interesting premise, but lacks delivery when it counts. Or, at least, I had a difficult time staying awake for this one even if Bela Lugosi is in it.
So people are dying and Scotland Yard is trying to figure out who is committing these terrible crimes. In walks Bela Lugosi (who is so obviously behind the whole thing that it almost makes you cringe) and a young lady and we're off. Oh, and there's one guy that's kind of freaky looking but in the tradition of the misunderstood monster, he ends up contributing to the side of good in the end.
This one is completely skippable. Except for the interesting historical fact that this was the first British horror movie made after the ban of '38-'39 and the first to receive the 'H' rating (for Horrific), this one should have been lost in a vault somewhere. Bela Lugosi's performance is mediocre and the rest of the cast a little bit worse than that. I wonder what would happen with a modern remake of this. It might be good if it were done right.
One last thing. Apparently when they imported this one to the States, they retitled it The Human Monster. Not only is the American title inferior, it really deserves a Bad Title Skull. Since the original British title is brilliant, though, I decided to use it for the review and to not award the Skull. If I try hard enough I'll forget that American title existed.
Well, I won't keep you any longer except to say that you really should avoid this one. Even Lugosi completists probably should avoid it.