Bela Lugosi is one of the kings of early horror films. I wanted to like this one but it didn't seem to have the substance of other Lugosi titles, such as
Dracula and
White Zombie. I admit that I wasn't 100% paying attention throughout most of the movie, but was for the first half and the plot was just hard to follow and was pretty hoaky.
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| A victim for the mutated octopus monster |
Scientist, Dr. Eric Vornoff, wants to create a superhuman race using nuclear energy. His only success so far has been his assistant, Lobo, who has gained superhuman strength. Oh, and he has a mutated octopus (the monster) guarding his house/laboratory. Because every villain needs a vicious pet, I guess. When journalist, Janet Lawton (the bride) comes to the house she is captured by Vornoff and he schemes to turn her into a nucleated superhuman. Her cop fiancee, Lt. Dick Craig, comes to rescue her but he is captured too. So it is up to Lobo to step in to help them. He straps Vornoff to his own contraption but then Vornoff escapes and is chased around outside by the cops. Who are apparently horrible shots because I'm pretty sure they never hit him but they shot at him a lot or Vornoff gained some superhuman power himself.
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| A LOT. |
In the end, he falls into the pool with the octopus and is attacked and killed by the monster. I guess when you break it down like that it is not hard to follow the plot. But Vornoff didn't seem to have a clear motive for creating an army of superhuman and the monster seemed a little out of place other than a means to draw attention to Vornoff's lab and to be his demise at the end. I mean come on, who wouldn't notice a giant, scary octopus in likely some kind of moat around some creepy house? Also, at some point Vornoff hypnotizes Janet to bring her into the lab but that seemed out of character for a mad scientist and likely the creators were just using the same "schitck" because... Bela Lugosi. I would say not among Lugosi's best but an OK one to watch especially because it is short.
My rating:
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