Very slow, creaky early two-color horror film. It's often paired with "Mystery of the Wax Museum". "Mystery" is very good--this isn't.
There is someone going around killing people and then (partially) devouring certain parts of their body. They only do it when there's a full moon out and all the murders happen near an academy run by Dr. Xavier (Lionel Atwill). The police are certain that the killer is one of the doctors at the academy. Xavier says he'll figure out who the killer is within 48 hours. News reporter Lee Taylor (Lee Tracy) tries to find out what's going on. Also Fay Wray is around as Xavier's daughter Joanne.
The story is VERY slow moving (even at 77 minutes) and full of plot holes, unexplained occurrences (I'm still trying to figure out who gassed Tracey and why he was where he was at the end) and truly bizarre situations. Ever worse is the alleged comedy from Tracy. He's just simply not funny and his wisecracks get on your nerves. The best part of the picture is the unmasking of the killer on a dark and stormy night in a castle(!!!). Lionel Atwill (an excellent actor) seems bored in the lead role and Fay Wray (another good actor) does her best but can't overcome the script. To cap it off Warner released in on DVD in a version that looks terrible. The two color Technicolor looks washed out so badly that some scenes appear to be in black & white!
On the plus side, it DOES look great and hearing Wray rip out a few good, loud screams is always kind of fun. And Max Factor did the makeup! Still it's really slow going. "Ssssynthetic flessshhh!"
There is someone going around killing people and then (partially) devouring certain parts of their body. They only do it when there's a full moon out and all the murders happen near an academy run by Dr. Xavier (Lionel Atwill). The police are certain that the killer is one of the doctors at the academy. Xavier says he'll figure out who the killer is within 48 hours. News reporter Lee Taylor (Lee Tracy) tries to find out what's going on. Also Fay Wray is around as Xavier's daughter Joanne.
The story is VERY slow moving (even at 77 minutes) and full of plot holes, unexplained occurrences (I'm still trying to figure out who gassed Tracey and why he was where he was at the end) and truly bizarre situations. Ever worse is the alleged comedy from Tracy. He's just simply not funny and his wisecracks get on your nerves. The best part of the picture is the unmasking of the killer on a dark and stormy night in a castle(!!!). Lionel Atwill (an excellent actor) seems bored in the lead role and Fay Wray (another good actor) does her best but can't overcome the script. To cap it off Warner released in on DVD in a version that looks terrible. The two color Technicolor looks washed out so badly that some scenes appear to be in black & white!
On the plus side, it DOES look great and hearing Wray rip out a few good, loud screams is always kind of fun. And Max Factor did the makeup! Still it's really slow going. "Ssssynthetic flessshhh!"