User Reviews

... in spite of the fact that he is top billed, so if you come to this expecting trademark Vincent Price spooky goodness - big doses of that distinguished but raspy voice, that duplicitous smile - then look elsewhere. If you want a good murder mystery then this is a pretty interesting one.

(SPOILER) I watched this, and about twenty minutes in realized I was watching a remake of the early talkie "The Bat Whispers" - well, actually both are based on the same source material. There are some basic differences though.

The setup is this - Murder mystery author Cordelia Van Gorder (Agnes Moorehead) has decided to reside for the summer at The Oaks - estate of bank president John Fleming. Fleming had been away in the north woods on a hunting and fishing expedition with his physician, Dr. Malcolm Wells (Vincent Price). However, Fleming dies while on vacation in a forest fire, and his nephew and heir, Mark, says there is no reason to change the arrangements for the author renting out the estate.

But Van Gorder's staff deserts her save her loyal maid. The reason is that a homicidal maniac - The Bat - has become active again, and has been sighted in areas around The Oaks. His MO is that he rips the throats out of women. An intertwined plot is that one million dollars in negotiable securities have been stolen from the local bank, and a young employee of the bank has been arrested for the crime, although protesting his innocence. The bank will be declared insolvent if the money cannot be found.

So one "dark and stormy night" the maid and Van Gorder, while alone in the house, get a visit from someone who appears to be The Bat. But there seems to be method in his ordinary madness. This guy is not just here to rip out throats, although he ultimately does some of that. He is up to something else as well, but what? Van Gorder puts on her mystery author hat and tries to find out why. There are numerous suspects - there is a servant who turns out to have a record, some wonder if Fleming is really dead, the doctor seems to turn up whenever The Bat is around, and so does Lt. Anderson of the local police, who - after every thorough search he does - seems to turn up no sign of The Bat. What is going on here? Watch and find out.

I liked this one because, for a poverty row production, you have two very good actors - Price and Moorehead. Moorehead reminds me very much of Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote. She is determined to use the logical and creative skills that she uses in mystery writing to solve an actual murder mystery. One great improvement over 1930's The Bat Whispers is that the maid, although she adequately voices her fright over the situation, is not having the completely annoying and distracting 90 minute conniption fit of the corresponding character in the 1930 film. What is not so good? There are a couple of plot holes you could drive a truck through. One non spoiler one is this - Why was the Bat happy with killing random women for years and now is turning to a more complex crime? This film never really answered that question.

Here's a tip: Upon having embezzled a million dollars, don't tell your mate Vincent Price if the two of you are in an isolated cabin with a forest fire raging outside. That's what a guy does here and before you know he's full of lead and Vincent is heading for his family home, looking to get a piece of the action. The question is, we know Vincent is a murderous doctor with an unhealthy interest in bats, but does that actually make him The Bat, a serial killer who's also started snooping around the mansion with his clawed hand and mask, scaring the life out of famous crime writer and her sidekick who merely rented the house for a bit of peace.

This film is almost giallo-like in the way it plays out. We've got our hat wearing, gloved killer stalking the various characters, and a list of suspects including Vincent, a dodgy butler, a cop and the nephew of the guy who got killed at the start. Throw in a house full of secret rooms and you've got a winner with a surprisingly sharp script, too. As it's a murder mystery type film, I can't say too much about the plot, but The Bat does get his hands on a few victims and not everyone is who they seem.

Of course, you can't go wrong with the acting talent here either. Vincent Price is basically Vincent Price, but when was that ever a bad thing? The guy playing the cop, the crime writer, and her sidekick all held up their end well. I give this one a big, steel thumbs up.

I am not a horror movie fan but liked this one because Moorehead and Price did such a good job. Also notable was the actress who played the maid - her character was practical, loyal and steadfast. Moorehead is the highly successful mystery writer Cordelia van Gorder who rents a mansion for the summer not knowing that an embezzler has hidden away a million dollars in negotiable securities. There is also a serial killer, known as The Bat, on the loose. After first getting a glimpse of the killer she and her maid barricade themselves in a bedroom rather than doing the sensible thing of getting the heck out and going to a hotel. Oh well, if heroines were sensible, horror movies would be only about ten minutes long. On the plus side, the heroine in this movie is middle aged, successful and has a pithy sense of humor. The Cordelia character goes from feisty to flighty and back again. Price, as Dr. Wells, is his usual sinister and debonair self. The movie is certainly worth a watch but won't make many "favorites" lists.

"The Bat" is indeed a very silly low budget mystery film. There are very few male characters, therefore it is not difficult to guess who "The Bat" is. Vincent Price, in the role of Dr. Malcolm Wells, has a good performance and a well developed character. The banker John Fleming has a minor but also very important participation in the plot. However, the motives of the behavior and double-identity of Lt. Andy Anderson are not explained; Cornelia van Gorder, played by Agnes Moorehead, unsuccessfully tries to be an Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, resolving the murders, but her character is simply awful. The cold reaction of the women in the mansion when their close friend Judy Hollander dies due to the insistence of Dale Bailey to leave their locked room is a shame. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "A Mansão do Morcego" ("The Mansion of the Bat")

This movie offers plenty of fun for lovers of murder mysteries set in spooky old houses. All the ingredients are here: an isolated old mansion in the country, frightened servants, rumors about the return of an unknown killer calling himself the Bat, missing bank money, suspicious characters, a stormy night, and murder victims galore.

Vincent Price has one of his best roles as a cryptic doctor who conducts bizarre experiments with bats in his laboratory. His sly, politely insulting verbal duels with stern police Detective Anderson, ( Gavin Gordon) are a delight, as the two men exchange thinly veiled hostile remarks, with Anderson all but accusing Dr. Wells openly of being the Bat, something that seems to amuse the doctor no end.

Agnes Moorehead is obviously enjoying herself as the doughty mystery writer investigating a real crime, with the aid of her skeptical maid, Lenita Lane.Most of the rest of the cast is fairly bland, but a fair amount of suspense is worked up, as the homicidal villain searches the old house for what he's after, and the plucky heroines plot to trap him.

This is no classic, but it's quite enjoyable. Price basically steals the show with his sly portrayal of the suave, ambiguous Doctor Wells.

Looking at some comments here you would think this film was in the same range as a Carrie, Dracula, Frankenstein, Jaws, etc.... Well it's not. It is in the SAME exact league as House On Haunted Hill, a decently made low budget horror film where you just know in your gut that the obvious person is not the real killer. Clearly this was made for a youth market for a date movie, I'm sure it was half way decent in that regard as you probably had your attention paid on other things than focused on this long drawn out who dunnit horror flick. This movie also looks like it was made for the 3D market as well since you see some scenes with the gloved "Bat" hand coming at you, but I may be off on that. Regardless, it's really a "so bad it's good" type of film when looked at in today's intelligence, especially after you have watched Eddie Murphy do his comic routine in that purple pink leather outfit of his rant about how white people will stay inside a house overnight where people are getting killed! If you are looking for a decent film of this type see The Old Dark House, if your looking for a joke film or something to play for you and some pre-teen types and have already seen House On Haunted Hill, then the Bat is a decent pick, just please do not expect anything in the realm of memorable horror. 6 of 10 A very good print is on the public domain set of 50 Movie Pack Horror Classics at amazon for under 20 dollars, it has the other Vincent Price films Last Man On Earth and House On Haunted Hill plus lots of other B movie horror cheese, like The Head That Would Not Die, etc etc etc .