Return of the Ape Man (1944) ⭐ 4.8 | Horror

"Return of the Ape Man" is a very low energy movie with all the expected 'thrills'...including a mad scientist, a monster (of sorts), fainting ladies, brain experiments and murder. Yet, oddly, despite these story elements, the movie itself is surprisingly dull and low energy...mostly due to lackluster writing and acting from this Monogram release.

The story begins with two scientists, Professors Dexter and Gilmore (Bela Lugosi and John Carradine), experimenting on a hobo...keeping him frozen for several months and then reviving him. Dexter is convinced he can replicate this on folks frozen far longer...perhaps many years longer. So, the pair go on an expedition to the Arctic and return with a cave man who was frozen for many thousands of years. Dexter IS able to revive him...but the cave man (who is not ape-like at all) is uncontrollable. So, Dexter, being the great humanitarian, decides to steal someone else's brain, or at least part of it, and transplanting it into the cave dude....with expected results.

Monogram Studios was a very low budget affair. Not as bad as PRC nor Ed Wood Jr., , for which Lugosi made some truly awful films,.....but pretty poor. To me, this movie felt like a dozen other Lugosi films where he played an evil mad scientist...and several of which were MUCH better, such as Universal's "Murders in the Rue Morgue". By the numbers and offering little that is novel or exciting...it's mostly a film for Lugosi fans and perhaps my score of 4 is a bit generous.

• planktonrules
• Oct 4, 2020
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