- Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr.
- Written by Edward D. Wood Jr., Alex Gordon
- Stars Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, Tony McCoy, Loretta King
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 9 Minutes
- Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0sjBKTUSp8
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This gets a lot of hate as an awful movie, a shining example of how bad a director that Ed Wood was, but we were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed it. It’s certainly not amazing, but it’s got a cohesive story that moves briskly, and Bela Lugosi turns in a very good performance. We enjoyed it, especially after seeing the movie “Ed Wood” that focused a lot on what went into making this movie.
Spoilery Synopsis
Two men comment on the unusual storm. They talk about a monster that lives in the big house, but they have to go inside anyway. The house is supposed to be deserted, but it’s clearly not. They bang on the door, and Dr. Eric Vornoff opens the door. The old man tells them to go away and calls for Lobo, a giant bald man; the two men think he’s the monster, but Vornoff laughs at the idea. “Wait until you see the real monster!”
Vornoff goes into his lab and looks at a giant octopus. He activates some scientific equipment in his lab and watches the octopus through his window. The two men from earlier are attacked by the octopus and Lobo. One wakes up later strapped to a table in the lab. Vornoff throws some switches planning to create a super-charged atomic soldier, but the man dies. Science is hard.
The police book a vagrant who was in the swamp last night. Captain Robbins calls for Lt. Dick Craig, and they talk about the twelve recent disappearances. The locals think there’s a monster out there, but the police don’t. Janet, a newspaper reporter who is also Craig’s fiance, wants the story. She thinks the captain is covering up for something, since he still denies there’s a monster. She tells them her plans to go up to Lake Marsh herself to snoop.
Professor Strowski comes to the police station to talk about the Loch Ness Monster and similarities to what’s been going on.
Janet does some research about the old Willow House on Lake Marsh. Then she drives up there and wrecks her car. She faints at the sight of a snake, and Lobo carries her back to the house.
The next morning, Craig and Marty come out to the swamp to investigate the disappearances. They comment on the weird weather and blame it on atomic testing. They leave just as Strowski arrives on the scene.
Janet wakes up to meet Vornoff and Lobo in the lab. Lobo likes her, but Vornoff drives him off with a whip. She wants to know if he knows anything about the “monster.” He hypnotises her and puts her to sleep just as Strowski sneaks in the front door. It turns out that Strowski and Vornoff know each other quite well, and Strowski expected to find Vornoff here. The professor wants Vornoff to return to their country, but Vornoff makes a whole speech about being banned from his homeland and having no home.
Strowski pulls a gun, saying his government ordered him to bring Vornoff back. Lobo grabs the foreign scientist and feeds him to the octopus.
Outside, Lt. Craig walks through the swamp and shoots at an alligator as he sinks in quicksand. The detective easily escapes both problems.
Back at the lab, Vornoff has Janet dress in a wedding gown. While they’re in there, Craig enters the front door of the house and snoops around. Vornodd whips Lobo some more to get him to strap Janet down to the table. Vornoff calls her “The Bride of the Atom,” which was the working title of the film. Craig storms in, but Lobo comes in and whacks him from behind. Lobo turns on Vornoff, who is forced to shoot him. Lobo knocks out Vornoff and releases Janet.
Lobo puts Vornoff on the table and turns on the equipment. He knows what he’s doing, and Vornoff screams. This time the process works, so now Vornoff is bigger and stronger than Lobo. The two titans fight, and Lobo eventually dies. Vornoff grabs his “bride” and carries her outside, with Craig in pursuit.
Captain Robbins and some policemen come to the house. They meet up with Craig, and they all chase into the swamp after Vornoff. Vornoff puts Janet down and runs off, but the policemen’s bullets don’t bother him at all now. Craig rolls a boulder onto Vornoff, knocking him into the clutches of the giant octopus. Lightning strikes them both, setting off an atomic explosion.
Commentary
Much of the making of this film can be seen re-enacted in the comedic biopic “Ed Wood” (1994). We watched the colorized version on Tubi.
Unlike “Plan 9 From Outer Space” and other Ed Wood films, this isn’t as awful as his films are assumed to be. The “monster” octopus is just a big rubber prop, but it’s still fun. Lobo got shot half a dozen times, but there’s no blood and it barely slows him down, but he’s supposed to be human.
This was Bela Lugosi’s last speaking role; he supposedly made $1000 for the performance, which was surprisingly energetic for an actor of his age. He looks like he’s having a ball in the part.
It moves quickly and doesn’t have time to get boring. Lugosi really hams it up, and Tor Johnson is always fun to watch.