The Devil Bat

Released Dec 13, 1940

1h 9m

Horror

List

60%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

32%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

Dr. Paul Carruthers (Bela Lugosi) is frustrated because he thinks his employers, Mary Heath (Suzanne Kaaren) and Henry Morton (Guy Usher), have cheated him out of the company's profits. He decides to get revenge by altering bats to grow twice their normal size and training them to attack when they smell a perfume of his own making. He mixes the perfume into a lotion, which he offers as a gift to Mary and Henry. When they turn up dead, a newspaper reporter (Dave O'Brien) decides to investigate.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

If nothing else, the film does offer the enviable opportunity to hear Lugosi bellow to one of his inferiors, "Imbecile! Bombastic ignoramus!"

Rated: 2/4

Feb 12, 2023

Full Review

Rosalie Kicks

MovieJawn

With the assistance of his trusty bats Beyyyla sets out to take revenge on his megalomaniac corporate employer. Need I say more?

Rated: 3/4

Oct 22, 2018

Full Review

John Beifuss

Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

In many of his movies, Bela Lugosi has bats in his belfry. But only in 'The Devil Bat' does he *really* have bats in his belfry, or at least in the secret chamber behind his hidden laboratory.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 24, 2013

Full Review

Steve Crum

Video-Reviewmaster.com

Horror fluff noted for Lugosi starring role.

Rated: 2/5

Mar 8, 2008

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Sep 29, 2005

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Rubbed me the right way.

Rated: B

Oct 11, 2004

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Chipp D

my favorite movie of all time, such a charming film and very silly

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/11/23

Full Review

Monsol E

The lesson to learn from this one is: if you're a major company, pay your employees what they're worth...or else they may breed a giant bat, and train it to rip your throat out. Not a super amazing film, but Lugosi and the fun premise still made it a good watch.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/13/23

Full Review

Prospero E

Is it campy? Yes. Are the effects dated? Yes. Do either of these factors detract from my enjoyment of this movie? Absolutely not! In fact, they just add to its charm. Bela Lugosi is incredible here as always.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/01/22

Full Review

Audience Member

not a bat Lugosi film.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It may be tripe, but it's GOOD Tripe--Classic cheese!!

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The Devil Bat is about a scientist experimenting on bats and ensuring that a certain scent provokes them; it appears to be similar to Frankenstein in terms of the basic premise and is neither thrilling nor scary. A scientist designs a scent that becomes popular and brings great profits to a family perfume producer while the scientist obtained only a lump cash amount. He then uses enlarged bats to kill the members of the profiting family but is killed by them when he is outsmarted by a reporter. 1/10

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

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Jean Yarbrough

Director

Bela Lugosi

Dr. Paul Carruthers

Suzanne Kaaren

Mary Heath

Dave O'Brien

Johnny Layton

Guy Usher

Henry Morton

Yolande Donlan

Maxine

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Synopsis

Dr. Paul Carruthers (Bela Lugosi) is frustrated because he thinks his employers, Mary Heath (Suzanne Kaaren) and Henry Morton (Guy Usher), have cheated him out of the company's profits. He decides to get revenge by altering bats to grow twice their normal size and training them to attack when they smell a perfume of his own making. He mixes the perfume into a lotion, which he offers as a gift to Mary and Henry. When they turn up dead, a newspaper reporter (Dave O'Brien) decides to investigate.

Director: Jean Yarbrough
Producer: Jack Gallagher
Screenwriter: John T. Neville
Distributor: Producers Releasing Corporation
Production Co: Producers Releasing Corp
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 13, 1940, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 28, 2011
Runtime: 1h 9m

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