The Devil Bat

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The Devil Bat

1940

1h 9m

Horror

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

60%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

32%

Popcornmeter

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.

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

02/12/2023

2/4

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

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Rosalie Kicks

MovieJawn

10/22/2018

3/4

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

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John Beifuss

Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

10/24/2013

3/4

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.

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Steve Crum

Video-Reviewmaster.com

03/08/2008

2/5

Horror fluff noted for Lugosi starring role.

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

09/29/2005

3/5

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

10/11/2004

B

Rubbed me the right way.

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Rick G

@RT71174365 11/22/2024

Lugosi at his best in this low budget movie

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Liam D

@Mediawatcher2003 07/30/2024

Very dated by today standards but for an 1940s B horror film it’s fine and you could do a lot worst

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Prospero E

@RT91103852 11/01/2022

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.

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04/12/2015

not a bat Lugosi film.

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09/18/2013

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

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09/11/2013

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

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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

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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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