The other day I picked up one of those “Five horror movies for $6” discs at the local discount book store. They’re all low-budget Bela Lugosi thrillers from the early Forties.
I watched “The Ape Man”, and was impressed despite myself. Moved quickly, reasonably good production values, not boring.
The movie opens with a quick burst of exposition, as Dr. Randall explains to Agatha Brewster, returning form overseas, that her brother isn’t missing; he’s in hiding. Certain experiments with the glandular system have worked all too well. We cut to the lab, where Bela is huddled in a cage; his face and hands are hairy, and when he stands up, it’s with a gorilla’s stoop. He explains his predicament (he can’t manage to change back to human, and his mood swings from normal to wildly violent) to his sister, and collapses against her, crying.
It was a surprisingly powerful scene. Even with his career in the dumps, Lugosi could deliver if the script was good. I was impressed.
The film has some other interesting stuff going on. The heroine (who is replacing a newspaper photographer who’s going into the Army) accuses the hero of being “4-F”. He explains that he’s “1-A”, and is due to enter the Navy in 30 days. Reminds you that the movie was made in 1943.
And the ending was wild. After the usual thriller-type ending, the movie goes on to completely explode the fourth wall.
A rather goony-looking character, who has appeared at odd moments to provide hints and guidance to our hero, turns to the camera and reveals himelf to be the Author!!!