AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

O2D I have no idea what I have just seen.Some people decided that there must be a vampire killing people while another guy thinks it's a person.They spend most of this very short movie accusing the obvious suspect of being the vampire and it gets boring after a couple minutes.While I watched this, I had to rewind a dozen times and I still couldn't tell you who the vampire was or who lived and who died.It's just your basic "doctors with guns" movie.Not much story and even less action.But I must admit that it's better than I expected and I have seen much worse.I have seen so many bad movies that I feel like giving two stars means it was good.It wasn't.

Leofwine_draca This is a derivative and quite frankly dreary old horror flick that owes much of its plot and inspiration to Dracula. There's the same kind of plot, with a lot of mysterious deaths in a remote village, blood loss and all. Except here there are no actors like Bela Lugosi and Edward Van Sloan to enjoy, only Lionel Atwill who puts in a rather impassive performance. There's also a lack of focus to the story (there's a rather large lull and then a sudden burst of plot in the last twenty minutes) and also a noticeable lack of action. No music either seems to drag the pacing of this film down to snail-speed, so this one is definitely for fans of the genre only, people who know what they're letting themselves in for.The trouble with this film is the characters; none of them really do much and most of the roles are quite boring and lacking in intrigue. Lionel Atwill - a much underrated horror star of the period, mixing classics like MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM and enjoyable low budget gems like MURDERS IN THE ZOO - has a great, menacing screen presence but is given no material to work with. If only the director had given him the opportunity to act up a little more and put some meat into his part. Similarly, famed screamer Fay Wray is almost unnoticeable in her serviceable role, her inclusion seemingly just to have a female face around. She is in the background for most of the time and is only put in danger once, at the end. If I remember correctly she doesn't even get the opportunity to scream! Melvyn Douglas is the bland policeman hero, so that leaves only Dwight Frye to put some life into the film. Frye plays a madman, a virtual reprisal of his Renfield role from Dracula, and is by far the most enjoyable thing in this film.Some atmosphere is built up as this film proceeds, but it's wasted in a finale which reveals that the supernatural is not to blame for the vampiric deaths. To make matters worse, there's even a "cheat" at the end which allows our heroes to escape with their lives intact, let's just say that it's a plot point that jumps suddenly out of nowhere with no warning. It's like the scriptwriters couldn't think of a way to finish the film so just made the first thing up that came into their heads instead. Overall, THE VAMPIRE BAT is an effectively brooding and atmospheric little B-movie, marred by stilted dialogue, a lack of pacing, and a story that goes nowhere.

GL84 After several mysterious deaths around town, a town doctor and detective disprove the old town legend about vampires as the rising death toll suggests that vampire bats are the real culprit they band together to bring it to justice.This here wasn't all that bad and did have some good moments. One of the better features is that this here did get some rather atmospheric scenes at times, most notably the opening where a witness observes a figure leaving the scene of a crime on the rooftops from below though the trees. The combination of the setting and the scene taking place at night is a great combination and that there's other outside factors contributing to this one makes it all the better. The later confrontations inside the cave are quite fun which give off an air of suspense and creepiness, which is aided nicely by the sight of burning pitchforks and dogs barking off in the distance as well as features a lot of nice action since it's tagged off chasing scenes. Though these are presented as the follow-up scenes of many of these encounters, there's still plenty of energy here giving them some extra incentive to go alongside the rather fine mystery which is quite nicely layered with the attacks rousing the same local hysteria and mounting fear that's handedly played well with their dismissals and continued search leading them into fine territory with the action in the final half. These here are what make the film enjoyable though this here does have a few discernible flaws with it. One of the main ones is that this one doesn't know what kind of film it wants to be, as this one toys with vampires and killer vampire bats at several points, yet doesn't seem comfortable with either one as the villain. Despite strong evidence for both as the main target, they're automatically dismissed right when it makes sense at the time in the perfect opportunity given. The last flaw is that it doesn't really do much in the middle of the film. This is mostly relegated to talking about the situation on-hand and doesn't spend any time on the real heart of the story. That can make it seem like a drag, which isn't needed on a film this short. As well as the confusion over what happens in the finale, these here are what hold this one down.Today's Rating-PG: Mild Violence.

bkoganbing A poverty row outfit called Majestic Pictures produced The Vampire Bat and for a poverty row outfit managed to get a good cast for the film which included Melvyn Douglas as a police inspector, Fay Wray as the girl he's courting and Lionel Atwill as the village doctor. A string of horrifying murders are occurring in this German village. The victims are being left with two puncture wounds in the neck and the blood drained completely from them. Of course everyone is yelling vampires are about and all the old peasant legends are springing to life. Even Melvyn Douglas who is a 20th century man momentarily believes that maybe there's something to all this vampire talk. Signs point to poor Dwight Frye who is back to playing demented characters as he became in Dracula after Bela Lugosi put the bite on him. Here he's a simple soul who lives in a loft and actually keeps the bats there as pets. Frye gives the best performance in the film. Another role that is a scene stealer who is Fay Wray's aunt is Maude Eburne who is constantly bothering Atwill as she's the biggest hypochondriac for miles around. She's good comedy relief.Just a look at the cast will tell you who's responsible for all the mayhem and blood. What the need for the blood is we're never really given an answer. But there are Frankenstein like experiments going on.This had the potential to be a classic if Universal had produced The Vampire Bat. But it's as good as you'll get from a poverty row studio.