Bride of the Monster (1955)

Bride of the Monster (1955)

*** (out of 4)

Cult classic from Edward D. Wood, Jr. about a mad scientist (Bela Lugosi), his over-sized assisstant (Tor Johnson) and their pet rubber octopuss. Only God really knows how many of these "Z" grade films I've seen over the years but there's no doubt in my mind that Wood's movies are the "best" of the bunch. The worst thing that could happen while watching this stuff is that you get bored but with Wood, and especially this film, boredom isn't a possibility since there's countless insane moments happening throughout the 69-minute running time. The film moves by very quickly and while I do enjoy the movie because it's bad, I will go out on the limb and say Lugosi gives his best performance in his later day roles.

Fmovies: ***SPOILERS*** Strange things have been happening around the Old Willow's place where a number of people have disappeared with the local police baffled about what happened to them. Janet Lawton, Loretta King, a local reporter has been writing stories about the disappearances and blaming them on what she calls "The Monster of Lake Marsh" which is getting people in the area very apprehensive and scared and making the police look helpless.

It turns out very early in the movie we're shown that a Dr. Eric Vornoff, Bela Lugosi, with the help of his hulking assistant Lobo, Tor Johnson, have been kidnapping people in the woods around Lake Marsh and using them in experiments. The trouble is that Dr. Vornoff's experiments haven't been working out like he planned them to with those who he's experimenting on ending up dead.

One afternoon at the local police station a prof. Strowski,George Becwar, shows up claiming that he's an expert on undiscovered monsters and thinks that whoever solve the mystery about the "Monster of Lake Marsh". Telling police Captain Robbins, Harvey B. Dunn, and his second in command Lt. Dick Craig, Tony McCoy, to meet him the next morning and go out in the Lake Marsh area looking for the monster Strowski for some mysterious reason never shows up!

Strowski instead checks out the Old Willow's Place where he comes face to face with Dr. Vornoff. It turns out that both Dr. Vornoff and prof. Strowski worked in, for some strange reason the country is never mentioned in the movie, the Soviet Union Back in the USSR Dr. Vornoff came up with a plan to create beings out of atomic energy that would be indestructible and use them to conquer the world for the USSR. The Soviet Government feeling that Dr.Vornoff was mad and ran him out of the country. Now it seems that they realized that Dr.Vornoff was on to something big and they want him back so they sent Strowski to the USA to fetch him and bring him "home".

Dr. Vornoff feeling insulted and condescended too instead tells Strowski to get lost that his plans for an army of atomic supermen is for his own purposes not for any country much less the Soviet Union who threw him out and stripped him of all his honors and accomplishments. It's then when Strowski pulls out a gun and tells Vornoff that his government ordered him to bring him back. Lobo sneaks up on Strowski and grabs him from behind then throws him into a water tank where he's killed by a giant octopus.

Meanwhile Janet, who's Lt. Craig's girlfriend is also snooping around the Old Willow's place looking to break the big story about the monster. Being attacked by a python Lobo comes to Janet's rescue and takes her back to Dr. Vornoff. Dr. Vornoff sees in Janet a new subject for him to try out his atomic experiments with but is interrupted when Lt. Craig, who went out looking for Strowski at the Old Willow's Place, bursts in before Dr. Vornoff can do his dirty work. Lt. Craig like it was with Strowski is grabbed from behind by Lobo who subdues him.

With Lt. Craig chained to the wall Dr. Vornoff goes on with his experiments on Janet. Lobo who has taken a liking to Janet then attacks Vornoff and stops him from pulling the switch. Strapping Vornoff to the operating table Lobo turns the juice on him but unlike the other times when the experiment failed and the persons died this time it worked! Vornoff turns into an atomic superman and clobbers Lobo and takes off with Janet in the woods with the whol

I really don't think this deserves the "honor" of being in the Bottom 100 of all times. I've seen much worse films without nearly the notoriety. In "Bride of the Monster," Edward Wood shows himself to be a typically competent director doing a typical low-rent horror film. There are no mistakes in continuity, the lighting is adequate, the performances are pretty good…how "Plan 9" came from the same director is beyond me. I *am* put off by the DVD, though. For a premium price, you get the film, the trailer, and chapter stops—that's all, folks. If this is supposed to be a camp classic, I could at least hope for some interviews, outtakes, and other amusements. The transfer isn't bad, with few scratches or specks that I noticed and a faithful rendering of the black-and-white movies of that era.

Bride of the Monster fmovies. This movie is easily Wood's best! Of all the movies Ed Wood has written this one makes 'the most sense', even though the story and concept are still ridiculous of course. Yet the movie works as an horror movie, or like Ed wood would call it; 'a supernatural thriller'.

The acting probably is the only thing that is truly bad about this movie. Lot's of people praise Bela Lugosi for his role in this but I think that's truly offensive to a great actor like him. Lugosi was hundred times better in movies like "Dracula" and "The Black Cat". Bela Lugosi and Tor Johnson are terribly overacting in this!

Also it's too bad about the octopus scene's. It all was terrible fake and the use of archive footage was done horribly.

The dialog and characters are the best Wood has ever written. Even though they are far from supreme, they work very well in the movie. Wood even manages to come up with some memorable quotes.

This movie really doesn't deserve such a low rating and my guess is that more than halve the people who have rated this movie poorly had not even seen this movie but just rated it low because it's an Ed Wood movie. Be fair people! I recognize a bad movie when I see one and this movie most certainly is not bad!

Even if you're not familiar with Wood's work but are a fan of classic horror movie's, you'll appreciate this movie. It really is not bad and works well as an horror movie. The story flows well and the ending is build up very good.

By Wood's standards, an excellent movie!

6/10

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This really isn't such a terrible little movie. Sure, it's cheap, the acting is horrible, the sets wobble if sneezed upon and the special effects consist of stock footage and a rubber octopus, but "Bride of the Monster" is much, MUCH better than "Plan 9 From Outer Space."

Mad scientist Vornoff (a sickly Bela Lugosi) has apparently set up shop in the Florida Everglades, kidnapping anyone unwise enough to wander too close to his house (and his pet octopus) and conducting sinister experiments upon them. Vornoff, for some odd reason, is determined to create a race of super giants with incredible strength. We're never really sure exactly WHY he wants to do this, but one can only assume that, if one possesses an army of super strong giants, one could take over the world and rule it and stuff. That seems to be the goal of every other mad scientist in the unruled world, anyway. Into this diabolical plan stumbles loudmouthed newsgirl Loretta King, who is determined to get the story on the Lake Marsh Monster. Whether the title of "Lake Marsh Monster" refers to the octopus, Tor Johnson as the fumbling Lobo or Bela's drug problem, we're never sure. Take your pick. Anyway, Loretta is kept under constant hypnosis by Bela's eyebags and is slated to become The Bride of the Monster! By this point, we're all quite ready to see the annoying Loretta fried to a crisp, but unfortunately, her wimpy boyfriend shows up to save her. The stunning climax is packed full of raging Lobo's, rolling boulders, lightening bolts, gunfire and death by octopus!

The story doesn't make much sense, but were you really expecting it to when you saw Ed Wood's name listed under the title of director? Still and all, it's certainly Wood's most coherent effort and can be entertaining for those of us who stop to look at road accidents.

Many person are vanishing in the Lake Marsh, nearby an old mansion recently bought by Dr. Eric Vornoff (Bela Lugosi). He lives with Lobo (Tor Johnson) and has an octopus in the lake, product of his experiment in developing somehow atomic energy. Janet Lawton (Loretta King), a reporter of a tabloid, decides to investigate further the disappearance of locals and is abducted by Dr. Vornoff. Her fiancée, Lt. Dick Craig (Tony McCoy), together with the police force, goes to the old house looking for Janet. This story, expected to be a horror movie, is indeed a funny entertainment due to the lack of talent of Ed Wood. When I bought this rare VHS a couple of days ago, some friends of mine, also lovers of cinema, were a little jealous. - Where did you find this film? was the common question. When we watch an Ed Wood's film, we know that it will be a movie full of flaws. But why do we like him so much? Because since Tim Burton promoted this director, he became a cult personality. Therefore, it is very unfair and almost unacceptable the IMDB User Rating of 2.8 for this movie. There are unbelievable mistakes in framing and edition, such as, for example, about 36 minutes running time, we can see the microphone over the heads of Janet and Dr. Vornoff. The performance of the cast is so ridiculous that becomes really funny. The motionless octopus in the `lake' is also funny. And what about the screenplay, a kind of Frankenstein meeting the Loch Ness monster, with hilarious dialogs? This movie is a great entertainment, to see the courage of a brave director lover of cinema but without any skill. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): `A Noiva do Monstro' (`The Bride of the Monster')