BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (1955)

BRIDE OF THE MONSTER  (1955)

Tagline: The Screen's Master of the Weird in his Newest and Most Daring Shocker!

(Sci-Fi, Horror, Random Octopi) [G]

Note: This movie was not given an MPAA rating, but I think if it was, it would have been a G. 

Home? I have no home. Hunted, despised, living like an animal! The jungle is my home. But I will show the world that I can be its master! I will perfect my own race of people. A race of atomic supermen which will conquer the world! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

In this one there is a lot of speculation about what goes on at a creepy mansion off the beaten path. As it turns out Dr. Eric Vornoff is actually trying to turn people into ultra-beings with atomic power. This captures the curiosity of a report named Janet who decides to check out the stories behind the mansion. That ends up being a big mistake. 

First off, a lot like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, this movie is also considered one of the worst films ever made. You could do a search online for “trash movie” and this thing would probably rear its ugly head. This movie is Bela Lugosi’s last speaking role. He actually has a ton of lines in it. Fans of his tend to like this film for that reason. I can get on board with that. Bela was not the problem here. 

Acting-wise this movie is on par with a 3rd-grade play. I can guess that Loretta King got added to the cast because she was willing to help finance the film, but apparently she denies that ever happened. Who really knows, but the bottom line is no one in this movie outside of Bela Lugosi even seems to be trying. For a b-movie, that can sometimes actually add to the charm. For this one, it just really doesn’t. I can’t speak to Loretta’s overall acting ability because I haven’t seen any of her other films. One interesting thing about Loretta is that she was born in Phoenix, AZ just 5 years after Arizona became a state. Tor Johnson is also in this as Lobo. He also unfortunately did not seem interested to be in this movie. His other infamous Ed Wood-directed film was PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. 

So is this movie that bad? Well, that all depends on what you went into the movie expecting to see. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE was far more interesting, watchable, and weird. This one has a few moments of that and Bela Lugosi carries this travesty of nonsense on his back, but that doesn’t make it a good movie if you are watching it for what we’d normally call good. Instead, if you watch this as a comedy, especially the giant octopus scene it’s a bit more fun, but sadly it’s not a movie I feel the need to watch repeatedly.

Overall BRIDE OF THE MONSTER is NOT the worst movie ever. It’s not even remotely close even in the movies I’ve watched thus, far. I was going to give this a 4 out of 7, but I can’t bring myself to say that it’s “solid”. It’s just not solid. This is a 3 out of 7 at best just if you want an odd fairly short movie to watch. It also might be a bit of fun if you are doing an old-school horror or sci-fi movie marathon. Maybe just put it in the middle of the marathon, because if you start with this, people might try to go home early. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF TOHO COMPANY AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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