The Ape Man Reviews

Mad scientist Dr. Brewster (Bela Lugosi), long thought dead, is actually working away in his basement laboratory on a serum derived from gorilla spinal fluid. Experimenting on himself, Dr. Brewster is dismayed to discover that the injections have given him a bushy beard and begun to force his spine into a distinctly simian posture. With an actual gorilla as an accomplice, Brewster seeks to counteract the effects of his serum by draining the spinal fluid from murdered humans and using it as the catalytic ingredient in changing back to his "normal" self. A pair of gutsy reporters (Wallace Ford and Louise Currie) investigate the killings. This unintentionally hilarious Lugosi outing was directed by the infamous hack William Beaudine and is reminiscent, at times, of Monogram's 1940 Boris Karloff vehicle THE APE. Although a failure as horror, THE APE MAN is a roaring success as a camp classic and is recommended on that basis. Monogram never used the talents of Karloff and Lugosi well, and both stars' best work can be seen in their classics for Universal.