"After the sun has set and the night wind has died comes the hour of the bat people." While not the best exploitation movie ever made, The Bat People is not as bad as everyone says. For one, Stewart Moss is excellent in the main role as the doctor who is bitten by a bat. Are the murdereous flash-memories of killing he's having just that, dreams? Or are the horrific murders around the neighborhood his handiwork? Moss' real-life wife, beautiful Marianne McAndrew, co-stars, and both make the central relationship of husband and wife on the edge believable. Most of the movie is taken up by Moss' anguished reactions as he's about to change from man to bat. (The viewer starts feeling the same pain, so excruciating does Moss make it seem.) Two scenes stand out in this Jerry Jameson-directed horror: The way-cool murder of the slimy sheriff in a small car by hundreds of bats is very bloody and fitting. More memorable, and totally hilarious, is the sex scene between Moss and McAndrew. In the throes of passion, she looks up to the squeaking, hideously hairy and ugly face of a bat. She screams and gets hysterical as Moss flees like a bat outta hell. How could you NOT love this movie? This was the first feature film for makeup artist Stan Winston.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
THE BAT PEOPLE (1974)
"After the sun has set and the night wind has died comes the hour of the bat people." While not the best exploitation movie ever made, The Bat People is not as bad as everyone says. For one, Stewart Moss is excellent in the main role as the doctor who is bitten by a bat. Are the murdereous flash-memories of killing he's having just that, dreams? Or are the horrific murders around the neighborhood his handiwork? Moss' real-life wife, beautiful Marianne McAndrew, co-stars, and both make the central relationship of husband and wife on the edge believable. Most of the movie is taken up by Moss' anguished reactions as he's about to change from man to bat. (The viewer starts feeling the same pain, so excruciating does Moss make it seem.) Two scenes stand out in this Jerry Jameson-directed horror: The way-cool murder of the slimy sheriff in a small car by hundreds of bats is very bloody and fitting. More memorable, and totally hilarious, is the sex scene between Moss and McAndrew. In the throes of passion, she looks up to the squeaking, hideously hairy and ugly face of a bat. She screams and gets hysterical as Moss flees like a bat outta hell. How could you NOT love this movie? This was the first feature film for makeup artist Stan Winston.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Ms. Wagner,
ReplyDeleteMy wife Marianne and I both appreciate your review of 'The Bat People'. What a nice surprise after almost forty years. Thank you.
Stewart Moss
THANK YOU. Both of you were excellent in that movie!!
ReplyDelete