The Vampire Bat

Released - 1933
Genre - Horror, Mystery
Director - Frank R. Strayer
Starring - Lionel Atwill, Melvyn Douglas, Fay Wray, Maude Eburne, George E. Stone, Dwight Frye

This is a surprisingly enjoyable horror tale from 1933 which borrows elements from the most successful horror flicks of that era. The village of Klineschloss is experiencing a series of mysterious deaths where the victims have been drained of blood and the superstitious elders point to the influx of bats as the cause and claim a vampire is responsible. Karl Brettschneider (Melvyn Douglas) is the sceptical hero of the piece who seeks for another cause along with his love interest Ruth (Fay Wray). The villagers decide the local simpleton who happens to keep bats must be the vampire amongst them but Karl continues to believe it is a psychotic killer. This is nicely directed, the acting is good (with the exception of the simpleton who is beyond terrible) and the plot surprised me and made for an entertaining hour of late night viewing. It's obviously very dated, before the days of gore and it is unlikely to scare you but if you like old movies you should give this a look.

Gore - none at all

Vampires - is there a vampire at work here? That's the mystery so I won't spoil it.

This film is in the public domain and you can download it for free from the - Internet Archive

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