The Vampire Bat

Audience Reviews

View More

Blake- N @PBSAniDom 59m The Vampire Bat is a strong early 1930s horror film that stands out for its eerie atmosphere and classic mystery-horror style. Released during the early sound era, it captures the mood and limitations of its time while still delivering effective suspense. The film works best through its gothic tone, shadowy visuals, and slow-building sense of paranoia in a small village setting. It leans more into mystery than outright scares, which actually helps it feel more engaging and structured than many early horror films. Overall, it’s a solid example of pre-Code horror that still holds up for fans of classic cinema. I rate it a 7/10—well-crafted, atmospheric, and an important piece of early horror history. See more Blu B @RT43513976 12/25/2024 It’s fine, that's about it. Very forgettable. You know in other horror movies from this time the lack of any soundtrack really doesn’t bother me at all or I don’t even notice. But here it’s noticeable and this has a dry feeling every now and then to it. Fundamentally everything is fine. It makes perfect sense. The problems all revolve around the acting which is very dated and that classic theater style. This alternates between overreacting and being wooden the entire way save for Douglas who is the one good thing in this. It’s a shame for long stretches he disappears or isn’t given much after the opening. This bounces around with a whodunit style mystery more than any sort of horror despite the first scene. It’s really just a lot of talking and characters that aren’t that likeable or forgettable. The direction isn’t bad. Besides the acting, the major flaw here is it’s not scary, moody, or even funny despite the light hearted moments it throws in. None of the settings are really that memorable and there isn’t much horror here or a memorable monster. Heck we don’t even see the “villain” until the final 2-3 minutes. And this feels WAY longer than 60 minutes as well. Which isn’t really a good thing in this case. Skip This. It does nothing that Dracula or the Hammer movies haven’t done better. See more Chris M @RT21954632 11/15/2022 Amazing how backwards people were still even in the 1930s. The truth is only more bizarre and dumber when you think about it. There is no real mystery to it. You see the character come on screen and instantly you say, "He did it." And you'd be right. It's not totally horrible but it is piss poor. See more Blobbo X @Blobbo 03/23/2019 Blobbo like. Period piece. Old. Pretty good. See more 10/12/2017 The was a cute wannabe "Universal Horror" film. See more 06/27/2015 At the time a total cash grab, Fay Wray and Lionel Atwill had previously starred in Dr. X, and were about to film Mystery of the Wax Museum, when they made this little picture, the presence of Melvyn Douglas and the always creepy Dwight Frye add a bit more prestige to this film than most poverty row pictures usually had or deserved. The plot is beyond convoluted, to the point where you wonder why the film took such a hard right turn in about halfway through. However Atwill, Douglas and Wray keep everything watchable with Atwill getting to bring his scenery chewing up to an 11. Also worth noting since this film is in the public domain a lot of shit copies exist so finding a good one is hard to those early horror film purists out there who haven't seen it See more Read all reviews

The Vampire Bat

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING