Horror Classics #7: The Corpse Vanishes/Devil Bat

In the Forties, the studios of Hollywood's Poverty Row used Bela Lugosi to lure audiences into theatres. The dark promise of Lugosi's name never ceased to pack them in.

Lugosi made nine pictures for Sam Katzman and Monogram.

The Corpse Vanishes (1942)

Might be the best. Bela's a scientist (aided by a sinister dwarf) who used the bodily fluids of virgin brides in his attempts to keep his ancient wife alive. This is just one of the many, many films Wallace Fox directed for Monogram. He also did many of the studio's East Side Kids and Bowery Boys pictures.

1941's Devil Bat

Would be Lugosi's sole film for PRC (Producers' Releasing Corporation). Here, he plays the seemingly mild-mannered Dr. Carruthers, who breeds murderous bats in the laboratory/ dungeon of his suburban home. He's trained the bats to suck the blood of anyone wearing his secret aftershave lotion. This is every bit as fun as it sounds. Jean Yarbrough also directed several Abbott Costello films, Hillbillies In A Haunted House (1967) and episodes of The Addams Family. (There was a Lugosi-less sequel to The Devil Bat, Devil Bat's Daughter, in 1946.)