Poverty Row Horror

[Pauspy]

Anyone a fan of the Monogram or (shudder) PRC horror movies? Last night I watched the PRC epic "Dead Men Walk" with George Zucco and Dwight Frye. It actually pleasantly suprised me in a couple of ways. First off, while Zucco is always fun to watch, he seemed to be having some real fun here playing a dual role as a vampire and his brother. Second, I was suprised to see actual "special effects" in this one, in the form of a couple of dissolves when the evil George left the scene. Third, it was fun to watch Dwight chew some scenery again. There was actually an effective scene where we see a close-up of Frye during a struggle, grinning insanely-he looked wonderfully grisly!!  I'd have loved to see him play The Joker in a Batman serial!!

[Flower]

The first one that comes to mind is "Devil Bat" ...



I'd love to see these flicks again .. it's been too long but I do remember "Devil Bat" .. 

[Wicked Lester]

I love poverty row movies. Doesn't matter it they are horror/crime or mystery. They may be cheap with some bad dialog but there is something about them that catches my interest. Bring em on.

[Scatter]

The first one that comes to mind is "Devil Bat" ...



I'd love to see these flicks again .. it's been too long but I do remember "Devil Bat" .. 

Here you go..........lots more where this came from. Either watch it in their player, or download it to your computer or portable device for later playing. Completely safe, legal, and virus free.

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=devil%20bat%20AND%20mediatype%3Amovies

[Paul L]

A local college access channel plays the heck out of them, much to my delight, as many are in the public domain.

[Flower]

Here you go..........lots more where this came from. Either watch it in their player, or download it to your computer or portable device for later playing. Completely safe, legal, and virus free.

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=devil%20bat%20AND%20mediatype%3Amovies

Thank you.

[Memphremagog]

There are a few low-budget gems to be found in the Poverty Row horrors:

The Devil Bat(1940)
Dead Men Walk(1943)
The Corpse Vanishes(1942)..Bela Lugosi is a ghoul trying to return his dead wife to life while killing brides at the altar.
The Ape Man(1943)..Bela Lugosi as a half-man/half-ape hybrid seeking a cure for his affliction by killing people for their spinal fluid.
The Monster Maker(1944)..J.Caroll Naish as an obsessed scientist who turns a pianist into an acromegalic monster and tries to steal his daughter as well.
Strangler Of the Swamp(1946)..a wrongly accused man comes back from the dead to avenge himself on the men who hung him. Nice ghost story.
Fog Island(1945)...with both George Zucco and Lionel Atwill! How can you pass up the two maddest doctors ever going head to head?
Bluebeard(1944)..John Carradine as the notorious woman muderer in Paris.
Revenge Of the Zombies(1943)..John Carradine is creating undead soldiers for the Fuhrer down in the bayous.
The Mad Monster(1942)...George Zucco turns future Frankenstein Monster Glenn Strange into a werewolf.
The Ape(1940)..Boris Karloff is a mad scientist masquerading as an escaped gorilla(!) to obtain spinal fluid from victims in order to cure a girl's paralysis.

[mjaycox]

Not beng difficult here, but what constitutes "poverty row"? Was it just Monogram and PRC, or do Columbia and Hal Roach studios in the 40s count?

If Columbia and Hal Roach count, I love:

Topper Returns

If not, I am fond of:

The Ape Man
The Devl Bat

Matt

[neonnoodle]

I love Topper Returns too, but was it kind of on the pricey side, with all the special effects and production value?

[Pauspy]

I love Topper Returns too, but was it kind of on the pricey side, with all the special effects and production value?

I might agree that this was more of a "B" picture than a "poverty row" picture, even though it was a Hal Roach production. I'm not even sure I would include Hal Roach under the "poverty row" heading, nor Columbia. I guess I was thinking strictly of the Monogram/ PRC stuff, which in my opinion made anything by Columbia look like solid gold. 

[Herr Vogel]

I love poverty row movies. Doesn't matter it they are horror/crime or mystery. They may be cheap with some bad dialog but there is something about them that catches my interest. Bring em on.

Ditto.

[Ghoul-Aid]

I really like the Poverty Row. Being a big fan of Zucco, I particularly like The Flying Serpent, Dead Men Walk, The Mad Monster, The Black Raven, Fog Island and more, more, more...

[Pauspy]

I really like the Poverty Row. Being a big fan of Zucco, I particularly like The Flying Serpent, Dead Men Walk, The Mad Monster, The Black Raven, Fog Island and more, more, more...

Zucco was always great in these. He also had a hilarious role in a Sidney Toler Charlie Chan film (I can't remember the title right now) where he was a "red herring" suspect (of course!) who was a "brain" researcher. At one point he askes #2 son "would you like to see my brains?" which he keeps in a chest. He must have LOVED doing that one 

[RedKing]

I absolutely love Poverty Row movies-horror, mystery, comedy even westerns-love em all!!

[Elisabeth]

I love George Zucco!  I'll watch him in ANYTHING,  and I think I'd even listen to him read a phone directory for that beautiful voice.
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