Director: Edgar
G. Ulmer
Year: 1957
Rating: 5.0
A low budget black and white horror film that was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, many years past his brilliant The Black Cat. Ulmer was soon fired from Universal after that film for bedding the wrong woman. The rest of his career was basically stuck in B and Ethnic films, but a few rose above the mire - Detour, Bluebeard, The Strange Woman. Here he does what he can with no money and a pedestrian script. According to the main actress, it took less than a week to shoot. Ulmer adds as much atmosphere as he can with a Gothic mansion, fog everywhere and a scream queen.
The film has a strong resemblance to the 1946 She-Wolf of London. Janet Smith returns to the home of her childhood with her fiancé. Her guardian Dr. Lomas (Arthur Shields) welcomes her home with the news that now that she is 21, she has inherited the house and the lands. She is a rich woman. Oh, and also your father was Dr. Jekyll and the madness might be hereditary. But don't worry. But that also means I am the daughter of Mr. Hyde? Well, yes. In a peculiar twist, Hyde was a werewolf who sucked blood and was killed by a stake through the heart. Well, why not. Then the dreams and murders begin and the blood on her hands. And the hulking servant begins whittling a stake. Ulmer throws in a bit of sex appeal as one of the victims, a well figured blonde, leaves the window open as she undresses. Probably not the best thing to do with a known killer around.
Janet and her fiance are played by two favorite B stars - she by Gloria Talbot (The Cyclops (1957), I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958), and The Leech Woman (1960) and him by John Agar (Tarantula!, The Mole People, The Brain from Planet Arous, Revenge of the Creature). His real life B role may have been as the first husband of Shirley Temple. Not a very good film but it is short at 68 minutes.
Year: 1957
Rating: 5.0
A low budget black and white horror film that was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, many years past his brilliant The Black Cat. Ulmer was soon fired from Universal after that film for bedding the wrong woman. The rest of his career was basically stuck in B and Ethnic films, but a few rose above the mire - Detour, Bluebeard, The Strange Woman. Here he does what he can with no money and a pedestrian script. According to the main actress, it took less than a week to shoot. Ulmer adds as much atmosphere as he can with a Gothic mansion, fog everywhere and a scream queen.
The film has a strong resemblance to the 1946 She-Wolf of London. Janet Smith returns to the home of her childhood with her fiancé. Her guardian Dr. Lomas (Arthur Shields) welcomes her home with the news that now that she is 21, she has inherited the house and the lands. She is a rich woman. Oh, and also your father was Dr. Jekyll and the madness might be hereditary. But don't worry. But that also means I am the daughter of Mr. Hyde? Well, yes. In a peculiar twist, Hyde was a werewolf who sucked blood and was killed by a stake through the heart. Well, why not. Then the dreams and murders begin and the blood on her hands. And the hulking servant begins whittling a stake. Ulmer throws in a bit of sex appeal as one of the victims, a well figured blonde, leaves the window open as she undresses. Probably not the best thing to do with a known killer around.
Janet and her fiance are played by two favorite B stars - she by Gloria Talbot (The Cyclops (1957), I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958), and The Leech Woman (1960) and him by John Agar (Tarantula!, The Mole People, The Brain from Planet Arous, Revenge of the Creature). His real life B role may have been as the first husband of Shirley Temple. Not a very good film but it is short at 68 minutes.