Bride of the Monster (1955)
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44% of critics liked it
(9 reviews) -
32% of users liked it
(6,012 ratings)
To most outside observers, Bride of the Monster probably seems like a ridiculously inept horror film, and in many ways it is just that. To connoisseurs of the work of director Edward D. Wood Jr., however, it is the biggest budgeted film in his entire output, made with the resources of a normal… More To most outside observers, Bride of the Monster probably seems like a ridiculously inept horror film, and in many ways it is just that. To connoisseurs of the work of director Edward D. Wood Jr., however, it is the biggest budgeted film in his entire output, made with the resources of a normal B-movie (as opposed to his usual totally emaciated finances) and the most easily accessible of his three horror films. Bela Lugosi, in his final complete performance, portrays Dr. Eric Vornoff, a renegade Eastern European scientist with a plan to create a race of atomic supermen, giants charged with radioactivity. The problem is that the hapless hunters and other passersby at Lake Marsh, where he has set up shop with his hulking, mute assistant Lobo (Tor Johnson), whom the pair waylay, keep dying when he straps them in and switches on his atomic ray machine (which is a not-at-all disguised photographic enlarger). A dozen victims later, reporter Janet Lawson (Loretta King) goes out to investigate the disappearances -- attributed to a monster -- and falls into Vornoff's hands, with her police detective fiance Dick Craig (Tony McCoy) hot on her trail, and a devious spy (George Becwar) from Vornoff's former nation also nosing his way around the swamp and the old house. Vornoff dresses Lawson in a wedding gown and plans to irradiate her but Lobo refuses to allow it, straps Vornoff into the machine, and turns him into a radioactive giant (and into stuntman Eddie Parker, totally unconvincing in his doubling for Lugosi). ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Directed By
- Edward Wood Jr
- Written By
- Alex Gordon
- Genres
- Science Fiction & Fantasy, Horror
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1955 Wide
- Studio
- Banner Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Rob Humanick, Suite101.com
The many flawed details of the film are embarrassing, but the film entire suggests a cry from the heart of a crippled poet.
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Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
It quickly descends into [Wood's] signature style: few -- if any -- of the shots match, the acting is atrocious and the dialogue sings with its own unique rhythms of awfulness.
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Stefan Birgir Stefansson, sbs.is
Bela was such a bad actor...
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
More fun than its ridiculous story and brutal acting and incompetently designed sets would indicate.
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Alex Sandell, Juicy Cerebellum
Ed Wood sucked. He didn't suck so bad he was good, he just sucked.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Bela Lugosi
as Dr. Eric Vornoff
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Tor Johnson
as Lobo
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Tony McCoy
as Lt. Dick Craig
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Loretta King
as Janet Lawton
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Harvey B. Dunn
as Capt. Robbins
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Bud Osborne
as Mac
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John Warren
as Jake
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Dolores Fuller
as Margie
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William Benedict
as Newsboy
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Ben Frommer
as Drunk
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Paul Marco
as Kelton
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George Becwar
as Prof. Strowski
