Rent Night Monster (1942)
3.3 of 5 from 57 ratings
1h 10min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Kurt Ingston (Ralph Morgan) is a helpless cripple due to the incompetence of three doctors (Lionel Atwill, Frank Reicher, Frances Pierlot) He invites them to visit him on the pretext of donating money to medicine - and the horror begins! Spooky Ingston Towers is filled with strange characters, any of whom could be the killer: There's the ominous butler (Bela Lugosi), the grim housekeeper (Doris Lloyd), the lecherous chauffeur (Leif Erikson), a mystic (Nils Asther), and Ingston's demented sister (Fay Helm). Trying to solve the murders - and stay alive - are a psychiatrist (Irene Hervey) and a mystery writer (Don Porter). Strong ensemble acting builds suspense, as do storms, fog, secret passages and scary sounds. The topper, however, is the incredible explanation for what's been happening - an explanation that defies reason! - Actors:
- Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Leif Erickson, Irene Hervey, Ralph Morgan, Don Porter, Nils Asther, Fay Helm, Frank Reicher, Doris Lloyd, Francis Pierlot, Robert Homans, Janet Shaw, Eddy Waller, Cyril Delevanti
- Directors:
- Ford Beebe
- Producers:
- Ford Beebe
- Writers:
- Clarence Upson Young
- Aka:
- House of Mystery
- Studio:
- Final Cut
- Genres:
- Classics, Horror, Thrillers
- Collections:
- Films to Watch If You Like..., What to Watch Next If You Liked Dracula
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Reviews (1) of Night Monster
Dark Arts - Night Monster review by Steve
Crazy low budget Universal monster picture with a gallery of genre oddballs played by a deep cast of B-picture stalwarts. Ralph Morgan is a quadriplegic who holds his highly respected physicians responsible for his extreme deformity. He invites the doctors to his spooky old estate, only for someone to murder them!
It can’t be the host- obviously- as he has no arms or legs… The denouement is completely wild! But fun. Bela Lugosi as the creepy butler and Lionel Atwill as a bumptious medic are only there for name recognition and hardly figure…
In a uniformly relishable cast, the standouts are Irene Hervey as a straight-arrow psychiatrist, Fay Helm as the neurotic relative scared out of her mind and Nils Asther as an unorthodox mystic. There’s a memorable scene where he teleports a skeleton via arcane, yogic ritual!
This is all astonishingly overstated. Ford Beebe is a minor director of serials, but he creates plenty of foggy/shadowy atmosphere from his studio backlot swamp and secret passages. It’s a ludicrous mishmash of melancholy, hokum and weirdness- yet irresistible.
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