Featuring cheap sets, numerous continuity errors, corny dialogue, and a giant rubber octopus, Bride of the Monster delivers everything you’d expect from an Edward D. Wood, Jr. movie.
Edward D. Wood, Jr. is widely known as one of the worst directors with whom Hollywood has ever had the pleasure of dealing. While I’ve seen Plan 9 from Outer Space, the film that is considered his “masterpiece,” many times, I’d never seen any of his other movies. I decided to remedy that with the purchase of an old box-set of DVDs appropriately titled, “The Ed Wood Box.” The set contains 5 of his most notorious movies, including Glen or Glenda?, Jail Bait, Night of the Ghouls, and the the aforementioned Plan 9. The one I chose to watch first was featured prominently in the Tim Burton’s 1994 biopic, Ed Wood.
Bride of the Monster centers around Dr. Eric Vornoff (Bela Lugosi,) who lives in a decrepit house in a swamp. Along with his large and mute assistant, Lobo (Tor Johnson,) Vornoff works to create a “race of a atomic supermen” by bombarding unwilling participants with radiation. To obtain these people, he uses Lobo to physically overpower them. When Lobo can’t do the job, he relies on a giant octopus that lives in a nearby lake that is apparently under his control. 12 people have disappeared near Lake Marsh and its surrounding swamp. The local police are clueless as to what’s happened to them.
Local news reporter Janet Lawton (Loretta King) writes a series of stories about a monster that lives near the lake that she blames for the disappearances. The police — including her fiance, Detective Craig (Toby McCoy) — think she’s exaggerating to sell papers. But they don’t have any better theories. (They also haven’t visited Dr. Vornoff’s house either, so maybe they should find a new line of work.) When a mysterious professor (George Becwar,) who claims to have researched the Loch Ness Monster, shows up and offers to help, the police start to take this monster idea seriously.
Featuring cheap sets, numerous continuity errors, corny dialogue, and a giant rubber octopus, Bride of the Monster delivers everything you’d expect from an Edward D. Wood, Jr. movie. However, it’s not all bad. Bela Lugosi — in his last speaking role — unleashes a surprisingly energetic (and wildly chaotic) performance as Dr. Vornoff. Vornoff possesses hypnotic powers that are never explained in the film but make perfect sense if you saw Lugosi in 1932’s White Zombie. Lugosi utters some of the most inane dialogue ever written with a conviction that shows either how desperately he needed the work or how much he wanted to prove he could still deliver the goods. Regardless of which it was, he’s the best thing about the movie.
If you’re curious about Edward D. Wood, Jr.’s films, Bride of the Monster probably makes the most sense as a starting point. It has all the trademark low-budget flaws that made him famous, but it tells a somewhat coherent — if ludicrous — story.
2.0 out of 5.0 stars
