Frank Strayer directed this forgotten horror starring Ralph Morgan as a doctor in small town that has been besieged by nightly murders many people believe are being committed by a monster bat.
Morgan's character of Prof. Paul Kristan is in love with a beautiful young woman named Marguerite (Maxine Doyle) and they plan to marry.
However a doctor named Anders Bizet (Pedro de Cordoba) arrives and Kristan considers him his best friend. Kristen talks to Bizet about some spells he has been having where he blacks out and loses his memory.
Bizet tells him the story of how his mother was bitten by a huge bat in a cave just a few minutes before he was born and how he has inherited a bizarre malady that changes him into a blood drinking madman.
This is a great little film that handles a topic many films of the time never did which makes it totally different. Morgan is great in the title role and Mischa Auer is just as compelling as his hunchback assistant, Zan.
It's sad that this film isn't better known as I feel it can rank right up there with the biggest horror films of the 30's on nothing but originality.
If you ever get the chance, check this little film out, you might like it. I know I did.
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