The Ape Man

Awesomely ridiculous Lugosi Monogram flick. Scenes of poor Bela sleeping in a gorilla cage or fretting over his preposterous situation are more sad than funny though, as ever, Lugosi manages to add his distinctive touch to even drek like this. The surprise ending, appropriately enough, makes a joke of the entire film.

Bela delivers some creative line readings. Better than Karloff's simian stint _The Ape_.

Bela Lugosi has mood swings, hair where there wasn't any hair before and is unable to stand up straight. I'm sure this film must have been the inspiration for Harry Enfield's "Kevin the teenager" character. It's pretty bad, though. Preposterous plot, bad acting, sets that look like they were made out of polystyrene, and even though it's only 64 minutes long there are sections where it really drags. The ending summed the whole thing up for me - if it was a joke, I'm not sure I got it.

Bela Legosi does his best with what he's been given but it wasn't much. I'm not sure how I feel about the final wink at the audience there at the end.

Once delivered one of the most iconic and elegant horror performances in cinema history.... here is Bela Lugosi's goofiest roles! The Ape Man (1943) is worth watching just for that! Hilarious to watch in a 'so bad it's good' way!