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The Human Monster | Year: 1940 Classification: Horror Directed: - Walter Summers Actors/Actresses: - Bela Lugosi - Hugh Williams once again, quite annoyed, yet not by the movie what annoys me is a review giving this little known classic horror movie one star due to bad dvd quality. people are going to see a bad customer rating for this movie, and believe based on the lack of stars that this is a terrible movie, which is just not true. please, for god sakes, review the MOVIE, not the quality of the release. how stupid some people are! that's like giving a book a bad review because you didn't like the cover art. grow up. now for the movie. this is a wonderful thriller starring bela lugosi. much of the story is set in a shelter for the blind, and this creates an air of confusion. lugosi's henchman, a deformed blind giant named jake, is brilliant. i recall one scene that is a classic moment in horror movie history where bela lugosi, in order to punish one of his minions, deafens a man who is already blind and dumb. then he binds his arms and legs and throws him in a tub of water. brilliant. Bela Lugosi plays two roles in this horror crime thriller "The Human Monster" (originally "The Dark Eyes of London") has Detective Inspector Larry Holt of Scotland Yard investigating the mysterious deaths of five people who have been found floating in the Thames. His investigation leads him to discover that the deceased had policies with the Greenwich Insurance Company, which is run by the creepy Feodor Orloff (Bela Lugosi). Orloff used to be a doctor before he was driven out of the profession by his colleagues, who were convinced he was insane. Holt then discovers that Orloff asked each of the victims to make charitable donations to Dearborn's Home for the Destitute Blind. After talking to blind Dearborn (also played by Lugosi), Holt becomes convinced that these policyholders are being murdered for their money. This 1939 film (released the following year in the U.S.) is really much more of a crime thriller than a horror film. It is based on a 1924 novel by Edgar Wallace, a popular writer in the genre, but once Lugosi entered the picture the film was tailored to his talents and his audience. Hence, the American title for the film and the addition of Orloff's brutish assistant, Jake (Wilfred Walter), in the grand tradition of horror films. Director Walter Summers and Art Director Duncan Sutherland do get overly creative with the Home for the Destitute Blind and other set pieces, but your affinity for this film will be totally dependent on your affection of Lugosi's broad style of acting. The plot is fairly routine and even though O.B. Clarence provides the voice for Dearborn, it is still fairly obvious that since Lugosi is playing both characters they are really the same person. Eerie and strange I saw this movie late one night on TV about 35 years ago as a child, and some of the images haunt me still! Lugosi is really quite good here, and the whole thing is set in an eerie, impoverished home for the blind...this creates a dark, disorienting, atmosphere of helplessness. Watch for the trap door that drops victims into the Thames River mud flats! Lugosi's creepy man/beast henchman is the stuff of children's nightmares....<BR>OK, now to address the Alpha DVD quality. No, it's not great. It could be better. But let's face it: as kids we watched these things on grainy black & white TV sets with bent rabbit ear antennas! You could hold your breath for the "Collector's Edition", (at a price 4x more) but you're simply not going to see this film anywhere else. The DVD is ridiculously cheap. If you hate it, then donate it to your local library for a tax write-off. Buy The Human Monster at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Human Monster Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Human Monster This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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