“Jungle Beast or Man of Science?” Synopsis: Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly mad scientist who seeks to cure a young woman’s polio. He needs spinal fluid from a human to complete the formula for his experimental serum. Meanwhile, a vicious circus ape has broken out of its cage, and is terrorizing towns people.

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Calamity Brains:

While The Ape is oddly touching for a horror movie, the development of relationships in the movie suffers due to its short length. Even the characters with some backstory are all fairly one-dimensional: Danny has no personality outside of being a lover; the girl has no dreams other than getting out of her chair; the Sherriff is suspicious of everyone and catches bad guys. Dr. Adrian (Boris Karloff) is the only one given any real motivation for his actions, and even that isn’t well-explored.

(Considering the length of the movie, it’s also very strange that there’s also an irrelevant subplot with the town douche treating everyone poorly.)

As with many of the classic horror movies, the special effects are unremarkable and all actions take place immediately following their foreshadowing. The acting from the supporting cast is about on par with the last middle school play I watched. And despite their minor use in the show, I get the distinctly uncomfortable feeling that the live animals used for filming were not treated well.

Karloff is great as usual, but there are better examples of his work to see.

Calamity Brains’ Rating: D+
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