“These are the TALONS of The Vampire Bat” Synopsis: When corpses drained of blood begin to show up in a European village, vampirism is suspected to be responsible.

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Calamity Brains:

The Vampire Bat is feels more like a theater production than a movie, and not only because of its age. The focus is much more on the human elements of the story than the monster. We catch only the briefest glimpse of the monstrous figure once, and the rest of the time are left as much in the dark as most of the townsfolk. As vampire hysteria builds in the small town, suspicion falls on a dimwitted local who is known to play with bats. Tensions rise and the mob mentality grows. This type of scenario just doesn’t often occur in horror films: a large population of people believe there is a problem, even a supernatural one, but don’t know what to do about it or where to strike.

Fay Wray stars as the lovely (and cheeky) Ruth, a well-educated and cynical foil to the town’s elders. She and Dr. von Niemann (Lionel Atwill), along with detective Karl (Melvyn Douglas) are the only ones in town unconvinced of the story of the vampire. However, Dr. von Niemann has done some research into the matter. As suspicions grow, it looks increasingly likely that a vampire truly is stalking the town…

The audience gets a partial reveal fairly late in the movie – which means they are able to share in the worry and speculation of the townspeople. Even without much of a score, the mystery keeps tensions high throughout.

Calamity Brains’ Rating: B
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