The Devil Bat

Did You Know?

• On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 60% based on ten reviews.
• Tom Weaver's book Poverty Row Horrors! (1993) calls The Devil Bat one of Lugosi's best films for the studio.

Plot

Dr. Paul Carruthers, a chemist and physician in Heathville, receives a $5,000 bonus from his employers, a small sum compared to the million dollars his work earned the company. Embittered, he develops a system to enlarge ordinary bats and trains them to be drawn to a pungent aftershave he creates. He distributes the lotion as a test product to his enemies, then releases the Devil Bats to attack their families. After the bats kill the owner's two sons and a partner, reporter Johnny Layton and photographer One-Shot McGuire investigate. In the climax, Layton dumps aftershave on Carruthers, causing a bat to kill him. Mary, the last surviving family member, embraces Johnny.

Production

PRC, a young studio, planned to enter the horror genre after major studios neglected it during 1937 and 1938. Bela Lugosi signed a contract on October 19, 1940, with PRC's Sigmund Neufeld to star in the studio's first horror film. Shooting began a little over a week later. PRC was known for quick, cheap productions with plentiful horror, and The Devil Bat established this approach.

Release

The Devil Bat premiered on November 11, 1940, and was released theatrically on December 13, with wider distribution into 1941. It was re-released in 1945 on a double bill with Man Made Monster. After falling into public domain, truncated and poorly edited video and DVD versions appeared. In 1990, Bob Furmanek restored the film from original 35mm elements for laserdisc. In 2008, Legend Films performed a new restoration and created a computer-colorized version. Kino Lorber released it on Blu-ray in 2013 with commentary by Richard Harland Smith.

Sequels

PRC's 1946 film Devil Bat's Daughter starred Rosemary LaPlanche as Paul Carruthers's daughter; neither Lugosi nor other actors reprise their roles, and Carruthers is an unseen character. That film was mainly a psychological thriller. In 2015, indie filmmaker Ted Moehring directed Revenge of the Devil Bat, starring Lynn Lowry, Ruby Larocca, Gary Kent, John Link, Dick Dyszel, George Stover, and Conrad Brooks.