Bride of the Monster Movie Review

This bargain-basement epic is a pretty good example of director Ed Wood's ability to cobble together a practically nonexistent budget and skimpy props into a memorable, if not exactly good film. Bela Lugosi stars as the mad Dr. Vornoff, a scientist trying to create a race of “atomic supermen” in his laboratory. Bald muscle-man Tor Johnson is “Lobo,” one of his failed experiments. Vornoff captures intrepid girl reporter Loretta King, but she awakens Lobo's gentle side, and Vornoff gets a taste of his own atomic medicine. Lugosi's battle with a rubber octopus (a prop left over from Wake of the Red Witch) is now the stuff of legend, thanks to Tim Burton's Ed Wood, but it was actually a stuntman, not Lugosi, who braved the critter's lifeless tentacles. Bela was in his 70s when Bride was filmed, and hardly up to a midnight splash in the swamp. Still, he delivers a remarkable performance, investing Wood's often laughable pulp dialogue with an undefinable style that's pure Lugosi. It's not a great movie by any means, but Wood's desire to tell an exciting story and Lugosi's acting burns through the cliches and occasional inept performance. AKA: Bride of the Atom.

1956 70m/B Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, Loretta King, Tony McCoy, Dolores Fuller, Conrad Brooks, Harvey B. Dunn, Don Nagel, George Becwar, Paul Marco; D: Edward D. Wood Jr.; W: Edward D. Wood Jr., Alex Gordon. VHS, Beta NOS, SNC, VYY