The Bat People (1974)

Director:

Jerry Jameson

Writer:

Lou Shaw (written by)

Release Date:

January 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

After the sun has set and the night wind has died comes the hour of the bat people!

Plot:

After being bitten by a bat in a cave, a doctor undergoes an accelerating transformation into a man-bat creature, which ruins his vacation and causes considerable distress for his wife.

Plot Keywords:

Bat | Cave | Transformation | Vampire | Honeymoon

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Stewart Moss	...	Dr. John Beck
Marianne McAndrew	...	Cathy Beck
Michael Pataki	...	Sergeant Ward
Paul Carr	...	Dr. Kipling
Arthur Space	...	Tramp
Robert Berk	...	Motel Owner
Pat Delaney	...	Ms. Jax
George Paulsin	...	Boy in Pickup
Bonnie Van Dyke	...	Girl in Pickup
Jennifer Kulik	...	Nurse / Victim (as Jeni Kulik)
Laurie Brooks Jefferson	...	Nurse

Also Known As:

Angel of Fear (USA) (working title)
It Lives by Night
It's Alive

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (Todd-AO)

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Bishop, California, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

Stars Stewart Moss and Marianne McAndrew were married on screen and in real life.

Goofs:

Continuity: Dr. Beck's field changes from caves, to bats, to "preventative medicine."

Quotes:

Dr. John Beck: You're quite the philsopher!
Tramp: That's me: Jack-of-all-thoughts and master of none.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: It Lives by Night (#11.10)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Angel of Fear

Not the *worst* MST3K movie ever, but...

...it's still a load of crap.

As far as I am concerned, this movie is only notable as an early effort in the career of master make-up king Stan Winston (back when he was still listed in credits as "Stanley Winston". His huge talent is wasted on one halfway decent prosthetic hand, since the rest of the film's "horror makeup" consists of one bruised face and a lot of greasy sweaty faces. I mean, this is a movie about a guy turning into a bat, and aside from the above-mentioned hand, the only time he actually turns into a bat, it looks like they borrowed an ape mask from a bad 1950's werewolf movie.

The acting is horrid, the plot paper-thin, the script awful, the music painfully bad, the ending lame, the effects laughable (except, as always, for the hand), and the directing is atrocious. Heck, even the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring this movie is mediocre.

Okay, okay, to be fair, the scene with the hospital wristband is not THAT bad, but any movie that features a woman who turns into a bat after having sex with a man who was bitten by a bat...trust me, avoid this movie at all costs. About the only thing I can say in its defense is that it isn't quite bad enough to be too bad even for an MST3K episode.