Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Leofwine_draca Police detectives and news reporters gradually begin to piece together a puzzle when a man is murdered by what appears to be an ape. The answer lies in the basement of a house inhabited by a ghost hunter, Agatha Brewster (Minerva Urecal), where mad scientist Brewster (Bela Lugosi) has turned into THE APE MAN of the title.. with his back problems and facial hair, Brewster totters on the brink of madness as he whips a murderous gorilla he keeps in a cage. His only salvation lies in the spinal fluid of human beings whom he must kill to get. However, as his friends turn against him, the reporters find the truth and the police close in, Brewster must find a final victim to save himself...This is a real camp classic. Lugosi is the star of the show, putting in an incredibly funny performance as the bearded doctor. In an early scene he walks across his laboratory in a laboriously lurching fashion which makes you reach for the rewind button. There's another scene where he is also being 'cured' by his fluid, and gradually becomes upright, which is also hilarious to watch. By this time, Lugosi's famed accent had been considerably reduced, but he never totally got rid of it. The film is also surprisingly fast paced for the time, and wisely spends most of its short running length in the basement laboratory.There are lots of murders (which are, I guess, the horror part) and even a man in a remarkably fake gorilla suit jumping up and down and going "oop oop". With films of this sort, I usually find myself not paying attention during lengthy scenes where minor characters talk about trivia (to increase the running time, no doubt) but this film has none of that. It's full of action and campness and it is, as to be expected, atrocious, but it's so charming that you can't help but love it.

Bezenby I need to watch more of these ancient horror flicks - The Ape Man had me in tears of laughter. Brilliant! This one has it all...Somehow, Bela's turned himself (slightly) into an Ape. Which means he's got bad posture and hair on his face. Apart from that he's alright. I mean, he can still speak English and wear clothes, which made me confused as to why he had to sleep in a cage with an ape. He certainly was an angry fellow though. I lost count of the amount of times he attacked that ape with a whip! When I say 'ape', by the way, I mean 'guy in an ape suit'. Bela and the guy in the ape suit talk their own ape language from time to time too, especially when arranging to kill folks and steal their spinal fluid for a laugh.There are some old classic horrors kicking around, but this is a BAD classic horror. Poor acting (from everyone), spelling mistakes on the headlines, and an ending that must have been shown in Italian film school under the class 'How to leave the audience scratching their heads'.It's public domain. You don't even have to pay to see it.And buy war bonds! Help our boys overseas!

lugonian THE APE MAN (Monogram, 1943), directed by William Beaudine, with original story by Karl Brown, is a fine example of a bad movie becoming a "camp" classic. Not exactly in the class of Universal's finer products as THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) or THE WOLF MAN (1941), for example, THE APE MAN was to be one of many in a series of horror films from Monogram capitalizing on the past success of Universal's chill package resulting to pale imitations with low budget results. Acquiring Universal's very own Bela Lugosi, whose name alone was the selling point of films such as this, THE APE MAN, coming twelve years after his breakthrough performance as "Dracula" (1931), is simply a comedown from his wide range of films, with some of the worst yet to come. The story opens on the pier where a group of reporters, headed by Jeff Carter (Wallace Ford) of the Globe Tribune, awaiting for the arrival of spiritualist Agatha Brewster (Minerva Urecal), sister of the famous Dr. James Brewster (Bela Lugosi). Also on the pier is a mystery man (Ralph Littlefield) seen reading a front page story about the disappearance of Doctor Brewster, whose to do some coming in and out throughout the narrative himself. Shortly after-wards, Agatha, greeted by Brewster's friend, Dr. George Randall (Henry Hall), informs her that Jim never really disappeared, but due to his discovery of a substance that has changed him into an animal similar in power and danger to an anthropoid ape, he's now hiding in an old mansion in Springdale. Taken to the mansion, Agatha witnesses the experimental results of her brother, locked inside a cage with an ape (Emil Van Horn), dressed in black, walking in hunchback position and sporting facial hair. Aside from controlling the ape with a whip, Brewster even howls like one. In order to return to human form, Brewster will need spinal fluid from a living person, resulting for Randall committing murder to get it. When Randall refuses, Brewster goes on the murderous rampage with his ape, leading Carter and his assistant, Billie Mason (Louise Currie), to enter the scene and get the scoop for the next edition.Others members of the cast include Wheelar Oakman, Jack Mulhall and Charles Jordan. Ever reliable J. Farrell MacDonald appears as the typical Irish police captain, and "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, Scruno in the "East Side Kids" film series (1940-1943), doing cameo duty as the copy boy. Regardless of its "mad scientist" theme hinted during its opening credits with overflowing test tubes and the head of an ape seen behind the titles, THE APE MAN is one not to be taken seriously in spite of serious overtones and acting from the principle players. Lugosi's make-up, basically long hair and beard pre-dating that of a hippie of the 1960s, lacks the reality of his ape-like appearance from ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (Paramount, 1933) that starred Charles Laughton. Minerva Urecal is properly cast as Lugosi's sister, looking both sinister and mysterious as Lugosi himself, especially during her talks about communicating with the dead during her interview with the reporters (Ford and Currie). In the "mad scientist" tradition, however, THE APE MAN contains secret doors and panels; a televisor where scientist can get a glimpse of visitors at the front door, in this case, nosy reporters. In true Monogram tradition aside than cheap sets, bad dialog and repetitive underscoring, there's also a running gag involving a mysterious rube-type character mentioned earlier coming in and out of the story for no apparent reason, finally revealing himself after being spotted by Carter sitting in the front seat of his car. Wait till you hear who he is! This gimmick would be repeated again in VOODOO MAN (Monogram, 1944) featuring "Ape Man" co-stars of Lugosi, Louise Currie and Henry Hall.During the wake of home video in the 1980s, THE APE MAN was one of many public domain titles to either be distributed through various companies on VHS (and DVD two decades later) or be broadcast or "Star Club" from Channel America prior to 1992. Because of its availability and overplay of THE APE MAN, it's rarely mentioned that Lugosi also appeared in a non-sequel titled THE RETURN OF THE APE MAN (1944). Though not essentially scary or high art cinema, THE APE MAN is worth while mainly for watching Bela Lugosi going bananas once in a while. (*1/2)

JoeB131 I'm thinking this is the fourth one i've counted. There might be more.Anyway this is another of Lugosi's sad Poverty Row outings. Bad sound, cheap sets, implausible script. Probably one of the best arguments AGAINST film preservation. The storyline is that Lugosi is a mad scientist (wow, how many times has he played THAT role?) with an Anglo name who inexplicably has a foreign accent even though his sister doesn't. (You get the feeling that they didn't write this as a Lugosi vehicle until he came by looking for drug money.) Lugosi injects himself with a serum that gives him ape like qualities, but has to kill people to get back to normal.The thing was that Lugosi was not a bad actor, but his thick accent, typecasting after Dracula and inability to learn English better limited his ability to get good work. So while he occasionally got supporting roles in big studio features (often working opposite his nemesis, Boris Karloff), more often than not, he was working for Poverty Row or Ed Wood, with sad results.