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Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Michael O'Keefe This black & white thriller from United Artists is a different type vampire movie. Doctor Beecher (John Beal) is given a bottle of pills by his friend Dr. Campbell, who has been experimenting with vampire bat blood. Campbell dies mysteriously and Beecher's chronic headaches begin getting worse. After he accidentally takes one Campbell's pills thinking it was one of his migraine tablets, blackouts are suffered nightly.Several days in succession heart attack victims are discovered to have small marks on their necks. Friendly Dr. Beecher, out of character, has bouts of moodiness; and and he realizes he may be responsible for the series of heart attacks that have become murders. Watching the doc transform into a vampire is of course the movie's highlight. This flick is well acted and written by Pat Fielder and directed by Paul Landres. Some scary moments and that wonderful B&W atmosphere.Rounding out the cast: Colleen Gray, Dabbs Greer, Kenneth Tobey, Lydia Reed and James Griffith.

Richard Chatten The biggest spoiler connected with this film is its title. Shot under the working title 'It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn', Pat Fielder's story feels as if it started life as a drama about drug addiction revamped (if you'll pardon the expression) as a horror film. (The line "aspirin never hurt anyone" is ironic, since aspirin is used far more cautiously these days.) The plot, with its drug that causes "regression to a primitive state", sounds more like Jekyll & Hyde. The few perfunctory vampiric details, such as the very inoffensive fang marks left on one victim's neck, and the fact that the pills are extracted from vampire bats, feel like token late additions to the script. The climax takes place out of doors in broad daylight and detective Ken Tobey defends himself with a big hefty stick, which if the film's makers had been on the ball he could have driven into his attacker's chest rather than just used to shield himself with. Veteran cameraman Jack MacKenzie's photography of the small town setting and interiors is clean and attractive, but also fails to deliver in the more shadowy and horrific moments.What makes this film so harrowing to experience is the quality of the acting and the human dimension. John Beal is so sympathetic you genuinely care about him (as you do for the other characters), and for the sake of him and his cute young daughter Lydia Reed you badly want to see some sort of happy resolution for them; even though you know full well that that becomes more and more out of the question with every passing minute. The monster makeup comes as a double disappointment because its crudeness (he looks more like the Neanderthal Man than any vampire) is wholly unworthy of the buildup that Beal's performance has given it.

lemon_magic The monster here is really more of a "Jekyll-Hyde" or "Werewolf" character, although I supposed its need for blood, the fact that the medicine that created him came from vampire bats. and the puncture marks the monster leaves on its victims necks allow the movie to go with "The Vampire". So we'll let that pass. There's a lot to appreciate about this over-looked "monster" movie about a man mutated by science gone wrong into a blood-thirsty fiend, and, of course, the rock-jawed handsome law-man who tracks him down. It's well staged, well acted, and has an element of tragedy in the fate of a well meaning and devoted doctor whose life is ruined by a series of happenstances that no one could have foreseen. Because the doctor is so likable, the screen play becomes more than a bit uncomfortable, because it is obvious from the very beginning that there is no hope for a cure (even before the experts figure out what the issue is) and the character's growing realization about his fate is well portrayed. (And he really did deserve better).Unusual feel for a monster movie, and a fresh take on the idea of vampirism. Really well done.

Michael_Elliott Vampire, The (1957) *** (out of 4) Lightweight but entertaining horror film about a good natured doctor (John Beal) who turns into a vampire after mistakenly taking some mysterious pills. The title is a little misleading since this isn't your typical vampire film as it mixes in a lot of science fiction elements and towards the end the thing turns into another Jekyll/Hyde story, which it probably would have worked best as. Even the make up towards the end looks more like a Jekyll and Hyde thing rather than an actual vampire. This film is very minor and nothing special but Beal turns in a very good performance as the doctor and it's always nice seeing Keneth Tobey. The film runs smoothly at just around 75-minutes but I wish they would have shown the actual creature a tad bit more.