Lugosi, Carradine and Zucco all in the same film, but which one plays the mad scientist this time around? The answer to that question is Lugosi, the Dracula star appearing as Prof. Dexter, who performs groundbreaking suspended animation experiments with the aid of his colleague John Gilmore (Carradine).
After successfully freezing a vagrant and reviving him four months later, the pair go in search of a frozen prehistoric man for their next experiment. They find what they are looking for trapped in a glacier; transporting their discovery back to the lab, the pair wake up the 'ape-man' (Zucco, soon to be replaced by Frank Moran due to illness). Dexter reveals that his next move will be to transplant brain tissue from a present-day human into the prehistoric man, an idea that Gilmore finds abhorrent -- little does he realise that it will be his brain tissue that Dexter uses!
Featuring three icons of horror, and a suitably loopy premise, this film should have been a lot of barmy fun, but the whole thing is strictly routine, playing out like so many other cheap B-movies of the day. The script is weak and the direction uninspired, but the biggest let down is the prehistoric creature: a policeman describes it as looking 'more like an ape than a man', but it doesn't... it looks like a regular man in need of a bath, a haircut, a shave and a change of outfit. I guess 'Return of the Dirty Hobo' doesn't have the same ring about it.
In true movie monster fashion, the 'ape man' ultimately escapes and makes off with damsel in distress Anne Gilmore (Teala Loring), her beau Steve Rogers (Tod Andrews) and the police in hot pursuit. Predictably, Dexter dies at the hands of his creation, and the 'ape-man' goes up in flames in the laboratory.
3/10. Does nothing to distinguish itself from countless other poverty-row potboilers. If it wasn't for the participation of three horror legends, the film would have been completely forgotten by now.
After successfully freezing a vagrant and reviving him four months later, the pair go in search of a frozen prehistoric man for their next experiment. They find what they are looking for trapped in a glacier; transporting their discovery back to the lab, the pair wake up the 'ape-man' (Zucco, soon to be replaced by Frank Moran due to illness). Dexter reveals that his next move will be to transplant brain tissue from a present-day human into the prehistoric man, an idea that Gilmore finds abhorrent -- little does he realise that it will be his brain tissue that Dexter uses!
Featuring three icons of horror, and a suitably loopy premise, this film should have been a lot of barmy fun, but the whole thing is strictly routine, playing out like so many other cheap B-movies of the day. The script is weak and the direction uninspired, but the biggest let down is the prehistoric creature: a policeman describes it as looking 'more like an ape than a man', but it doesn't... it looks like a regular man in need of a bath, a haircut, a shave and a change of outfit. I guess 'Return of the Dirty Hobo' doesn't have the same ring about it.
In true movie monster fashion, the 'ape man' ultimately escapes and makes off with damsel in distress Anne Gilmore (Teala Loring), her beau Steve Rogers (Tod Andrews) and the police in hot pursuit. Predictably, Dexter dies at the hands of his creation, and the 'ape-man' goes up in flames in the laboratory.
3/10. Does nothing to distinguish itself from countless other poverty-row potboilers. If it wasn't for the participation of three horror legends, the film would have been completely forgotten by now.