The Bat People (1974)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Pretty Good

Just so...so bad

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This movie looks awful, as expected, but it's the BEST short sinopsis I've seen... Transforming into a monster hybrid of man and bat "ruins his vacation and causes distress to his wife"? Sure! Hahaha

This bad movie tells the story of a man who's bitten by a vampire bat and eventually turns into a giant one himself. I admit that when I first heard the premise, it seemed like it would be a movie about vampires. He was bitten by a vampire bat after all. Instead, it's just a guy turning into a giant bat. You rarely see him in this form at all, although I guess because the makeup was so bad. As with most horror movies, it suffers from being way too boring. What do you know? Yet another movie with the title "The X People". Dang, I thought these died out by the 1970's.The movie ends with the woman joining her husband presumably because she became a bat too. The end is probably the worst part, as I believe those are bats crapping on the car. Was she bitten by her husband? I don't remember seeing any bite marks, but like Tom Servo said, it was probably while they were having sex. The entire movie is pointless as nothing really comes out of it as the man (bat?) and his wife live. They should have just made it a movie about killer bats. *1/2

Yes indeedy folks, The Bat People is one bad film and has rightfully earned its reputation though I have seen far worse and many not nearly as watchable as this film. Some bad films are so hard to sit through. I didn't have that much problem with this - probably because the film's problems, the acting, and the general ineptitude from editing to special effects had me laughing. A doctor and his wife are out researching bats I think(though that really is never very clear) when they go to a cave rather than the location of their second honeymoon and the guy is bitten by a bat after chasing his wife down a hole in the cave. She kicks the bat away and this doctor makes no attempt to get it though he knows he will need some kind of rabies treatment. Next, we see the doctor and his wife skiing(where you can have such an expansive desert and snow-capped mountains for skiing without traveling by plane alludes me at the moment). His wife and he are in a jacuzzi when he begins going through some fit and hurts his hand I think. She convinces him to go to a doctor and eventually he gets the rabies treatment. That is when all hell breaks loose for that was no ordinary bat(though it certainly appeared to be) that bit him but one rather whose bite slowly turns him into a bat man(not the superhero but rather a man with a hairy rubber hand, a bit of blood round his eyes in close-ups, and, in the climatic scene, a pathetic mask. Any similarities between a bat and the mask and make-up in general is purely coincidental. Well, this guy in an obvious fake hand and bloody-eyed close-up soon starts to "terrorize" and "menace" the night nurses, the trailer park, the motel, and let's not forget the home of some drunken man with a broken hand(for a touching scene where the doctor - not in bat mode- talks philosophy with the drunk and mends his hand prior to killing him off stage. Whilst all this is going on, a local sheriff looking like poor man;s McCloud with jacket, hat and all is hot on the trial of bat droppings and making moves on the missing doctor's wife in one truly bizarre scene. McCloud meets Bat Man in cave showdown that is anti-climatic and then returns with the wife to the cave by himself for some inexplicable reason and is torn to pieces by an army of flying bats in the darkness until he takes his shotgun to his head and ends his misery. The wife walks off into the darkness to find her husband where they can be bat man and bat girl together in the caves(I forgot to mention that previously hubby came back to the hotel and made love with his wife thus turning her into a bat creature herself(?)). Credits roll and one of the most ludicrous song titles echos against the dark background of Cathy walking to her husband. Wow! That storyline is pretty tiresome and surprises me that anyone thought it could fill a movie. Add to that the legion problems with continuity, the incredibly poor special effects, and the abysmal acting and you have the essence of this bat guano. The acting, well, I don't know if anyone is remotely good. The guy playing Bat Man is Stewart Moss - the real life husband of his screen wife Marianne McAndrew. He gives an obviously frenetic and thoroughly unbelievable performance. His wife is a classic beauty and lovely to look at - certainly for nothing else though she is the most competent thespian involved(for what that is worth). And let's not forget Michael Pataki, a journeyman character actor who recently left us in April of 2010 as mini-McCloud or McCloud Lite if you like. He is awful from beginning to end. Nobody in the film makes you care about them or anything. So lets recap: Bad movie on all levels but has moments not meant to be funny but are funny like when one laughs at someone accidentally falling down the stairs.

~Spoiler~ I just wasted an hour and a half on screaming, screeching, and stock footage. The Bat People could have been a decent effort. I've certainly seen worse plots. In Bat People, a man is bitten by a bat and consequently turns into one. A Werebat, I'm down with that. It's main drawback is the serious pacing issue; It's so boring for much of the runtime. Nothing really happens and when it finally does the credits roll. The only actor I recognize here is Michael Pataki. You may know him from such drive-in farce as Zoltan: Hound of Dracula, Graduation Day, and Zombie Death House. His death scene is the only time there is really any good bat action. The one cool aspect of the film are the make-up effects by a young "Stanley" Winston. This was only his second gig (including TV movie Gargoyles) I believe and you could really tell he'd be one to watch for. It's just a shame this couldn't have been a better vehicle for those effects.