Man-Made Monster (1941)

A Masterpiece!

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

If you're the kind of horror buff who likes the kind with graphic violence, then Man Made Monster is not for you. It brought Lon Chaney Jr.-namesake son of his famous father-to the Universal horror fold where his dad had previously made his most successful films. He plays Dan, a man who survives a bus accident that got tangled in electrical wires. I'll stop there and just say this was quite an atmospheric good time with Lionel Atwill as Dr. Rigas-a mad scientist (Is there any other kind in these movies?), leading lady Anne Nagel, and-since I like to cite when players from my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life, are in other films-Frank Albertson as Anne's reporter boyfriend with Samuel S. Hinds as Anne's scientist uncle. Also, a dog named Corky! I'll just now say if you like these classic Golden Age thrillers, Man Made Monster should be right up your alley!

After miraculously living through an otherwise fatal bus crash, "Dynamo" Dan McCormick (Lon Chaney Jr.) finds himself being studied by two scientists. Dr. Lawrence (Samuel S. Hinds) wants to see if the electrical jolt that McCormick endured was somehow responsible for his being the sole survivor of the accident. Lawrence's partner, Dr. Rigas (Lionel Atwill) has other, more sinister plans for the big lug. He exposes McCormick to increasing doses of voltage, to fulfill his own secret agenda . Unfortunately, Dan becomes utterly dependent on Rigas' electrical treatments for his very life! Of course, this goes from bad to worse, and McCormick eventually becomes a human glow-stick of the killer zombie variety! Chaney and Atwill are terrific in their roles, helping to make MMM a semi-classic. This movie gets extra points for the gloriously familiar lab equipment and for Rigas' awesome goggles!...

Lon Chaney Junior has an odd distinction in the Universal Horror Canon. He was the only actor to portray the Wolf Man. he was the only actor to play all the major monsters- Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Wolf Man and Dracula. But this little film is often overlooked.He plays "Dynamo Dan", a carnival performer who works with electricity who inexplicably survives an electrical accident that kills many others. He goes to work for mad scientist Lional Atwill who proceeds to turn him into an electric powered zombie.Sentenced to die in the electric chair, he rampages across the countryside after a botched execution and gets his revenge.it contains all the flavor of a Universal Horror film with none of the substance.

Lon Chaney Jr. plays Dan McCormack, an amiable carnival worker who can withstand electrical shocks. When the bus he's on crashes into a power line, killing the other passengers, Dan becomes front page news as the sole survivor. Dr. John Lawrence(played by Samuel Hinds) offers Dan a job in order so that he can be studied to see why he is immune. Dan starts to fall for the doctor's niece June(played by Anne Nagel) but reporter Mark Adams, who covered Dan's story, has also. Sadly. Dr. Rigas(played by Lionel Atwill), who is also there studying Dan, has evil designs on exploiting Dan to reap power, but when Dr. Lawrence gets wind of this, he orders Dan(who is now being controlled through electric charge) to kill him, causing Dan to be tried, convicted, and executed for his murder, but putting him in the electric chair only makes things worse...Interesting yarn is far-fetched but engaging, with good performances and an effective sense of tragedy surrounding poor Dan, especially at the end with the dog.