Grade: D+
Synopsis: In a creepy old mansion, a mystery writer and her guests find themselves stalked by a masked killer known as “The Bat.”
The Bat should have been a William Castle film. Castle would have injected just the right amount of black humor to go along with the mystery, effectively offsetting the film’s biggest weakness: its female supporting cast.
Alas, instead of Castle, we have Crane Wilbur who does a descent job creating atmosphere, and elicits good performances out of leads Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead, and workable turns from supporting players John Sutton and Gavin Gordon, but fails horribly with the female supporting players, especially Lenita Lane.
It’s a fine line between comedy relief and mood-kill, and Lane is nowhere near it. Granted, some of the blame has to fall on the script, which provides absolutely no characterization for Lane or any of the other women, but her insistence on overacting every scene quickly becomes tiresome.
That aside, the Bat is not without its merits, and its influence can still be felt today. The masked killer plot has become a favorite of several directors, notably Dario Argento, and an early shot of the silhouetted titular character is a dead ringer for Wes Craven’s Freddy Krueger from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series of films.
Bottom Line: The Bat is a solid mystery spoiled by some ham-fisted acting and a director that perhaps took the material a bit too seriously.
