Mad Monster (1942)

Cast:

Johnny Downs is Tom Gregory
George "Dead Men Walk like I do..." Zucco is Dr. Lorenzo Cameron
Anne Nagel is Lenora Cameron
Glenn Strange is Petro
Sarah Padden is Grandmother

What the box says:

Dr. Cameron (George Zucco) has succeeded in his expierments with a serum which will turn a man into a wolf-like monster and is ready to avenge himself on the men who caused his professional failure. He uses it on his gardener Petro (Glenn Strange) and one after the other is killed by his creation. His daughter, Lenora (Anne Nagel), grows suspicious and confides with newspaper reporter Tom Gregory (Johnny Downs).

Plot:

A caged wolf is in a lab. The slightly perturbed scientist, Dr. Lorenzo Cameron, has Pedro, his handyman, strapped to a table. Using a serum derived from the wolf, Cameron devolves Pedro into a werewolf?

Cameron begins railing at the other scientists which disgraced him, ruined his reputation, and got him fired from the university. Cameron will create an army of werewolves for the military? He already has an antidote, too. The men that ruined him will be killed by Cameron’s werewolf handyman, Pedro. Suddenly, the men vanish. They were just in Cameron’s mind.

Werewolf reverts to Pedro. Later, Lenore greets Pedro and her father. She is lonely in the mansion in the country away from her reporter boyfriend.

The next day, Lenore talks with Pedro, who is a bit slow. Cameron takes him back to the lab for another experiment.

Pedro is tied down and wolfs out. He is let go and leaves the lab.

A farmer is sure his animals are acting jumpy. Farmer 2 is in the woods and checks out a noise. He opens fire on Werewolf Pedro. Getting to the house, the Farmer 2 gets to his house. After telling his story about a monster that walks like a man, farmer discovers his daughter has been killed.

Werewolf Pedro returns to the lab. Cameron orders him and the lycanthrope obeys him. Werewolf reverts back to Pedro. Cameron will take Pedro to meet Professor Blaine…BWA-HA-HA-HA…..

The nest day, Cameron is upset that Lenore wanted to send a letter her boyfriend. A group of farmers come up and tell them about the creature that killed the girl.

Elsewhere, Professor Blaine meets Tom, the reporter.

Later, Cameron pays Blaine a visit. Ruining his reputation was bad enough. Now, Cameron will prove his theory and Pedro walks in. He will demonstrate his experiment. Cameron gets a call and has an errand to run. He asks Blaine to give Pedro one injection in 20 minutes.

While waiting, Blaine calls Fitzgerald, another scientist that Cameron hates, he invites him to come over for the experiment.

Fitzgerald bumps into Cameron while heading to Blaine’s house.

Injection time for Pedro who wolfs out and kills Blaine.

A cop, Fitzgerald, and Cameron arrive and find Blaine’s body.

Later, the lieutenant and Tom the reporter arrive at the crime scene. Tom remembers the story about the child killed in the swamp country and thinks it may be the same creature.

Later, Pedro scares Lenore. He’s been hearing a voice telling him to do horrible things. Cameron walks in and slaps him. Lenore has a bad feeling to leave. Cameron will prove his theory to Fitzgerald…BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!!!!

Pedro is acting awfully antsy and nervous. He heads outside and wolfs out.

Tom is wandering around in the swamp and ends up at the mansion and discovers his girlfriend, Lenore, and her ever charming father Dr. Cameron. The good doctor hates reporters almost the way human resource personnel should be treated. Lenore wants to leave the mansion and is feeling nervous. Tom leaves.

Werewolf Pedro is still as hungry as a wolf according to Duran Duran and roaming the swamp.

Tom stumbles across a farmer’s shack. It happens to the farmer whose daughter was killed. They offer to let Tom stay the night because it isn’t safe for man or beast.

Cameron sees Werewolf Pedro return to the lab through the secret tunnel. He’s about to cap the werewolf like Tommy Kirk capped Ole Yeller. However, he stops and will save Pedro for Fitzgerald. Pedro is dewolfed using the serum.

Pedro awakens in the lab and thinks he sleepwalked.

The farmers find another body in the morning. Tom ponders the connection between what killed Blaine and those in the swamp.

Tom tries questioning Pedro who doesn’t grasp the queries. Tom is sure that Dr. Cameron knows something about the creature. Lenore is offended by that thought. Dr. Cameron apologizes to Tom for last night’s behavior.

Professor Fitzgerald arrives. Cameron will show him the research on controlling evolution and use animal blood to alter humans. Fitzgerald is suspicious of Cameron and is about to leave. The good doctor asks that he take Pedro into town.

Tom and the farmers on patrol.

In the car, while Fitzgerald is driving, Pedro wolfs out and attacks him causing the car to crash.

The posse heads to the scene of the crash. Werewolf Pedro carries Fitzgerald away. The posse is able to catch up and drive the creature away. They discover that Fitzgerald is still alive.

The posse brings Fitzgerald to Cameron’s mansion for the doctor.

Werewolf Pedro heads into the secret tunnel.

Tom learns that Pedro went with Fitzgerald.

Cameron is working in his lab.

As Tom and Lenore bring the doctor to the injured Fitzgerald, Cameron sneaks into the room and poisons his adversary. The doctor declares Fitzgerald dead.

Lenore heads to her father’s lab and discovers a table with restraints. In the nearby tunnel, the thunder scares Wolf-Pedro.

Cameron engages Tom in a battle of wits where obviously both armies are utterly obviously unarmed.

She opens a lock which lets Werewolf Pedro into the lab. Tom rushes to her rescue.

The lightning strikes the house and sets the mansion on fire.

Tom and Lenore head upstairs to escape Wolf-Pedro.

Tall Dark and Fuzzy discovers the mad scientist Dr. Cameron and turns on his master.

Tom and Lenore are able to get out of the flaming mansion. Tom is about to try to rescue Dr. Cameron when the mansion collapses. Flaming Werewolf Pedro is BBQed.

What I say:

1941 released the Wolf Man. One of the most acknowledged movies laws is if a movie is successful, it must be copied. The more truthful version the movie must be blatantly ripped off normally without anything of what made the original good. The Mad Monster is probably the first mad scientist creating a werewolf movie. Decades later, we got movies like Project Metalbeast because the planet Earth desperately needed a movie with metal skinned werewolves. How the world was able to exist without tumbling in a bleak cycle of inesacapable madness is a mystery that Sherlock Holmes couldn't solve.

Say what you want, we may have a bit of sci-speak about distilling elements of animal blood, refining it to transfer characteristics into people, and controlling the direction of evolution. There may not be anything about a "man who says his prayers by night may become a wolf when the moon is shining bright." But in the end, this is a werewolf movie no matter what techno-babble or biological-babble may be thrown at us.

While vampire movies have spanned the gulf from gothic horror into the realm of science fiction with movies like Dracula 3000. For the most part, werewolf movies have stayed far closer to their roots. Be those roots be the typical werewolf myths like Moon of the Wolf and Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory, the Paul Naschy movies: Fury of the Wolfman and Werewolf Vs. Vampire Women , or the more contemporary takes on the werewolf genre: Dog Soldiers and Ginger Snaps.

Originally in Britain, this movie was banned. Why? Apparently, the British censors found it to be more offensive than I find Massacre. Back to my point, 12 years after Mad Monster was released in the land of the free and the home of the brave, the land of double decker buses decided to let it be released provided with a disclaimer. “The public would be quite mistaken to think that any personal characteristics could be passed on by blood transfusion. Animal blood is never used for transfusions in the treatment of disease.” There would be no telling of the mass pandomonium if the general populace learned that hospitals were injecting them with animal blood to turn them into some sort of monster.

A mad scientist was wanting to create an army of werewolves? Just the phrase of "army of werewolves" is quite an idea to comprehend. Many movies have typical mad scientists tampering in the realms of God and nature they should have best left alone. Wanting to create an army of werewolves for the military at a nominal profit is so far out there. I know in the past few years, at least some movies have tried to create the idea of a paranormal Cold War like Hellboy did. However, Mad Monster isn't attempting to do anything like that.

From the number of mad scientist movies I've seen, all mad scientists can afford expensive lab equipment except Darkman. Various beakers of colored liquids and some sort of Jacob's ladder for the random electrical sparking are manditory. Labs just need to look "Sciencey." They can't look just like the biology lab in a high school but must be sinister, too. I would think any lab connected with biology would be sinister. Sorry, not one of my favorite subjects. However, any low budget movie can put a few beakers around a basement and voila, mad scientist lab.

George Zucco pops up in several of the Poverty Row horror movies from the 1940s like Dead Men Walk. However, he never fell into being completely typecast into those roles like Bela Lugosi had. Zucco plays Cameron with an insane relish. When your main character wants to create an army of werewolves for the military and has arguments with imaginary versions of people who ruined your career, he should obviously be needing to take his medication several few years earlier.

Glenn Strange played Frankenstein's monster in House of Dracula, House of Frankensteinand Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein but is probably more known for bit parts in Westerns or as Sam the bartender on Gunsmoke. Being 6'5" normally gets anyone typecast into the henchman yelled at by the villainous mastermind about being a lumbering ox, etc... His portrayal of Pedro remnds me of Hank in Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter. The hulking brute isn't quite all there who is turned by an insane scientist into some sort of monster.

Mad scientists must suffer for tampering in realms best left alone. Plenty of mad scientists die by the hands of their creations normally in the lab after various chemicals are tossed around which causes a fire. Plenty of Frankenstein movies have taught that important fact to the world. Having a mad scientist's mansion catch fire not by the angry mob of peasants but because lightening strikes the living room curtains would almost be covered in his expanded homeowner's insurance provided he checked off the additional fire insurance at a nominal cost.

Quotable Dialogue
"You're serving science through me."
"I'm afred of it."
"You don't need education or intelligence for your part of the experiment."
"We're looking for a wild varmint that killed a little child."
"I promise to limit myself to words of 2 syllables."
"I haven't started yet to bet unpleasant."
Morals of the Story
All scientists are master hypnotists.
Beakers of bubbling colored liquids are required for all mad scientist labs.
Earth was once ruled by Lizard men.
Werewolves must wear padded coats.
Heart attacks are minor inconviences.
People sell their souls to the devil to become werewolves.