Bride of the Monster on VHS. Starring Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, Tony McCoy, Loretta King, Harvey B. Dunn. Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. 1955.
From the VHS box:
It’ll Make Your Skin Crawl!
Bela Lugosi is featured in his last speaking role as a mad scientist who tries to harness atomic energy into the creation of super beings. Together with his sidekick slave Lobo he finds a willing bride for his monster (sensitively portrayed by a rubber octopus found rotting on a back lot, without its motor) in the person of a nosey girl reporter.
Good eventually defeats evil in a hysterical chase through the marshes as Lugosi (or his stand in, looking nothing like Lugosi) is eaten alive by his own “monster.”
There are loads of laughs in store as you watch Lugosi literally wrapping the octopus’ tentacles around him, vainly trying to give the impression of life to an otherwise flabby, inactive stage prop.
The film was financed by cattle rancher Donald McCoy under two conditions: 1) that his son Tony would star in the movie and 2) that Wood would make a powerful anti-nuke statement with the film. The results of this “deal” make the movie much more hilarious, keeping the Wood legacy of stiff acting and endless pontification continuing.
DVD upgrade: Bride of the Monster
Most Ed Wood: Ed Wood’s Dirty Movies
