The Devil Bat (1940)

Food Guy: Now Claud, before we start tonight's film, I want to assure you, there is no such thing as a 'devil bat.' If you get too scared, just remember that it's only a movie.

Claud: Merf. Will there be snacks?

Nice Lady: Of course. We're having popcorn and you can have a few pieces.

Claud: Mer-WOOF! [covers mouth with paws in shock]

FG: Did you just bark?

Claud: Meow?

NL: We are not a werewolf Claud.

C: A what?

FG: A lycanthrope --

NL/Claud: Don't say that word!

FG: Sorry, sorry.

The film begins and Claud goes long several times for kernels of popcorn. On screen, Bela Lugosi is Dr. Paul Carruthers, a chemist for the Heath family's successful personal-hygiene product company.

Lugosi lives on the Heath estate, in a research lab with a surprisingly complex series of secret passages that leads to his secret bat-pheromone research facility, and an even secret-er radiation room, and – yes really – a yet more secret belfry where he keeps a small colony of bats.

A crucial scene early on reveals Dr. Carruthers's evil doings: He exposes one of his "children" to massive doses of radiation (gamma rays?) which causes the already generously portioned bat to balloon up to Corgi size.

The evil Doctor's unnecessarily complicated plan involves putting a bat-attracting pheromone into a prototype Heath-brand aftershave lotion, then convincing various enemies to try out the aftershave and then unleashes the giant er, Devil Bat, who gets wind of the pheromone and shreds off the face of the unsuspecting schlub who, moments before, was all too eager to try out Dr. Carruthers's soothing balm.

FG: Claud! Check it out, here comes the Devil Bat.

C: [Peeking out from behind paws] That's it? That's Devil Bat?! [Collapses in giggles.]

NL: It looks like that guy is being attacked by a rabid umbrella.

FG: [Rewinding] Check out the vertical take-off capabilities of the Devil Bat. It not only heard the cops coming and knew it was time to beat it, but also managed to take flight without flapping its wings.

NL: So Bela Lugosi is mad because he feels the family has cheated him out of profits they've made by selling his concoctions.

FG: And he also feels it's necessary – when he shows up unexpectedly on the patio during breakfast -- to tell Mary Heath and that nosey reporter that he took a shortcut from his lab "through the hedge." Bela, nobody suspected a thing until you started doing things like that. Who announces that they just arrived via shortcut?

C: Mer-weh! Where's popcorn? [Pokes head into empty bowl.]

NL: I can honestly say this is no "The Devil Bat's Daughter."

FG: Word. There was a genuinely good psychological thriller at the heart of "The Devil Bat's Daughter." I mean, this is not terrible. It's a cheap mystery disguised as horror but you know from the start whodunit. But the sequel – which isn't really a sequel – did a surprisingly good job of obscuring the truth for most of the film.

NL: Oh boy, here we go.

FG: What?

NL: You're about to go long. Hey Claud --

C: [Galloping across the living room] I'm open!
NL: Go long! [Tosses one last piece of popcorn.]