THE UNDYING MONSTER (1942)
Article #297 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 1-6-2002
Posting date: 5-23-2002

The male sons of the Hammond estate seem to be under a curse that involves their deaths at the hands of an unknown creature.

Basically, this was a low-budget attempt to cash in on THE WOLF MAN, even including its own werewolf poem (about going out on frosty nights). At sixty minutes long, its thirty minutes of a good movie and thirty minutes of a not-so-good movie; fortunately, the good thirty minutes constitute the beginning and end of the movie, both eerie and exciting. The middle of the movie is talky, over-plotted, and appears to be going out of its way to convince you that the ending is going to result in a more mundane explanation for the murders than werewolfery; I’m glad they didn’t opt ultimately for that approach. There’s also a great little scene involving spectrum analysis that’s my favorite in the movie. It requires a bit of patience, but the movie is worth a look.