DEVIL BAT’S DAUGHTER (1946)
Article 1835 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-24-2006
Posting Date: 8-21-2006
Directed by Frank Wisbar
Featuring Rosemary La Planche, John James, Michael Hale

The daughter of Dr. Carruthers believes she has inherited her father’s criminal tendencies. When the woman who takes her in is found murdered, she believes that she was responsible.

PRC put out some very moody and interesting low budget horror movies in their time. They also put out this one, a murder mystery masquerading as a horror movie which also has the further strike against it of having its plot hinge upon the denial of certain events in the original THE DEVIL BAT. This puts the horror fan in a bit of a bind; which story do you embrace? Well, I don’t blame them for going with THE DEVIL BAT and rejecting this movie, which is nowhere near as much fun as the Lugosi vehicle. On its own terms, it has its moments, but when you have a plot that mostly reminds you of SHE-WOLF OF LONDON , you’re not on good ground with fans of horror. In fact, I was initially wondering if this movie was borrowing the plot of that one, but this one beat the Universal film to the theaters by one month. Frank Wisbar’s other horror entry for the year (STRANGLER OF THE SWAMP ) is certainly a worthier choice.