BRIDE OF THE MONSTER was the best film Ed Wood directed. Take that sentence for what you think it's worth. A throwback to the mad scientist movies star Bela Lugosi did for poverty row studios of earlier decades, the film tells of an exiled soviet scientist who has set up shop in an American swamp to conduct his experiments in creating a race of atomic super-men. When a lady reporter comes snooping around, she becomes the object of affection for Lobo, Lugosi's brutish henchman played by wrestler and actor Tor Johnson. Johnson had been a heavy in pictures for a while now, but BRIDE OF THE MONSTER cemented Tor as one of the horror stars of the 50's. Lugosi is well past his prime, but still gives his all to the part of the evil Dr. Vornoff. Infamously, the giant rubber octopus Ed uses in the film was seen earlier in Republic's WAKE OF THE RED WITCH. Legend has it that Ed and his team stole the prop from Republic's warehouse! Financially speaking, this was also Ed's most successful film, though he saw none of the money. The only film of his to do better was THE VIOLENT YEARS, for which Wood provided the screenplay. A pretty decent JD flick, THE VIOLENT YEARS played to good box office for years. Wood saw none of that action, either. For October mood, it's hard to go wrong with BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, which manages to be pretty atmospheric despite Wood's wonky, even expressionistic, sets and wildly divergent levels of acting talent. Typically, the musical score is superb and far better than a Wood film commands. It's all here, though, from a mad scientist and his monstrous henchman to reporters, cops, and a giant octopus. The unreleased NIGHT OF THE GHOULS was something of a sequel/spin-off, in which a phony swami was operating out of Varnoff's magically-reconstructed (and relocated) house -complete with fire-scarred Lobo in his employ!
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