I find myself having to agree with Tom Weaver, the author of Poverty Row Horrors!, that Jean Yarbrough's The Devil Bat was probably the best of the films Bela Lugosi made on Poverty Row. While still by no means a decent picture, it at least makes an attempt to create a spooky atmosphere. The design of Lugosi's lab and his fiendish electrical experiments with bats flirt with mediocrity. Dave O’Brien is surprisingly enjoyable as big-city reporter Johnny Layden, who manages to pull off that 1940s brand of cocksure charisma without coming off as a douchebag. The giant bat models are so absurd that they almost veer into the realm of camp. But considering that this film wasn't made ironically and shots of the models were matched with stock footage close-ups of real bats, The Devil Bat doesn't get any brownie points for being enjoyably cheesy.
5/10
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