The Monster Maker

This is a fairly good entertaining film concerning a conceited mad scientist named Dr. Igor Markoff.

Dr. Igor falls for a woman named Patricia who resembles his dead wife. Patricia rejects the doctor's advances and enlists her father (Anthony) to help stop the doctor from coming on so strong to her. Dr. Igor insists that Patricia marries him and will stop at nothing for her to become his new bride. Surprisingly, the doctor is actually well respected in the medical community and hides his wicked ways well from others. Dr. Igor hides the fact he will inject his enemies with Acromegaly to get what he wants.

The movie is fun, a bit corny and has some fairly good horror moments in it. This is a good afternoon film - it's not the really good creepy horror film that is good for a late night viewing but it's fun to watch.

5/10

PRC poverty row horror The Monster Maker stars J. Carrol Naish as boo-hiss mad scientist Dr. Igor Markoff, an expert in glandular disorders. When Markoff sees Patricia (Wanda McKay), beautiful daughter of concert pianist Lawrence (Ralph Morgan), at a recital, he is struck by her resemblance to his dead wife and becomes obsessed, vowing to marry her. Lawrence goes to see Markoff to warn him not to continue pestering his daughter, but winds up in a scuffle and being injected with a serum that causes acromegaly, a disease that results in enlargement of the extremities. Markoff tells Lawrence that he can cure his condition, but only if he persuades Patricia to be - how shall we put it? - more co-operative.

I've only seen two of director Sam Newfield's 200+ films before this one-The Flying Serpent and White Pongo-and they were both terrible. The Monster Maker is surprisingly watchable by comparison, a fun potboiler with solid performances from a decent cast, some nifty 'monster' make-up, and a snappy runtime of just 62 minutes, meaning that it's too short for boredom to set in. There's not a lot in the way of genuine horror, since Lawrence-the monster-is sympathetic and kind-natured, but there is plenty to enjoy here, including a killer gorilla of the man-in-a-monkey-suit variety, an appearance by Glenn 'Frankenstein's monster' Strange as Markoff's henchman Steve, and a brave hound played by none other than Ace the Wonder Dog!

The evil Dr. Markoff (J. Carrol Naish), is a scientist experimenting with a cure for the rare disfiguring disease acromegaly (which cult actor Rondo Hatton, "The Brute Man" suffered from in real life). At a concert by pianist Anthony Lawrence (Ralph Morgan) he sees a beautiful girl who reminds him of his late wife. Backstage he discovers that she is Lawrence's daughter Patricia (Wanda McKay). He sets out to woo her, but after she spurns his advances he deliberately infects her father with acromegaly with the plan of forcing him to "give" his daughter to him in return for a cure. I really enjoyed this nasty b-grade thriller. It was obviously made on a tiny budget, the script is pretty dumb and the acting is variable, but I got a kick out of how twisted the central premise was, and Naish was extremely entertaining as Markoff. McKay's cute, future Frankenstein's monster Glenn Strange is one of the supporting cast, AND there's a guy in a gorilla suit, always a sign of a silly but fun movie in my book. 'The Monster Maker' is recommended to fans of old school "bad" b-grade horror movies.

I've seen The Monster Maker a couple of times and found it quite enjoyable, despite reading bad reviews about it.

A mad scientist falls in love with a pianist's daughter when he sees her at one of her dad's concerts. After he goes round to the scientist's home one night to tell him to stop sending her flowers, he knocks him out and injects him with a fluid that will give him a disease of the glands and turn him into a monster. He gradually turns over a period of time and goes back to this mad scientist after his doctor recommend him as he has a cure for this disease. Back at the scientist's home, the scientist straps him to a bed and will only give him a cure if his daughter agrees to marry him. The pianist's daughter's lover turns up and kills the mad scientist and the pianist is given the fluid that will cure him by the scientist's assistant and makes a full recovery.

In the mad scientist's laboratory, we get to see a pig that he has been experimenting on, a dog and, best of all, a gorilla (a man in a gorilla suit), which tries to kill the scientist's assistant.

There several familiar faces in the cast in this movie: J Carrol Naish (House of Frankenstein), Ralph Morgan (Night Monster) and Glenn Strange (House of Dracula). Also in the cast are Wanda McKay, Tala Birell and Terry Frost.

The Monster Maker is a must for all sci-fi/horror fans. Great fun.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

"A scientist has developed a serum which grotesquely distorts the victim's hands and heads. The scientist decides to use his serum on a concert pianist to extort money from him for the cure as well as take the man's daughter for a wife," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. J. Carrol Naish (as Dr. Igor Markoff) plays "The Monster Maker" in the low budget Bela Lugosi mode...

Mr. Naish's serum causes a real disorder, "acromegaly", which American Heritage defines as, "A chronic disease of adults marked by enlargement of the bones of the extremities, face, and jaw that is caused by overactivity of the pituitary gland." Ralph Morgan (as Anthony Lawrence) plays the afflicted man with some dignity. Pretty blonde Wanda McKay (as Patricia "Pat" Lawrence) is the daughter desired by mad scientist Naish; in early scenes, Ms. McKay and Naish emote hilariously...

Watch for Tala Birell (as Maxine) in a surprisingly good supporting performance; she plays the somewhat Garbo-like, and long suffering, assistant to Naish. Ms. Birell definitely steals the film; and, you've got to question Dr. Markoff's sanity in casting her aside. Glenn Strange (as Steve) and a crazed gorilla (Ray Corrigan) add to the fun. The monster makeup (Maurice Seiderman) is very good.

****** The Monster Maker (4/15/44) Sam Newfield ~ J. Carrol Naish, Ralph Morgan, Tala Birell, Wanda McKay