Return of the Terror

I recently fulfilled a 40 year-old dream and finally saw the ever-so-elusive RETURN OF THE TERROR (the Library of Congress has a print). Like most Monster Kids, I first learned about this film from the British trade ad printed in Gifford's "A Pictorial History of Horror Movies". Unfortunately, the film never seemed to turn up on TV, anywhere. Allegedly, it hasn't been shown on TV since 1963. So I considered myself extremely fortunate to see this exceedingly rare movie.

Well... it's a mixed bag of goods.

The film is neither a remake of, nor a sequel to, the 1928 film THE TERROR. "The Terror" is the nickname given by the press to Dr. John Redmayne, who is on trial for having murdered his patients at the Morgan Sanitorium. Although he proclaims his innocence, he pleads insanity and is sentenced to prison. He later escapes and heads back to the Sanitorium. In residence there are his fiancée Olga, and his friend Dr. Goodman, who has invented a fantastic new type of X-ray machine. Also at the sanatorium are a number of very shady characters, including two jewel thieves, a dope addict, a pull-pushing old lady, an eccentric obsessed with knives, and the orderly who testified against Redmayne in court. No sooner does Redmayne appear than corpses begin to pile up. But after a murderous attempt is made on his own life, it appears that Redmayne might not be the killer after all. That plot sounds like prime material for a good blood-and-thunder horror film. The problem, however, is that WB really didn't see the project as a horror film. THE TERROR is definitely an old dark house film. But in RETURN OF THE TERROR there are no secret passages, or clutching hands, or screams in the night. The killer abandons the traditional monk's robes in favor of a trench coat and floppy-brim hat. Numerous opportunities for horror are completely ignored, or underplayed, and the script spends more time on the comic hijinks of Frank McHugh's wisecracking WB-style reporter. The whole thing comes off as a rather mediocre mystery with some slight sorta-kinda genre moments (most notably when the X-ray machine is demonstrated, and the subject can be seem as a skeleton with blinking eyeballs. I don't know how the effect was achieved, but it appears to have been done by painting a skeleton on the actor with luminous paint, and then turning off the lights). There are some nice, potentially creepy settings, and some left-over props from DOCTOR X, but director Bretherton almost deliberately avoids using them for horror effect. This handling places the film in the same category as THE MAD GENIUS and THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. RX. It's a well-made mystery film, with a fantastic cast of character actors; but it's just not an engaging horror film. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

If RETURN OF THE TERROR ever does manage to show up on TCM, watch it. Watch it just to satisfy the completist in you. But don't expect an unknown gem.

Oh, and that vampiric-looking man on the poster in the Gifford book never appears in the film.

Return of the Terror is one of those odd titles that classic horror fans have heard about for years and yet know little about. Upon release there was a great promotional poster of a fang-toothed villain, which promises twisted, evil horror. As the previous reviewer noted, he doesn't appear. There's also the promise that this is a sequel to the first sound horror film, THE TERROR (1928), based on a story by the always-reliable Edgar Wallace. This isn't a sequel, so that promise has been dashed as well.

So many classic horror films shamefully insinuate these kinds of promises that ultimately are never delivered that I find it all very forgivable. After all, there's really not even a moment in THE BLACK CAT (1934) that has anything to do with Poe. And THE RETURN OF DR. X (1939) seemed to insult that Lionel Atwill's DOCTOR X (1932) ever existed.

With that stripped out of the way, I found myself very much enjoying this movie. It's pure B-film escapism. It's more of a mystery than a horror film, but there are horror elements there. I think this film breaks some sort of record for most teeming rainfall of any 1930s film. The lightning storm lasts over 3 reels and creates a great chaotic environment. There's a very cool "fluor x- ray" machine that makes one's skin invisible so only the bones of the body are visible. The electrical machinery zaps just like in DOCTOR X, another Warner Brothers film. If you like skeleton imagery, this will be right up your alley. There's also plenty of suspects skulking around in black raincoats and large-brimmed hats and a knife-wielding crazy person. Most of all, the film has a nice steady pace. It's not a directorial masterpiece by any standards, but it moves.

The plot involves a doctor (John Halliday) who is tried for murder for assisting in the deaths of terminally ill patients who requested for his assistance. However, separate deaths via arsenic-poisoning are pinned on him thanks to a shady morgue aide (J. Carroll Naish). Dr. Redmayne's lawyer (Irving Pichel) arranges for him to plead insanity to avoid the death penalty and the doctor is put away in a sanitarium. When he finds out he will not be able to appeal, he escapes and is on the loose, returning to Morgan Rest Home where his colleague (Lyle Talbot) and fiancé (Mary Astor) are. However, with the storm, and several dubious mental patients (Robert Barrat, George E. Stone) arriving also, he remains on the run. When deaths of people he's associated with occur (with notes signed "The Terror" – his nickname for the Kevorkian-like assisted killings), everyone is out to find him, but is he the real killer?

The acting is solid throughout. Robert Barrat is a real chameleon. Hard to believe this is the same guy in SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM (1933) and BAD LANDS (1939). I love how his character always has to have a cigarette, even in the pouring rain. Frank McHugh finally gets more to do than just wisecrack. He joins in with the Inspector and helps solve the case. It's refreshing to not see him joke on every single line he has as he did in many similar films. John Halliday is terrific too. The scene when he is knocked over the head in the basement is a wonderful scene. The director, Howard Bretherton, wisely tracks the camera over to the flooding water coming in the window, giving the scene suspense and sorrow – the best moment in the film. There's nice simple tracking shots that show the story well, such as the opening outside the courthouse. In my opinion the film has a great surprise ending; certainly for a Warner B-movie. John Milne had written KENNEL MURDER CASE (1933) a year earlier.

Some interesting tidbits – Maude Eburne plays Mrs. Elvery, a character in Wallace's original play. Arthur L. Todd later shot the film THE SMILING GHOST (1941). In it the "ghost" looks incredibly similar to the sharp-toothed villain in the promotional poster. Did he recall his work on this film??? The film's opening title is also classically spooky, showing a similar silhouetted figure prominently hovering over some dead trees; his cape blowing in the howling wind. George E. Stone gets to be called "runt" near the end, which is a funny premonition of his Boston Blackie days.

This isn't a lost classic – it was never considered great when it came out. It's easily a cut above poverty row B-films and is at least as entertaining as the average mystery-horror from the time period.