Créateur de monstres

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

Very cheap but hugely enjoyable 40's horror with above-average acting performances and a surprisingly well-written script. In case you too are a fan of those typically 40's low budget flicks revolving on mad scientists, you have to see "The Monster Maker" as J. Carrol Naish portrays one of the most dangerously insane men of science ever!! Well, maybe along with George Zucco in "The Mad Monster"… Naish, obviously imitating Bela Lugosi, is a doctor who enjoys infecting people with the acromegaly-disease (which makes them look kind of like "The Elephant Man"), simply because he's the only one who found a cure for it. He really goes out of his mind when he contaminates the eminent pianist Anthony Lawrence in order to get close to his beautiful doctor, Patricia. Is it just my impression, or are all mad scientists actually sad romanticists? The structure and plot are fairly standard but this film especially gets itself noticed because of the brutality! There are a couple of shocking images (the revelation of Lawrence's horribly deformed face) and Naish character is a really evil and relentless man! Considering the time it was made, "The Monster Maker" is quite a nasty horror film that shamelessly tries to outdo the famous Universal monster-classics. Oh, the guy inside the hilariously fake gorilla suit is a blast!

Considering the pedigree and title, the flick's not all that bad. In fact, it's well-mounted for it's type. There's good attention to set detail though lighting doesn't emphasize the dark mood. Seems poor Dr. Markoff is trying to find a cure for acromegaly which causes head and hand deformities that killed his beloved wife. Trouble is he needs a patient to research on. So he infects concert pianist Lawrence with the disease so he can both experiment with him and get next to the pianist's attractive daughter Patricia who strongly resembles his dead wife. Needless to say, complications ensue.

Except for the hokey gorilla sequences, the storyline manages to be fairly plausible for its kind. After all, Markoff is driven by understandable desires even though he victimizes Lawrence in the process. Naish is quite good as Markoff, along with Birell as his unrequited but loyal nurse Maxine. Together, they, rather than the good guys, establish the story's emotional center. Anyway, it's a better-than-average horror programmer from lowly PRC.

"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

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.