User reviews

Monogram's "The Voodoo Man", which not only features George Zucco in his most demeaning, humiliating role as a voodoo priest (Ramboona never fails) but also has John Carradine as an imbecile and Bela Lugosi as a mad scientist of a sort. Bela turns in a pretty good performance as the demented doctor trying to instill life into his amazingly well preserved dead wife through the use of voodoo and some nubile Monogram starlets. Carradine is in there pitching in an embarrassing role. Zucco, as the voodoo priest, is required to wear an absurd costume and chant gibberish in most of his scenes. Being the old pro that he was, he manages to turn in a credible performance. If you are willing to look past the hokum, this isn't a bad way to pass an idle hour.

A car pulls into a lonely country gas station. Owner George Zucco oozes out to greet the driver, a young woman. "Stranger in this part of the country, aren't you?" he inquires. She should not ask him for directions!

Yes, attractive young female motorists are disappearing, and it's not long before we learn that they are being misdirected onto a detour that will take them to a spooky mansion where Bela Lugosi is practicing—with Zucco's assistance—some very strange magic.

Lugosi has most of the best lines in this goofy but entertaining quickie. For example, his introduction to his wife, who died 22 years ago: "She's dead…only in the sense that you understand that word." (Actually, she's dead in a way I do not understand, since she seems to walk okay but just doesn't have much to say.)

John Carradine is hilarious as a sort of nutty henchman; he is in charge of the hypnotized captives and moves from spot to spot in a sort of hippity-hop trot instead of just walking. Henry Hall is also funny as the local sheriff: "Sheriff's job in this county used to be a cinch," he says. "Now it's a pain in the neck"—meaning, all of these missing motorist reports are really eating up his time. Wanda McKay and Tod Andrews are the attractive if rather bland young couple who are drawn into the mystery.

Zucco spends most of his screen time in a sorcerer's robe decorated with stars and crescents; Lugosi has one that matches. They look…um…silly. But they appear to be having fun—and although this picture is no great shakes and contains no great frights, it is indeed fun.

Monogram cheapie (shot in seven days!) starring Bela Lugosi as a doctor who is kidnapping young women to use in voodoo rituals to cure his zombified wife. The things we do for love! Of the many Poverty Row movies Bela made during the 1940s, this is one of the most fun. It helps that in this one Bela has support from fellow horror legends George Zucco and John Carradine. All three contribute greatly to the unintended comedy that makes this such a silly entertaining picture. The hero of the piece is a writer played by Tod Andrews, an actor who played a lot of roles in film and television but who I best remember from an episode of the Andy Griffith Show where he played a jerk. He's kind of a jerk in this, too. There's also some fun character actors playing rubes that add to the humor. Anyway, this is worth a look for fans of Bela or those who like old mad scientist movies. It's nothing that's going to change your life but it might entertain you for an hour. Love that ending.

Sadly the days when a lone, mad scientist, toiling in the basement of his sinister mansion, could perform miracles over life and death with just a few test tubes and pulsing lights, without thought of glory or patent rights, have been curtailed by the corporate monopoly of science; the simple human desire to revivify the dead, trumped by the thirst for profit. Happily, voodoo has, thus far, eluded the grasping grip of greed (ouch!) and retained its humble individuality.

Voodoo Man returns us to that simpler time when science and magic worked hand in hand. It is another absurd poverty-row horror, filmed in seven days, in case you can't tell, by Bill "One-Shot" Beaudine for Sam Katzman's Monogram Pictures. Lugosi plays Marlowe, another mad scientist with another ailing wife. Indeed this wife is rather more than ailing: for 28 years she has been dead, but not in the sense we understand the word, of course. He tries to reanimate her by transferring to her the life force of abducted female motorists. Marlowe has some impressive technology – an impressive surveillance system, a car disabling ray, and some weird wife maintenance machinery. Still, he isn't one of those finicky skeptics who practice science nowadays. Like the alchemist, he recognizes the potential to improve scientific outcomes by utilizing magic.

This film is sensationally silly especially given the quality of the cast. This may not be Lugosi's most absurd role; unfortunately, the same can't be said for Carradine and Zucco. Carradine plays Toby, Marlowe's jogging, dimwitted henchman, who kidnaps women and doubles as Marlowe's percussion section. His bizarre performance is only over-cast by Zucco who plays Nicholas, gas station proprietor and voodoo priest. Zucco usually brings an air of dignity to the foolish roles he plays but this one is beyond him. While Toby bashes a bongo, Nicholas, in a cheap college gown and "Phyllis Diller wig," chants gibberish at a piece of string in the name of Ramboonya who is, apparently, all powerful. And, to be fair, Nicholas is getting results until meddling relatives and policemen interfere with the ceremonies.

This film has remained too obscure and deserves a far greater audience. Amazing stuff.

"Dr. Richard Marlowe" (Bela Lugosi) is intent upon bringing his dead wife "Evelyn" (Ellen Hall) back to life. In order to do that he resorts to voodoo which requires a young woman with similar attributes to transfer her life forces into Evelyn. Those who aren't a perfect match become zombies. At any rate, the loss of several young women in a small country area begins to trigger suspicions which flare up when one of the zombies "Stella Saunders" (Louise Currie) accidentally escapes from the house and is found wandering on the side of the road by the local sheriff. When Dr. Marlowe comes to examine her, he realizes that her best friend, "Betty Benton" (Wanda McKay) is a perfect candidate and decides that he must have her. At any rate, rather than give away any secrets I will just say that lovers of old horror movies will probably really enjoy this one as well. Granted it is clearly dated and the zombies of this era are totally dissimilar to those we typically see today. As such, it doesn't have the action or the gore that most people these days might expect. But I still found it entertaining enough and I recommend it to anyone who might be interested in an old-style zombie film.

I found this film to be an enjoyable little effort from monogram I really liked the pairing of Lugosi and Zucco as the villians and also having John Carradine as an evil assistant....pretty much the standard fare you,ll get from most all Monogram films of this genre..but if you enjoy a simple little horror film like I do,this is a great one for a rainy day or a dark night...

Sam Katzman and William Beaudine are two of the immortals of Poverty Row,and Voodoo Man is the literal definition the of the movie that is sooo bad that it's a great picture.Katzman's Banner Productions filmed Voodoo Man in 7 days in October of 1943 for Monogram Studios.What sets this apart is the appearance of Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, and John Carradine in the lead roles and all three are at their rip roarin', hammiest, and over the top best in this little horror opus.Beaudine was the acknowledged master of turning out "Economical" but extremely watchable B movies.

Lugosi is the sinister doctor who is channeling Snidely Whiplash. He would twirl his mustache if he had one and yell"curses, foiled again" at every setback. Zucco is a gas station manager and voodoo high priest who scouts out young ladies and potential victims for the doctor and chants an unrecognizable gibberish in the background much of the time. during the transference ceremony. Carradine portrays Lugosi's dimwitted gofer and bongo drum player. In a lesser actors hands the role would be a total embarrassment but Carridine is able to sell it.The scene where Carridine gets a closeup playing the bongo is so over the top that it is classical. His character really believes in the magic of the ceremony.

Micheal Ames AKA Tod Andrews, Wanda McKay,and Louise Currie do a commendable job with their roles, particularly Currie whose character is forced through the voodoo ceremony then wanders the countryside in a zombie like state while wearing flimsy and very sexy nightgown. McKay was a Paramount contract actress who did a lot of screen work for Monogram during the 1940's.Currie was another talented actress who did a lot of work at the B studios in the 1940's. She had worked with Lugosi before in the Ape Man for Monogram.

The plot of Voodoo Man is less important then getting to watch Lugosi, Zucco, and Carridine go through their paces. They could make reading the ingredients to a can of soup sinister fun!Sam Katzman would would have probably made a feature film of them doing it if he had thought of it. With Beaudine directing of course!

Not (just) for Bela Lugosi ... but what the character in the movie is feeling. Actually something we do not know from the start ... it is always nice to have a reason, a motivation for the bad guy in the movie to be doing something. What better or higher purpose than love? That's rhetorical of course - just in case you have an answer ready.

This has not aged very well, but if you don't mind the obvious downfalls and the tropes/cliches that were being used back in the day ... you will have a short (just over an hour) entertaining movie to watch. And Bela Lugosi is always mesmerizing, no matter the role he is playing. There are even a few nice stingers or rather wordplays that one can enjoy ... especially the zinger about weddings ... acting wise we get theatrics for better or worse, so there is a lot of big playing towards the camera. But if you know Bela, you know that is how he rolled. Not a masterpiece but a decent and as I already said short fun little movie.

'Voodoo Man' is possibly the best of Bela Lugosi's Monogram minor budget films from the early 40's most, but not all, of which we horror films.

A typically brief running time of just a smidgen over one hour keeps things just about brisk enough without lapsing into repetitiveness or filler of people running in circles which are two common maladies of minor budget cheapie b-pics in my experience.

Instead there is a bit of atmosphere and tension generated in a film that centres on a cracking, creaking and cranky set up of a demented mad doctor (Bela Lugosi) organising the abduction and Voodoo exploitation of unaccompanied young women in the service of reviving his zombified wife.

All in all along with a smattering of atmospheric tension there is also a clearly delivered tone of dark, dank, dirty and dangerous human behaviour which puts the horrible into horror.

Of course Bela Lugosi is the centrepiece but he gets some willing support from a game cast.

Added value comes from the playful treatment of the whole idea of 'Voodoo Man' as being utterly sappy nonsense that only a wacky Hollywood scriptwriter hack could sell.

With sly nods to the real silliness at play with references to the films producers and its star early in the piece and then at the very end.

I rate at 5/10 and obviously this rating takes into account that 'Voodoo Man' was a very Poverty Row minor b-picture cheapie/quickie!

I recommend to anyone willing to lend large globs of suspension of disbelief and be as game at the cast. Also to anyone less charitable but looking for a laugh and a hoot.

Having said that some if the broad comedy exchanges are the only real misfires of 'Voodoo Man' for my personal taste although a grim dry humour from Lugosi is nicely included on a couple of occasions!

I'm glad that I purchased "Voodoo Man". It is a pleasant way to pass an hour for fans of 1940's horror films. It is weird and strange, but has a certain beauty to it as well. I believe that it's the best of the horror films that Bela Lugosi made for Monogram during that time. Lugosi is a devoted husband to a wife that has been dead (although, still beautiful and looking as if she were in a trance) for 22 years. He has two of his helpers kidnap young women motorists off of a deserted road so that the young women's life forces can be transferred (via Voodoo) into his dead wife in order to bring her back to life. One pretty young motorist is missed by her cousin and soon the sheriff and his deputy pay a visit to Lugosi's home. Lugosi has a whole basement full of lovely young ladies who are entranced and standing behind glass doors in large cabinets. Will the missing cousin be rescued and the other young ladies be set free? Watch "Voodoo Man" to find out. The DVD that I bought through Sinister Cinema.com has the vintage trailer for "Voodoo Man" as a bonus feature.

"Voodoo Man" is a silly horror film from Monogram Pictures. Fortunately, the film very consciously knows it's silly and because of this, it makes an otherwise stupid film quite enjoyable--particularly at the end.

When the film begins, a young woman is driving all alone--and the evil guy working at the gas station (George Zucco) takes advantage of that. He calls ahead to Dr. Marlowe (Bela Lugosi) and informs him that she is headed his way and Marlowe's henchmen (one of which is John Carradine) set a trap to capture her. Why? Because Marlowe hopes to use voodoo to somehow re-animate his dead wife! After five of these ladies vanish, there are finally some clues--and they point to Marlowe and his gang of weirdos.

This movie is jam-packed with silly mumbo jumbo and silliness. However, and this is important, it never takes itself too seriously and the ending really made me smile. While this film will never earn any high praise from anyone who is sane, it is quite enjoyable escapism despite its many deficiencies.

Voodoo Man (1944)

*** (out of 4)

Monogram cheapie has Bela Lugosi playing a mad doctor who wants to bring his dead wife back to life. In order to do so he must kidnap women and use voodoo to make their souls go into the body of his wife.

As is to be expected, this is a very silly little film that doesn't have too much of a story going for it but it does have a great cast to keep things moving through its 62-minute running time. I often say that if you want art then Ingmar Bergman is highly recommended but if you just want some fast, fun and cheap entertainment then something like VOODOO MAN is just what you're looking for.

Lugosi is in fine form as the deranged doctor and he manages to deliver yet another good performance. He actually has a very touching scene where his wife returns to him for a few seconds before dying again and Lugosi really gives it his all in his heartbreak. George Zucco is also on hand as the man getting the girls. The scene stealer however is John Carradine as Lugosi's dimwitted slave.

There are a couple sequences, which are just downright hilarious with one showing Carradine playing the drums with the strangest look on his face. Another moment is when Carradine goes to the dungeon to talk with the kidnapped women only to let one escape. In fear, he starts crying that the master is going to beat him and this too is downright hilarious to watch.

All in all there's nothing overly special with this film but it does feature three horror greats and in the end it's fun camp. It's not meant to be taken serious and it's not meant to be examined by high- brow critics.

1944's "Voodoo Man" manages to unite Bela Lugosi, John Carradine, and George Zucco and in typical Monogram fashion completely botches the job as in their just completed "Return of the Ape Man." As expected, the script (originally conceived as "Tiger Man") is entirely at fault with nonexistent characterization and hapless dialogue, exemplified by Henry Hall's exasperated sheriff: "gosh all fish hooks!" Lugosi, in the last of his nine Monogram entries dating back to 1941's "Invisible Ghost," has the plum role of Dr. Richard Marlowe, expert in spiritualism and mesmerism, requiring both to resuscitate a bride (Ellen Hall) deceased for 22 years yet still as young and lovely as the day they were wed (unmistakable echoes of "The Corpse Vanishes"). Zucco is henchman Nicholas, masquerading, incredibly, as a gas station attendant specifically catering only to comely beauties from out of town who likely won't be missed, directing them near the Marlowe residence where a fake road sign takes them to imbeciles Toby (Carradine) and Grego (Pat McKee), each girl a receptacle to provide their life force to the doctor's voodoo ceremony. While Carradine beats on the bongos, Zucco chants incessantly in service to the mysterious god Ramboona, yet 'Ramboona never fails' proves a misnomer to every unwary viewer, all of the girls winding up mindless zombies for Toby to look after. The part of this halfwit menial was clearly a low point for the distinguished Carradine, who considered this to be his worst film until 1965's "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula" (coincidentally, both features plus "The Face of Marble" were all directed by silent veteran William Beaudine). Much of the story centers around would be screenwriter Ralph (Tod Andrews), dubbed a 'Hollywood sap' by astute maid of honor Louise Currie as Stella Saunders, vanishing along with her car only to pop up later due to Toby's negligence, the sheriff and his sleepy deputy so incompetent that they can only locate her walking along the side of the road. While Lugosi is able to convey his sorrow at times, his costars fare as badly as in their previous teaming in "Return of the Ape Man," where Carradine played a secondary scientist, Zucco on screen for mere moments as the titular creature before Frank Moran displayed his BVDs in his place. Both Lugosi and Carradine would be cast in another recycling of the same storyline in 1956's "The Black Sleep," a sadly mute Bela (six months away from his death) lamenting that Basil Rathbone now played his original starring role.

Ralph Dawson is a screenwriter who is on his way to Twin Falls to get married. He meets his future sister-in-law on the way. She gets abducted by Dr Marlowe's henchmen. Bela Lugosi plays Dr Marlowe who is trying to restore his sleepwalking wife back to full life. He says she has been dead for 22 years so we have to assume that she is a zombie that can be returned to normality with the experiments he is working on.

John Carradine has a good visual presence in this. He is one of the two henchmen who kidnaps girls for Dr Marlowe. He lurches about looking all disheveled with a shuffling gait. And he plays the voodoo drums with a vacant stare while Dr Marlowe is conducting his magical transference ceremonies.

George Zucco plays a voodoo priest who runs a gas station. He alerts Dr Marlowe when there is a girl traveling on her own in the vicinity. There are plenty of tricks that Dr Marlowe has at his disposal which includes movable fake hedges and secret tunnels and a remote viewing device. The Monogram studio injected plenty of atmosphere into this which is one of the best they did on that count. So if you're in the mood for a mystery of the supernatural camp kind give this one a try.

So the sheriff remarks after being informed that a fourth young woman is missing in his territory. (Bela and George probably felt this way after doing their upteenth z movie). "We are working tirelessly to find the other missing women" he says while his deputy is asleep on the couch! This movie is a hoot! George Zucco and Bela are the Voodoo Men -- Zucco gets a wild headdress, robe, beads and does the bizarre chanting; Bela just gets the robe with the stars. Poor John Carradine got no robe but does get to play bongos. There is no Sally in the movie cast but there is a Stella; she along with Betty and Mrs Marlowe are strikingly beautiful women. The plot is that Bela is abducting young women in attempt to revive his wife, who has been in a trance for the past 22 years, using voodoo. Zucco owns a gas station that the gals stop at to ask directions and George sends them Bela's way and then warms up his headdress. So bad it's good!

Forget Scream... Voodoo Man did meta-horror decades before Wes Craven's slasher classic.

Horror legends John Carradine, George Zucco and Bela Lugosi play the villains of the piece, Lugosi as Dr. Richard Marlowe, who attempts to bring his dead wife back to life with help from gas station owner/voodoo man Nicholas (Zucco) and bongo playing henchman Toby (Carradine). Abducting young women, they attempt to transfer their victims' life force to the dead woman, with little success, the result being a dungeon full of 'zombie-girls' Hollywood scenario writer Ralph (Tod Andrews) becomes involved in the hunt for the missing women after his wife-to-be's maid of honour Stella Saunders (Louise Currie) also disappears.

Lugosi, Carradine and Zucco ham it up a treat, clearly aware of just how cheesy the whole thing is, but despite their best efforts (Lugosi stares hypnotically, Zucco chants gibberish, and Carradine acts like a drooling simpleton), the film is still incredibly dull at times, with an uninspired script, a sluggish pace and repetitive action. What makes this one a touch more fun at times is its self-awareness: when Stella reappears, the woman in an emotionless trance, Ralph comments that she is like one of those zombies in the movies, and the film ends with the writer turning his adventure into a script, even going so far as to suggest that Bela Lugosi should be the star. It's not much, but this meta aspect makes Voodoo Man just a tad more memorable than many a poverty row horror/thriller.

If you can overlook some really lame comic relief, this is another great time for Lugosi fans, and a great double bill can be made with this and Lugosi's 'Scared To Death'. Lugosi is the menacing Dr. Marlowe, who tried to resurrect his long-dead wife, using voodoo, a fake roadblock to lure young girls off the main road, and a pair of stooges waiting to kidnap them and bring them to his most humble laboratory. Said residence has a number of previous, unsuccessful attempts encased in glass throughout the corridors. All goes according to plans, until a curious reporter gets involved with a girl who goes missing.

Lugosi is every bit a good here as in Dracula, and the movie looks good despite its low budget. As I said earlier, the only detriment to the film is a bit of really lame comic relief, seemingly intended for some other movie.

An obscure Lugosi quickie, which deserves a cult following.

The last of nine films that horror icon Bela Lugosi made for the ultra-cheap Monogram studio. It's certainly one of the more intriguing in this series, thanks to a twisted story and a cast of vintage old reliable scare men.

Sneaky gas station owner Nicholas (George Zucco) steers young women down the wrong road whenever they get lost in their automobiles and require directions at his place. After sending them off on their gullible way, he hot tails it to the telephone to alert Dr. Marlowe (Lugosi) that another victim will soon arrive. The doc utilizes his dimwitted henchman Toby (John Carradine) to help kidnap the girls and take them to his basement, so Bela can place them into a trance and use them to restore life to his lovely but brain dead wife. The method is for Lugosi and Zucco to don voodoo garb and chant bizarre rites while Carradine bangs maniacally on a drum, in an effort to transfer the life spirit out of the hypnotized victims and into the doc's unresponsive spouse.

Sounds like a hoot, does it not? This film got an extra boost around the time of this writing due to a wonderful newly restored Blu-ray release from Olive Films. Looking way better than ever before or than it probably deserves, this is a slight hour of absurd fun. Lugosi is restrained and has some emotional moments when caring for his wife's well being, and it is such a laugh to see Shakespearean veteran Carradine making an utter buffoon out of himself. How did he do it? Lord knows they couldn't afford to pay him enough. **1/2 out of ****.

VOODOO MAN (Monogram, 1944), directed by William Beaudine, stars Bela Lugosi in his ninth and final poverty-row horror story for the low-budget Monogram Studios. Not quite the classic or frightening as Lugosi's earlier WHITE ZOMBIE (United Artists, 1932), VOODOO MAN is similar in structure from other horror stories, even with some doses of unintentional humor, it lacks originality. Sometimes confused with Lugosi's earlier and near similar title of THE APE MAN (Monogram, 1943) also directed by Beaudine, at least the male co-star this time isn't a reporter but that of a screen writer assigned to create a script for a new horror movie. Seems like VOODOO MAN is it.

Credited an original story and screenplay by Robert Charles, the plot opens with a blonde girl driving into a local gas station asking for directions to Twin Falls. Its owner, Nicholas (George Zucco) steers her four miles down Laurel Road where she is soon abducted by a couple of goofy goons, Toby (John Carradine) and Grego (Pat McGee). With three women having already disappeared without a trace, Ralph Dawson (Michael Ames), screenwriter for a movie studio, is assigned by his studio boss, S.K. (John Ince) to come up with a new idea for a horror story based on the current disappearance events he's read in a newspaper. Driving towards Twin Falls, Ralph's car runs out of gas miles from the nearest town. He is given a ride from Stella Saunders (Louise Currie), who happens to be driving into Twin Falls where she is to be maid of honor for her cousin's upcoming wedding. It so happens that Ralph is the groom her cousin Betty (Wanda McKay) is to marry. When Stella's car mysteriously stops by a detour sign, Ralph goes to get some help. During his absence, Betty is abducted by the two goons, taking Stella through an underground tunnel into the home of the bearded Doctor Richard Marlowe (Bela Lugosi). Marlowe's intentions is using beautiful young girls and their souls to help revive his zombie-state looking wife, Evelyn (Ellen Hall), who's been dead for 22 years, with Toby and Grego pounding on those bongo drums as Nicholas leads the voodoo rituals over a couple of skulls placed on the table.

As offbeat as this sounds, VOODOO MAN has its moments. The dreary underscoring leads the story to a point of boredom, yet the plot manages to hold interest throughout its 62 minutes. In-jokes help with the plotting for anyone understanding its humor, such as the movie studio the screenwriter works for called Banner Motion Picture Company (in reference to this being Monogram's own Banner Production); the production head name initialed S.K., a reference to VOODOO MAN's producer, Sam Katzman. Ralph Littlefield, the rustic assistant gas station employee who walked his viewers and cast members through the inane plot for Lugosi's THE APE MAN (1943), is back - this time for comedy relief. And wait for whom the scriptwriter suggests to play the lead in his proposed horror movie! Others in the cast include: Henry Hall (The Sheriff); Sam White (Deputy Elmer); Mary Currier (Mrs. Benton); Terry Walker (Alice); Claire James (The Zombie) and Mici Gott (Marie, the Housekeeper).

The opening segment for VOODOO MAN is reminiscent to Lon Chaney's 1925 silent melodrama, THE MONSTER (MGM) where drivers disappear while going through a dark road, and victims held hostage and used as experiments having their souls transferred to dead bodies. Lugosi's character does something similar here by wanting to transfer body to body, soul to soul, emotion to emotion from zombie girl to his dead wife to bring her back to life. As with his title role of DRACULA, Lugosi's Marlow hypnotizes his female victims and is addressed as "Master" by his assistants. It's been said that John Carradine claims this to be his worst movie. Who could blame him? He's seen better days working under John Ford's 20th Century-Fox productions, now reduced to playing a second fiddle dim-wit. It's interesting seeing both Lugosi and Carradine, actors best known for playing Count Dracula, appearing in the same movie. George Zucco, as usual, hams it up during his creepy scenes.

While VOODOO MAN may be listed mostly as "camp" rather than a classic horror film, its one of those movies that's so bad that it's good. Unseen regularly on television since the 1980s, its availability on DVD (with Astor Pictures logo opening from reissue prints) should assure its rediscovery, especially for fans of Lugosi, Zucco and Carradine or admirers of truly "bad cinema" such as this one. (*1/2).