The Phantom Creeps

As with all such serials, THE PHANTOM CREEPS was intended to be watched in small doses, spread out over weeks and months. It was the short, 10-15 minute film that played before the main theater attraction.

As a feature, it's a mammoth, 4 hour-long marathon!

Still, Bela Lugosi is fantastic as the sinister Dr. Zorka. With his spider bombs, a belt that renders him invisible, and his killer robot, Zorka sets out to conquer the world.

Packed with explosions, fights, peril, and a general sense of anarchy, this series also has those wonderful "cliff hangers" and the obligatory rehash that's intended to get us all caught up on what just happened!

Great stuff...

Enjoyed this Classic Bela Lugosi film which was probably shown to audiences every Saturday in the afternoon and evenings along with two (2)other feature "B" movies, cartoons and a newsreel all for the cost of .35 cents in 1939 and probably less money than that amount. This film was a head of its time, with a great Sci-Fi story and robot to go along with the entire horror. There is plenty of action, airplane crashes, jumping out of planes and bombs going off and one crazy looking robot. Dorothy Arnold appeared in this film as a reporter for a newspaper who was always popping up at the wrong time. Dorothy was very attractive and with a sexy figure who was once married to Joe DiMaggio, the famous baseball player who later married Marilyn Monroe. Bela Lugosi gave an outstanding performance and was making films like three or four in one month. Enjoy a great Horror/Sci-Fi Oldie.

This serial is really fun. I love the emoting of Bela Lugosi. He wants to rule the universe and, doggone it, nothing is going to stop him. There are many pitfalls along the way. One is the usual incompetent sidekick who can't follow orders worth a darn. Another is his inability to keep a low profile. He is always putting himself out there where someone is able to spoil his efforts. There are spies and government agents. His valuable meteor is stolen a couple of times but he quickly gets it back. There is one touching scene where he causes the death of his wife, but he quickly blames the government for her death. As with all serials, there are a series of cliffhanging endings to scenes and he always seems to come out unscathed. I have to admit I was actually pulling for him. The government agents are too boring to come out on top. You can't tell the spies from the government agents without a program. There is also this cool robot who suffers from the same infirmity of slow movement that seems to affect mummies in that other genre. It was interesting to see that it was Lugosi's character that caused the Hindenberg to burst into flame. He throws a little explosive dart at it from a plane. Who would have thought. Anyway, it's a lot of fun, it makes little sense, and at the end we feel a little cheated.

In the 30's and the 40's,universal(like republic pictures)produced many serials(action films viewed in chapters)dealing with superheroes,outer space,mad scientists and war, In this 12 chapter serial released by universal in 1939, bela lugosi(famous for playing vampires,mad doctors and monsters)plays doctor zorka,a mad doctor who has discovered an atomic meteorite,he harnesses its power,he then decides to sell it to spies,when a reporter(dorothy arnold) and a government agent(robert kent)set out to stop doctor zorka from destroying the world with the meteorite,they must battle spies,doctor zorka's explosive mechanical spiders and a giant robot through 12 chapters to save the world!an impressive serial,an incredible performance from lugosi and the supporting cast,and plenty of special effects,also seen in this serial is edward van sloan(who plays jarvis the spy chief) who starred along with bela lugosi in universals dracula(1931)!

it's worth watching

As far as horror movies go id have to say this is a b-horror film... though its not really scary in the least. Maybe it's just my liking for Bela Lugosi, but I liked this movie.

And if you like his robot soldier in this movie you can see him again and again in the rob zombie music video "Dragula" dancing strangely in the back ground.

The acting in this movie isn't anything special, neither are the effects, but if you go into a 1939 low budget movie looking for either of those things then you should step back and take a look at why you even bother.