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IMDbPro

The Bat People

  • 1974
  • PG
  • 1h 33m
IMDb RATING
2.8/10
2.8K
YOUR RATING
The Bat People (1974)
Official Trailer
Play trailer1:29
1 Video
17 Photos
Body HorrorHorrorRomance

After being bitten by a bat in a cave, a doctor undergoes an accelerating transformation into a man-bat, which ruins his vacation and causes considerable distress for his wife.After being bitten by a bat in a cave, a doctor undergoes an accelerating transformation into a man-bat, which ruins his vacation and causes considerable distress for his wife.After being bitten by a bat in a cave, a doctor undergoes an accelerating transformation into a man-bat, which ruins his vacation and causes considerable distress for his wife.

  • Director
    • Jerry Jameson
  • Writer
    • Lou Shaw
  • Stars
    • Stewart Moss
    • Marianne McAndrew
    • Michael Pataki
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    2.8/10
    2.8K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Jerry Jameson
    • Writer
      • Lou Shaw
    • Stars
      • Stewart Moss
      • Marianne McAndrew
      • Michael Pataki
    • 55User reviews
    • 30Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    The Bat People
    Trailer 1:29
    The Bat People

    Photos17

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    Top cast12

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    Stewart Moss
    Stewart Moss
    • Dr. John Beck
    Marianne McAndrew
    Marianne McAndrew
    • Cathy Beck
    Michael Pataki
    Michael Pataki
    • Sgt. Ward
    Paul Carr
    Paul Carr
    • Dr. Kipling
    Arthur Space
    Arthur Space
    • Tramp
    Robert Berk
    • Motel Owner
    Pat Delaney
    Pat Delaney
    • Ms. Jax
    George Paulsin
    • Boy in Pickup
    Bonnie Van Dyke
    • Girl in Pickup
    Jennifer Kulik
    Jennifer Kulik
    • Nurse
    • (as Jeni Kulik)
    • …
    Laurie Jefferson
    • Nurse
    • (as Laurie Brooks Jefferson)
    Herb Pierce
    • Park Ranger
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Jerry Jameson
    • Writer
      • Lou Shaw
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews55

    2.82.7K
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    Featured reviews

    3AaronCapenBanner

    Dreary Horror Tale.

    Stewart Moss & Marianne McAndrew play a newlywed couple(married in real life as well) who go exploring Carlsbad Cavern, where Moss(Dr. John Beck)is bitten by a fruit bat after he falls into a hidden crevice. After he frees himself and goes home, he finds to his horror that he now transforms into a killer Man-Bat, who must drink blood in order to survive. He is helped by his sympathetic wife, but pursued by the local sheriff, who has designs on Mrs. Beck...

    Film has a distinct aura of melancholy about it, and isn't badly acted at all, but is awfully slow-paced, with inadequate make up F/X by future Oscar Winner Stan Winston. Has some distinct atmosphere at times, but ultimately fails, despite a haunting final scene.
    skorzeny

    Not the *worst* MST3K movie ever, but...

    ...it's still a load of crap.

    As far as I am concerned, this movie is only notable as an early effort in the career of master make-up king Stan Winston (back when he was still listed in credits as "Stanley Winston". His huge talent is wasted on one halfway decent prosthetic hand, since the rest of the film's "horror makeup" consists of one bruised face and a lot of greasy sweaty faces. I mean, this is a movie about a guy turning into a bat, and aside from the above-mentioned hand, the only time he actually turns into a bat, it looks like they borrowed an ape mask from a bad 1950's werewolf movie.

    The acting is horrid, the plot paper-thin, the script awful, the music painfully bad, the ending lame, the effects laughable (except, as always, for the hand), and the directing is atrocious. Heck, even the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring this movie is mediocre.

    Okay, okay, to be fair, the scene with the hospital wristband is not THAT bad, but any movie that features a woman who turns into a bat after having sex with a man who was bitten by a bat...trust me, avoid this movie at all costs. About the only thing I can say in its defense is that it isn't quite bad enough to be too bad even for an MST3K episode.
    6hu675

    Watchable but the filmmakers could had more fun with this premise.

    Dr. John Beck (Stewart Moss) and his lovely wife Cathy (Marranne McAndrew) fell into an underground cave. When his wife was attacked by a bat, he tried to help her but he ended up getting bitten instead. Beck thought the scratch was nothing until he found himself having horrible nightmares. He slowly turned into a bat creature! Beck began attacking innocent people for blood. The only one who could talk some sense to him was his wife.

    Directed by Jerry Jameson (Airport '77, Raise the Titanic) made a watchable but disjointed horror film that attempts to be truly scary but fails. Moss gives a good performance and there's early make-up effects work by the late five time Oscar-Winner,Stan Winston (Jurassic Park Trilogy, Aliens, Interview with an Vampire).

    The DVD is a double feature with "The Beast Within" from MGM. Although i think "The Beast Within" is a much better movie in my opinion.The DVD has a good anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and a decent Dolby Stereo 2.0 Surround Sound. "The Bat People" is a truly forgotten horror film. It is probably only notable for make-up effects for fans to see Winston's early f/x work. Michael Pataki has some fun as a slightly sleazy sheriff. Badly written and produced by Lou Shaw. (** 1/2 out of *****).
    2NateW

    False Advertising!

    This movie promised bat people. It didn't deliver. There was a guy who got bit by a bat, but what was with the seizures? And the stupid transformation? Where was the plot? Where was the acting? Who came up with the idea to make this? Why was it allowed to be made? Why? Why? I guess we'll never know.
    1Mister-6

    This movie causes rabies...

    Or maybe that's what it feels like. Anyway, "The Bat People" is about as flat as a rug, bland as a sack of flour and as exciting as a rock...and as intelligent as all three combined.

    Okay, plot in a nutshell (fitting vessel, that...): a doctor (Moss) gets bitten by a bat while checking out a cave with his wife (McAndrew) and subsequently turns into a bat - well, not exactly a bat but a bat-like creature that looks more like a werewolf who kills his victims in a first-person camera viewpoint....

    But then there's the business of the sheriff (Pataki), who is about the WORST kind of sheriff: the hick kind. He hassles people, he leers at married women, he steals handkerchiefs from haberdasheries (the FIEND!), he smokes with one of those cigarette holders in his mouth and talks at the same time, making him look and sound like Buford T. Justice in "Smokey and the Bandit" and (this is the worst part)... HE'S THE MOST LIKEABLE CHARACTER IN THE WHOLE FILM!

    The whole film, though, is just TV movie-of-the-week-like crapola (guano, in this case). It's an AIP, for crying out loud! What did you expect, Oscar caliber stuff?

    And what else can you say about a film that not even MST3K can save?

    How about...no stars for "The Bat People", full version OR MST3K version!

    By the way, if there's ever a sequel for this movie, I'm burying my TV.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The first feature film for makeup artist Stan Winston.
    • Goofs
      Dr. Beck's field changes from caves, to bats, to "preventative medicine."
    • Quotes

      Dr. John Beck: You're quite the philsopher!

      Tramp: That's me: Jack-of-all-thoughts and master of none.

    • Alternate versions
      For its 1999 airing on the cult series Mystery Science Theater 3000 there were some brief cuts made to the movie, which was shown under the alternate title "It Lives By Night." Among the cuts were the shot of the nurse laying dead after falling, the sequence of two lovers making out in a truck before the girl is killed in the trailer court, and the images of the sheriff preparing to shoot himself after being attacked by bats during the finale.
    • Connections
      Featured in Movie Macabre: The Bat People (1982)
    • Soundtracks
      Angel of Fear
      Music by Artie Kane

      Lyrics by Morgan Ames

      Sung by Sally Stevens

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    FAQ15

    • How long is The Bat People?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 24, 1974 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Angel of Fear
    • Filming locations
      • Carlsbad Caverns National Park - 727 Carlsbad Caverns Highway, Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA
    • Production companies
      • American International Pictures (AIP)
      • Eastborne Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 33m(93 min)
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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