Attack of the Bat Monsters

Every now and then a fitting tribute to some genre (like RUSTLERS' RHAPSODY was to 1940's to 1960's Westerns) comes along, and for those of us who are fans, it's a great experience! ATTACK OF THE BAT MONSTERS is, for this 1950'S SCI-FI fanatic, a little slice of Heaven on Earth! I'm not familiar with all the details of it's production - I heard it was done as a college thesis(?) - but I thourougly enjoyed it! Well written and with some really nice references to films and filmmakers we have come to know and love, and some good performances. Certainly, a loving tribute! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! Good luck finding a copy!!!

If you grew up in the 1950s and/or 1960s and watched the classic sf/horror movies produced during that time period, you will absolutely love this clever, witty and above all, affectionate tribute to those great monster movies of days gone by. A terrific script, great performances and top-notch direction by newcomer Greene, make this one to watch and enjoy over and over again. If you love Roger Corman movies, if the name AIP makes you weak in the knees, if you want to see what low-budget filmmaking was like in the late 1950s, see this movie. Though it's extremely funny in many places, this is not a spoof. Don't come looking for some campy send-up of movies that the MST3000 thinks are objects of ridicule. This film is far smarter than that crowd. This film deserves to be picked up for wide-spread theatrical distribution at best or available on home video. A true genre classic. Don't miss it!

Every sci-fi lover should track down a copy of this movie, a loving tribute to the Roger Corman-era of film-making. Just as we all held our breath for the first glimpse of The Creature as he poked his gilled head out of the Black Lagoon, the Bat Monster himself is worth the price of admission. Very clever writing with rich character development ... with a Scream Queen to rival the greats! I'm only sorry I didn't see it at a drive-in. Find this film.

I heartily recommend this movie, which won Best Narrative Film at Hollywood's Dances With Films indie film festival in the year 2000. Set in southern California in 1959, ATTACK OF THE BAT MONSTERS follows

the exhausted but resourceful Chuck Grayson (Michael Dalmon) as he scrambles

to meet the challenge thrown down from on high by his boss, the penny-pinching producer-director Francis Gordon (Fred Ballard). That challenge? -- To put

together and shoot an entire "creature feature" in a scant three days, using the grouchy, exhausted cast and crew who have just finished filming "Monster From the Mineshaft." Why just three days? Because MFTM wrapped three days early and Gordon, a

selfish, demanding character patterned after the notorious real-life low-budget indie filmmaker Roger Corman, intends to milk his equipment, talent and permits at the rock quarry for every last ounce of movie making. Chuck's biggest difficulties consist of coming up with a title, a script, a monster and an affordable star (i.e., washed-up and cheap) to boost the marquee value of the movie. For the script, Chuck recruits a hop-head beatnik writer, played by Robert Bassetti, to write as they shoot. To make the monster, he coaxes a

mad-scientist-like sociopath portrayed by Bill Wise. For his "name" actor, Chuck reels in the boozy, seedy Larry "The Cat Creature" Meeker, Jr. (Douglas Taylor). You get two movies for the price of one here, for as ATTACK OF THE BAT

MONSTERS gets filmed, you get to see clips from the final black-and-white

product, which in style and content (down to the thriller music by Tim Bushong) is a hilarious pastiche of all those drive-in movies of yesteryear that crammed

together science-fiction, outlandish monsters and (for the European market) some bare-breasted titillation. ATTACK OF THE BAT MONSTERS offers numerous comic sequences that build

to a rollicking climax, and the entire cast is fun to watch. Robert Graham, as the aged Shakespearian actor reduced to playing the wise old scientist, is both funny and touching. Ryan Wickerham, as Chuck's macho, fun-loving best friend and

hunkish leading man, is amusing throughout, and Casie Waller, as Gordon's

burnt-out "scream queen" girlfriend, shines in several scenes, especially the one where she teaches an extra the finer points of screaming for film. The tension between Fred Ballard's Gordon and Michael Dalmon's Chuck Grayson provides a

couple of genuine moments of pathos. In fact, Ballard and Dalmon are in a sense the two straight men for the wacky assemblage of misfits they're herding. Shot on a frayed-shoestring of a budget in and around Austin, Texas, the film does a fine job of creating the period and locale. Nicely lensed in Super-16mm by Tom Hennig. The Bat Monster herself is laugh-out loud funny and is the creation of Joe Castro, who has also displayed his talents in such genre films as

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (produced by the real Roger Corman), and

BLOODFEAST 2: ALL U CAN EAT.

I saw "Attack of the Bat Monsters" at a "Monsterfest" convention (yes, I am that geeky) in Washington, D.C. a few years ago. After having spent the day in the exhibit hall viewing "Wasp Woman" posters, models for sale of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon" and "Bucket of Blood" 8x10 glossies, it felt particularly perfect to then watch Kelly Greene's "Bat Monster". It was apparent that Mr. Greene, the director and writer, also had the same love as I of B movies from the 1950's. His film filled in some of the blanks as far as how these films were made. The films' characters and Greene's writing brilliantly portrayed the frenzied writer, director and actors of those films and the quick turnaround time and measly budgets allotted to them. The dialogue between characters is witty and has a rhythm to the patter that is edgy. This makes the switch between the movie and the movie that the main characters are shooting within the movie even funnier - clever dialogue at counterpoint with the forced, stumbling lines that makes part of B movies so damned lovable. Greene did an excellent job on this film and I look forward to seeing his next project.