Wow, in 1932 two-strip Technicolor musta been the shizzy!
And it is used to good effect in this little horror flick, which is saturated in soft greens and browns and kinda creepy pinks and blues. It's a washed watercolor effect, and it is very atmospheric.
As for the movie? Eh. It's a whodunnit riddled with plot holes and saddled with a goofy reporter (Lee Tracy) who's got to wisecrack his way through almost every scene in the picture.
Someone's been killing women under the light of the full moon, which appears to be damn near every night in this crazy script. Clues point to the Academy of Surgical Research, which appears to be chock full of homicidal maniacs and would-be cannibals.
What to do? Pack everyone up and head to a creepy cliffside mansion and do mad science experiments designed to draw the killer out. (Why does the mansion have holes in the walls designed to pump knock-out gas through?) Oh yeah, don't forget to bring along the wisecracking reporter, a wacky supersitious maid and your nubile daughter, too -- that cannibal killer is gonna need some victims.
Fay Wray screams prettily, and Max Factor did the makeup, so it's darned good. The big tranformation scene at the end is great, especially when you remember it was made 75 years ago.
Synthetic Flesh!!!!!
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