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THE BAT PEOPLE
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| Rated PG
| | Copyright 1974 American Independent Pictures
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Reviewed by Andrew Borntreger on 9 April 2008
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A man and his wife take a cave tour and wander off the beaten path. The missus falls down a hole and the manly man follows without thinking, meaning they are stuck in a pit without a rope, ladder, or even a stepstool. Then a bat attacks and bites the husband on his forehead. Once they are rescued, the pair goes skiing for a few days, despite both of them voicing a concern about rabies. It takes a pair of violent seizures before the wife is able to convince her husband that starting treatment immediately would be prudent.
After some of the seizures (which are funny to watch; the guy looks like he is experiencing the world's worst migraine headache), the husband turns into a werebat. He commits murders and drinks the blood of his victims, then crawls back into bed with his wife and has nightmares about the transformations. Eventually, the afflicted fellow flees the hospital and hides out in the bat-infested caverns. Watch for the scene where he sneaks back into the hospital and drinks whole blood as if the stuff were juice pouches.
For some reason, the only individual to suspect the murderer's real identity is a rough county sheriff out to screw the grieving wife. Never mind that she was swapping saliva and other bodily fluids with a man possibly infected with rabies - the sheriff wants some crazy bat booty. See, this is why a lot of people still contract gonorrhea, herpes, and all sorts of other pus-discharging infections of the nether regions. You all know it is infected. Just stay out of it, or at least buy some quality latex!
When the sheriff finally tracks down the fugitive, we get to see that he looks more like an extra from Planet of the Apes than a bat person. He needed a longer snout, less hair, and larger ears.
A frustrating puzzle is why the rabies angle was introduced at all. It, including the bat bite, is a complete red herring.
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| Things I Learned From This Movie: | |
|  | Contracting rabies requires both patience and apathy.
| | | The best way to identify a hobo is by his distinct odor.
| | | What the Red Cross needs is a taste tester.
| | | Bats are actually a species of winged tomato.
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| | | 18 mins - Have you ever seen "Old Yeller?"
| | | 33 mins - RANDOM ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST A MANNEQUIN!
| | | 83 mins - This is a clear case of assault and bat-tery. Okay, put the Taser down. You knew I was going to make a horrible bat pun sooner or later.
| | | 86 mins - "Orcus? Who is Orcus?"
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| Re: The Bat People
Reply #1. Posted on April 10, 2008, 06:50:02 PM by Cassie
I watched the MST3K treatment of this movie a couple of weeks ago. Talk about a tedious movie! I admire the fortitude it must have taked to watch it without the benefit of Mike and the Bots' riffing.
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Re: The Bat People
Reply #2. Posted on April 11, 2008, 12:01:20 AM by GoHawks
I watched the MST3K treatment of this movie a couple of weeks ago. Talk about a tedious movie! I admire the fortitude it must have taked to watch it without the benefit of Mike and the Bots' riffing. At first I was " WTF?", because I didn't remember seeing "The Bat People" on any episode list. Then I remembered that Wikipedia can be your friend. As shown on MST3K, the movie was titled " It Lives by Night" and was episode #1010. I haven't gotten around to watching it yet, although I do intend to watch every episode some day (and yes, I do have all of them). |
| Re: The Bat People
Reply #3. Posted on April 11, 2008, 01:41:34 AM by JMR3000
The title says "Bat People," but from the review it looks like there was only one bat person, and he looks like an ape. Did the audience get gypped on this one?
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Re: The Bat People
Reply #4. Posted on April 11, 2008, 09:56:16 AM by Flangepart
The title says "Bat People," but from the review it looks like there was only one bat person, and he looks like an ape. Did the audience get gypped on this one?
Now theres a redundant question...
The Best Brains were slapping this around like a ping pong ball. Pain make people do that. |
| Re: The Bat People
Reply #5. Posted on April 13, 2008, 09:09:37 AM by Kermtzu
I remember begging my Mom to please, please please take me to the drive in to see this when I was a kid. She didn't.
Thank you, Mom.
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| Re: The Bat People
Reply #6. Posted on April 20, 2008, 04:07:42 PM by Giant Claw Jr
Can you remeber MANBAT alias KIRK LANGSTROM at least he was a good guy
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Re: The Bat People
Reply #7. Posted on April 23, 2008, 06:46:50 PM by BixDugan
"It Lives By Night"-
Full of 70s clothes and cars, for sure. The mustache on the Ski-bum doctor is another throwback to the polyester era. Great review as always.
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| Re: The Bat People
Reply #8. Posted on July 17, 2008, 08:40:22 PM by monoceros4
A wretched movie even with MST3K treatment. After a while you just want the guy to turn into a bat and get it over with. I've seen Scooby Doo episodes that give a monster more screen time than this slow, dreary movie.
The man-bat's wife is thoroughly unpleasant the whole movie, but damned if the movie doesn't find a way to make her even less likable right at the end. I suppose it had to be a given that the sheriff had to die, even though his biggest crime was haunting the steps of a multiple murderer and punching him a few times--eh, I guess there was that one scene where the sheriff gives the wife an appreciative look. If the movie was trying to convince me that the sheriff was evil and corrupt and deserved to die, it failed.
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