Such a frustrating disappointment

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but decent B-Movie fluff that will entertain. Programmers might have been Lon Chaney's fate by this point in his career, but I believe "High Noon" was still on the horizon. In any event, Lon usually gave a capable performance no matter what subpar material he was stuck with. Raymond Burr as the lead is capable, if the transformations into the actual "Ape-Man" leave something to be desired. And Barbara Payton, is certainly easy on the eyes. Decent B-film entertainment...

In this entertaining horror flick we have a love triangle in an Amazonian rubber plantation resulting in a womanising steward murdering his boss. This leads to a voodoo practicing, loyal servant of the unfortunate dead man to use black magic to turn his killer into a sukaras (were-ape to you or me).I suppose this movie combined that popular staple of the 40's – the jungle film – within a traditional horror film narrative, while still managing to include that other 40's cinematic obsession, a man in a gorilla suit. You'd have to say that it's not the most inspired concoction and one that may have actually been a little dated by the early 50's when sci-fi was all the rage. But from today's perspective it works quite well and the jungle setting gives it something a bit different for what is effectively a horror film, albeit one that I seriously doubt was ever scary to anyone ever. Whatever the case, it features one of the regulars of the genre, Lon Chaney Jr., as a police commissioner. It's not an especially memorable role and is at best peripheral to the overall story. While there is nothing to get particularly excited about here, this one is a perfectly enjoyable time-filler in a Tuesday afternoon kind of way. And there's nothing wrong with that at the end of the day.

With such actors as Tom Conway, Lon Chaney, Jr., Raymond Massey, Barbara Payton, and, in a brief appearance, Woody Strode you would think this movie would be a lot better than I think it was. Hired hand kills owner, after a short while marries he the widow. He is cursed by an old witch woman who saw him kill the owner and her curse turns him into a jungle monster feared by all (a gorilla type monster, hence the title I guess). Lon is the police commissioner for the area and doesn't believe that the owner was killed by a snake, a good call since the snake they showed was a boa of some kind. There are some animals that Raymond kills but before he can go even more berserk and start on humans he is killed after he has kidnapped his wife and Lon and Tom follow him into the jungle where they fire randomly into the bush even though the wife is with him. He dies, the wife is recovered and thankfully this movie ends.

To my mind, this is a really great cast: Lon Chaney, Jr., Raymond Burr, Tom Conway, and a young Woody Strode. In spite of the poverty-row level of production and a flawed script, these guys give it their best and deliver. The female lead, Barbara Peyton, isn't functioning on the same level, nor is her rival, Carol Varga, but Gisela Werbisek as an ancient witch-woman gives us at least one great female performance. This is not, by the way, the same as the Ed Wood-scripted "Bride and the Beast," about a woman who lusts after a gorilla. No, this woman betrays her husband for a man who is "little more than a beast" and then watches as her new lover transforms, little by little, into an ape. Or maybe not. It all may be (seems to be?) in his head, a guilt-complex over committing murder, and all that 50s psycho-babble. It's fun, but not really a proper monster movie. Know that going in and you may enjoy.