everything you have heard about this movie is true.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I never expect too much from any movies that the so-called Newfield Brothers are involved with, but this one is not too bad by their humble standards. Indeed it certainly has its share of thrills and the acting isn't bad at all - except, oddly enough, from veteran player, Glenn Strange. Admittedly he is most definitely not helped by the extremely poor make-up he is saddled with. True, it could justly be described as "grotesque", but as being anyway convincing, forget it! Admittedly, the actor himself doesn't help. He is not particularly convincing even without his make-up! In fact, it's a bit of a pity that he has such a large and such a super-important role.The other players come across as considerably better, although I thought that George Zucco had too big a role and way out-stayed his welcome. All his early pottering around in his laboratory should have been cut. Not Zucco's fault! The script here was far too flimsy. Producer Newfield was obviously aiming for a support feature that would run for 80 minutes. The excellent Alpha DVD runs 77 minutes and this would translate to just under 80 minutes on a theatrical screen (not counting the time taken to open the curtain. Admittedly some projectionists started the movie while the curtain was actually opening, but this was not a practice that I approved of). Anyway, getting back to the movie, it certainly warms up by the time all late-coming customers are seated. The lovely Anne Nagel was particularly convincing and even Johnny Downs delivered a really neat performance.

This movie is NOTHING like Universal's "Wolf Man" starring Lon Chaney, Jr. So if you are looking for something similar to the Universal class then this film is not for you. The ONLY similarity between this film and Universal's classic is the fact both werewolves appear to have hypertrichosis with a wild wolf instinct - that's it. The stories are quite different. The wolfman Petro's story is NOTHING like Larry Talbot's story."Mad Monster" is about a scientist that found a way to inject his subject with a serum that turns him into a werewolf. He sends the werewolf Petro to kill for him as revenge.Honestly "Mad Monster" is not a horrible werewolf film - it's a must see if you do like werewolves just to say 'I've seen that werewolf film' lol. Again, it's NOTHING like Universal's "Wolf Man" - but it's a totally different story all together.5.5/10

It's certainly ambitious. That's perhaps the best thing that can be said for this rather ... strange (as in Glenn Strange, who played the monster) movie. Apparently trying to cash in on the recent success of Lon Chaney's "The Wolf Man," this blends elements of that movie along with ideas from "Frankenstein" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" among others and turns out an inept but still somewhat amusing horror picture.Strange played Petro, the simple-minded servant of Dr. Cameron (George Zucco). Cameron has stumbled upon a way of turning humans into ravenous, murderous beasts by injecting them with the blood of animals - in the belief that they could be used as an invincible army (remember that this was made during World War II.) In the midst of explaining what he was doing he claimed to have discovered the "secret of life." (How this was the secret of life was unclear to me.) For his efforts, Cameron is drummed out of the academic community, and continues his experiments on Petro. There's little surprise here. Cameron is able to transform Petro, but he can't control him, and eventually Petro starts to transform without the injections, leading up to a "Frankenstein-ish" style of ending inside a burning house.Yes. It's ... ambitious. Not good - not by a long shot. Not original - not by a long shot. But ambitious as it tries to weave the various threads from different stories together. Not much effort was put into the makeup for Strange. His "werewolf" looked like a guy with bushy hair and a beard, and his fangs looked rubbery to me - they seemed to bend and twist at times. The setting of the old house surrounded by mysterious swampland constantly shrouded in fog and mist was moderately effective in creating a "spooky" environment. I liked the thought here, but it just wasn't carried out particularly well.

"Dr. Cameron, a discredited scientist succeeds with his experiment in creating serum the transforms men into wolf-like creatures. Originally developing this formula to help the world, the scientist decides to use his newly created subject to exact revenge upon the scientists who were responsible for his ouster from the scientific community. The scientist's daughter Lenora grows wary of her father's actions and shares her suspicions with a newspaper reporter. When the scientist loses control of his creature, it falls upon the scientist's daughter and the reporter to stop it," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.Mad scientist George Zucco (as Lorenzo Cameron) creates his formula rather unimaginatively, by mixing human and wolf blood. This brings the beast out in hulking Glenn Strange (as Petro aka Pedro), who is directed to act like Lon Chaney Jr. in "Of Mice and Men". Johnny Downs (as Tom Gregory) and Anna Nagel (as Lenora Cameron) are a likable werewolf hunter and damsel in distress. Certainly, "The Mad Monster" is no substitute for "The Wolf Man"; but, it's a serviceable addendum. The grainy black-and-white photography enhances the foggy, cow-webbed atmosphere. "God" (uncredited) strikes up a well-done ending, too. Like Blaine (Robert Strange) said, "Mingling the blood of man and beast is downright sacrilege!" **** The Mad Monster (1942) Sam Newfield ~ George Zucco, Johnny Downs, Anna Nagel