The Soul of a Monster

1944 "CAN YOU STAND THE HORROR...when tortured beings are forced by a blood-chilling female monster...TO KILL...IN ORDER TO LIVE?"
4.8| 1h2m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 17 August 1944 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A man recovers on his death bed after his wife makes a mysterious pact with a strange woman. But is he really alive?

Genre

Horror, Thriller

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Director

Will Jason

Production Companies

Columbia Pictures

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The Soul of a Monster Audience Reviews

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!
Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
ellenirishellen-62962 I know George Macready is the guy people love to trash,but he was a well-educated,classy person in real life,and that seems to draw criticism from those who can't differentiate between characters and the actors who play them.Many rave of how athletic Errol Flynn was,attractive Ty Powers was,but they rank on Macready's stage training and his perfect diction-all part of that stage training.He's perfect here,walking in a trance with an ice pick to kill a friend,drinking when he awakens from his stupor after almost killing his friend until he sees the crucifix.The wife is given little to do,but she's as brilliant as Rose Hobart as the mysterious Lilyan,who controls "George" or tries to in every facet of his life.The ending seems to ensure this was a dream as quoted in the prologue-glad it ended on that note.Bannon co-starred with Macready in the "I Love A Mystery" movies,and his death,to me,was caused by negligence,and couldn't understand putting George on trial murder!
mark.waltz This well intentioned horror drama tries to go down the dark streets of the human mind, and in trying to become the type of thriller made Val Lewton a cult figure fails miserably in this unfortunate misfire. Beloved scientist and doctor George Macready is dying but suddenly given a second chance at life, and starts to behave very strangely. It seems to have started with an encounter with the strange Rose Hobart, a meeting set up by his worried wife (Jeanne Bates). It's up to Macready's colleague (Jim Bannon) to get an answer, and it doesn't seem to be one that Bannon will care to try to comprehend.While there are some extremely tense moments, the script drags out the mystery and the intrigue a little bit too far. The photography is moody, semi film noir in nature, but too bizarre and convoluted to really work overall. It's a noble experiment to try something different, and the performances are intriguing. But this seems to be trying to be as profound, spooky and mysterious as "The Seventh Victim", but ends up being a dark misfire, a pretentious piece of art that strived too hard and didn't quite meets its goal.
howdymax If I hadn't seen the opening credits, I would have sworn this was a Val Lewton classic. It has all the fascinating earmarks as well as much of the weirdness. The story is simple enough. A doctor about to die is saved by an evil spirit in the guise of a mysterious woman, but as we know, there is always a price to pay for undeserved immortality.This was, without question, a "B" movie dressed up to be more stylistic than most. As in those Val Lewton movies, all the performances are understated. The principals drift into indecipherable monologues that leave you numb. Many of the scenes are shot in shadow and the whole atmosphere is spooky. There is no bloody violence to speak of, but there is enough heart stopping shock to satisfy the blood-lust in most of us.George MacReady leads the cast. This should tell us something. He was a fine character actor, but only in a low budget thriller would he ever be given the lead. His evil muse is played by Rose Hobart. I have to admit I never heard of her until I saw this movie, but she did a more than adequate job. In fact, she was downright frightening. The rest of the cast is nameless, although I may have seen one or two of them in an old Dragnet episode, but not one of them let the story down.This production is well worth watching - if you can find it. My only complaint is that it comes with a prologue and an epilogue. In fact, it comes with a testament to good over evil. I don't know, it was made in 1944. Maybe they had no choice.
the_mysteriousx This little-seen Colombia horror film from 1944 is a pretentious, but still interesting film.It stars George Macready, in one of his first films, as a good doctor who is on his deathbed. His wife, played by a solid Jeanne Bates, wishes at the family fireplace for any force from heaven or hell to save him as she has lost faith with her god. Her wish is instantly granted by an unseen Satan as Rose Hobart plays a sort of 'Soul Master' who coldly arrives on the scene and saves Macready. Her action, of course, has a price.Without revealing too much, this seems to have tried to copy the Val Lewton formula, which was popular at the time. The film opens and closes with a narrative quote. The direction is adequate. There is a long "chase" scene in the middle that seems to go on forever. The two characters walk as if elderly people on prozac. It is meant to be suspenseful, but it's just too darned long to keep up the suspense.The film has very few "horror" moments, but some nice cinematic ones. There are shadows aplenty, but the best touch is the arrival and departure of Rose Hobart's character. The film changes to a negative image and then back to positive. I hadn't seen that technique used before in a classic horror film and there were some effective dutch angles that did a good job of building the suspense.A decent film that unfortunately is just never too interesting, it's worth viewing for hard core classic horror buffs only. 5/10