destroyah316 This was the worst of the 3 movies that Hans Brahm directed for 20th-Century Fox. Unlike The Lodger and Hangover Square, this one looks like one of the cheap quickies that Republic and Monogram Studios used to churn out in the '40's.Casting for this movie was getting look-alikes of more famous stars-the guy who played Oliver was a dead ringer for Lon Chaney, Jr. And Christy looked suspiciously like Cornelia Otis Skinner with a dye job, right down to the hair-do and the rubber faced facial mugging, right out of The Uninvited. The worst part of the movie was the ending-the way they sped up the monster's running scenes on camera looked pretty silly, and the transformation from wolf to man was some really sloppy camera work.

Spikeopath John Brahm's film is an adaptation of the novel written by Jessie Douglas Kerruish. Following the success for Universal with The Wolf Man a year earlier, 20th Century Fox clearly saw an opportunity to cash in on the renewed interest in Lycanthropic creatures. Brahm's film deals with one such legendary creature that is said to terrorise members of the cursed Hammond family. Roping in master photographer Lucien Ballard, Brahm sets the film up with the creepy ancestral home atop of a cliff, the sea on one side, the foggy moor on the other. Then with minimal budget and a cast of largely minor players-and a short 23 day production schedule, Brahm crafted a tight, eerie mystery that deserves far better appraisal than it's currently getting.Atmosphere is of paramount importance when making a Gothic type picture, The Undying Monster has it by the bucket load. Aided by Ballard's adroit skills, Brahm excellently uses shadows and light to garner unease, be it the interiors that are gorgeously designed, or the foggy exteriors perhaps hiding dark secrets, atmosphere is high quality here. The film has been chided in certain quarters for either being too talky, or for daring to be jovial at times. Yes these charges are fair if one is expecting an outright horror film and not the creepy mystery that it actually is. This is no boo jump bonanza, the creature is purposely kept from us so as to keep us, and the characters wondering when, or if, it will show up. Thus the conversations become crucial and of high interest. Something that hasn't helped the film either is its title, why they didn't go with the first muted {and English title} name, "The Hammond Mystery" is probably due to the afore mentioned attempt to cash in on The Wolf Man. As you can see, one screams out that the film is about a monster who can't be killed, the other sounds like it's an Agatha Christie who done it?. You understand their reasonings, it's just very misleading and hasn't helped the films reputation to flow.It's a cracking mystery film that has horror elements involved in its plot. More like The Hound Of The Baskervilles than The Wolf Man, it none the less is 63 minutes of 1940s Gothic joy. 8/10

The_Void The Undying Monster was apparently a second feature; and that's not really surprising as there's nothing particularly great about it and the running time is also very short. The film takes more than obvious influence from the classic Arthur Conan Doyle novel 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' in that it focuses on a family curse; but the style and execution of the film is also very similar to the 1939 film version of said classic novel. The story featured is actually really good; it has several interesting themes and director John Brahm provides a foreboding atmosphere; but unfortunately the suspense is constantly abated via a very unwelcome dose of humour. The film takes place in Wales and focuses on an aristocratic family plagued by an ancient curse; which takes the form of a monster that prowls around their property at night and has already claimed the lives of several family members. After the latest incident, it is decided that there is reason to call in Scotland Yard; and a young detective and his assistant begin to investigate.The film is really good for about the first twenty minutes and it looks like it might build into something special; but when the detective and his assistant are introduced, things start to go downhill. It's obvious that the pair of them are there to add some comic relief to the proceedings; but the problem is that it's really not needed. Occasionally, some slight comic relief will come in to help even out a film with some real scenes of trauma; but here the trauma amounts to a shot of a dead dog, and the humour is all encompassing. It's not even very funny either and I barely cracked a smile at all. Once the detectives come in, the film takes on more of an investigative approach and the plot is not as interesting. The clues given to the detective's don't leave much to the imagination either (a scene that sees the detective realise that a room has been recently entered by the way of the huge set of footprints down the centre of the room being case in point!). The ending does come as something as a surprise as the film felt like it was going to head in the same direction that Conan Doyle's novel did; but it's not enough to save it and overall I have to say that I'm really disappointed considered that I had heard good things about this one!

Scarecrow-88 The House of Hammond is burdened by a family history of suicides at the supposed sight of a monster. When a nurse..and Oliver Hammond(John Howard), who now owns the current estate of his family..is attacked at the edge of a sea-side cliff next to the lane traveling to the Hammond estate, Scotland Yard science detectives Curtis(James Ellison)and his unflappable assistant Christy(the delightful Heather Thatcher)are called on to solve the mystery that has shrouded the family for centuries. Also left mangled and torn at the scene of the attack is a dead cocker spaniel dog. The troubling aspect of this crime scene, where it appears as if a savage animal of some sort committed the carnage, is that there are no footprints leaving a trace of what caused such a violent rampage. With the nurse unconscious in a coma and slowly withering away from a severe brain hemorrhage, amazingly Oliver is recuperating well despite some nasty cuts and bruises he supposedly suffered at the hands of whatever caused the attacks. When asked about what committed the attacks, though, Oliver's muddled story leaves little for Curtis and Christy, and the village police, to go by. Ruffling the feathers of the Hammonds and their hired help, it appears that secrets are being held from Curtis and Christy as they pursue the truth behind the deaths that have plagued this family for so long. Also acting suspiciously is the village doctor, Jeff Colbert(Bramwell Fletcher)who seems to be deliberately making things difficult for Curtis such as muffling the footprints left on the floor of a secret locked room, or his taking the Hammond family history book from a library before the detective could retrieve it. And, curiously, why would a renowned brain specialist leave London for a small village position? Would it be that he has designs on marrying Helga Hammond(Heather Angel)who would be sole heir of her family estate if Oliver was out of the way? Curtis and Christy will have to use their scientific methods of spectrum DNA analysis, which has solved cases in the past, if they wish to figure out what monster, or possible human murderer, is behind the death of the nurse who would succumb to her injuries.Before directing "The Lodger", John Brahm does what he was commissioned to do..bring an atmospherically crafted mystery, shooting from all sorts of fantastic angles, with his cunning abilities using the camera, fluidly expressing a sense of style that would later cement his legacy as a quietly underrated genius. You can see how Universal inspired other studios in just how "The Undying Monster" opens. I felt the "bending trees" which populate the surrounding areas of the Hammond estate, and the massive studio sets representing the inside of Hammond castle(..and the mausoleum housing the Hammond ancestry), resemble "Frankenstein" more than "The Wolf Man", the model obviously for the werewolf theme in "The Undying Monster". You can certainly see what skills director Brahm had in the studio system such as the opening shot where the camera eyeballs various Hammond staples in the living room of the castle, and the nurse running for her life down the lane as the camera follows her from a distance. I loved one particular shot where Brahm's camera captures a conversation behind the rising flames of a fireplace. The monster itself, certainly a werewolf style which resembles the iconic Jack Pierce standard, only makes a major appearance at the end..only do we get a good look at it's face, with the director using the usual dissolves from hair to face when we find out who is plagued with lycanthropy. A good portion of this film, though, is the unveiling of a mystery, with Curtis discovering what secrets this family might be hiding, while also utilizing the new methods of investigation to find about about strange evidence in order to find out what caused the attacks that lead to an unfortunate death. The script has the family's past as sordid with supposedly a member selling his soul to the devil. That kind of reputation only fuels the idea of a monster, with the family's name continuously remaining notorious. As each suspect is ruled out, Curtis, a scientist who scoffs at the notion of the supernatural, will discover, through science no less, just who his culprit actually is. Lycanthropy, in this film, is looked at as an affliction of a diseased mind, passed down through the generations. Thanks to Brahm's sure hand, and an interesting script, this film rises above being just a Wolf Man rip-off. But, this was just a stepping stone to greater triumphs, with "The Undying Monster" serving as a template where Brahm would lay the stylistic groundwork for what was to come later.