The Phantom Creeps (1949)

The Phantom Creeps (1949)

Directed by: Ford Beebe, Saul A. Goodkind

Starring: Bela Lugosi, Robert Kent, Dorothy Arnold

This version of The Phantom Creeps is yet another feature version of a serial from 10 years earlier, so you know you’re not getting the whole picture. Also, they did a couple episodes of the serial on MST3K at one point, so it was kinda neat to see the rest (well… some of the rest) of the series. That was always the problem with those MST3K serial shorts, they never finished anything. I guess if they had kept going until the whole thing was finished, it’d be boring to see the same thing every time, but still, I like seeing the whole thing. Ah well.

Lugosi plays a mad scientist who’s invented not only a ray that makes him invisible, but also a substance which explodes violently when exposed to another substance he’s created, AND an awesome robot. The movie is basically him being sneaky for no adequately explained reason while the cops try to figure out what’s going on. Not very exciting, but… he has a cool robot. Leave him alone.

In fact, I remember seeing this robot long before I ever heard of The Phantom Creeps, thanks to that rescuer of campy props, Rob Zombie. If you’ll recall, the robot is all over his first (and best) solo album, Hellbilly Deluxe, and he even has a couple of them as costumes that dancers wear during some of his live shows that I saw back in the day. Just wanted to mention that little bit of trivia. You’re welcome.