by Martin Unsworth
One of the more obscure horror entries that came in the wake of the likes of The Wolf Man (1941) and Cat People (1942) sees a controversial writer arriving back in the French capital following a stint in the Tropics. He’d contracted a fever while there and is now suffering headaches and blackouts, and each time he awakes, someone is dead!
Set in the late 19th century, there’s plenty of atmosphere in this short but sweet film from The Vampire’s Ghost director Lesley Selander. The film owes more to Universal’s often overlooked Werewolf of London (1935) in execution than Jacques Tourneur’s masterpiece and manages to wrong-foot the viewer while keeping them waiting for the creature/maniac reveal. At least it doesn’t cop out like many of the other ‘cat’ creature pictures did (we’re looking at you, The Cat and the Canary)!
Imprint’s Blu-ray release features the film looking and sounding fantastic and boasts a new commentary from the always entertaining Kim Newman and Stephen Jones and an interesting video essay on masculinity in the film by Kat Ellinger. A 32-year-old (and it looks it!) documentary on Republic Pictures rounds things out and reminds us how slight (no matter how lengthy) these things were back then. It’s still an impressive package for an oft’ forgotten movie.
