THE APE MAN
dir. William Beaudine, 1943
United States. 64 min.
In English.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, MAY 10 – MIDNIGHT
FRIDAY, MAY 24 – 10 PM
WEDNESDAY, MAY 29 – 7:30 PM

Dr. James Brewster (Bela Lugosi) accidentally transforms himself into a half-ape-half-human hybrid in this production by the B-movie stalwart William Beaudine. The only way he can remedy his condition is with a special serum that he must extract from human spinal cords, which inevitably leads him on a killing spree with his sidekick gorilla. Covered in hair and relegated to the shadows, Lugosi’s Dr. Brewster inhabits a crippling sense of shame; in turn, reflecting human society’s denigration of our most animalistic instincts.

THE APE MAN flirts with multiple horror tropes, invoking ghosts and scientific mishaps within the same narrative. Dr. Brewster’s sister, Agatha (Minerva Urecal), is a seer and her supernatural powers are constantly pinned to her brother’s growing malice. Questions about the limits of human experience are central to the film, as ghosts’ afterlives and primate former-lives are deemed freakish throughout. Despite being a Poverty Row cheapie, THE APE MAN is riddled with insights about the distinction between man and ape—propriety and transgression.