Condemned to Live1935

In what is here termed "the darkest depths of Africa," an explorer's pregnant widow is killed by a bloodsucking bat (though their unborn child is spared). Forty years later, a European hamlet is terrorized by violent deaths. Is it, as the local peasants fear, a vampire bat capable of lifting adults from their beds, then depositing their corpses on the beach? Or is it a human "fiend preying upon the village superstitions?" Among those investigating (and possibly implicated in) the mystery are a kindly professor (Ralph Morgan), his much younger fiancé (Maxine Doyle), the youth she really loves (Russell Gleason) and the prof's hunchbacked assistant Zan (Mischa Auer). This independently produced chiller from short-lived (and thus inaptly named) Invincible Pictures re-used some sets and other elements from 1933's similarly themed THE VAMPIRE BAT. That was also directed by Strayer, who would soon find a much lighter-hearted steady gig making a long series of films based on the comic strip "Blondie." - Dennis Harvey