Red-Barracuda Bowery at Midnight is one of the many poverty row films made by Bela Lugosi in the 40's. In it Lugosi plays a somewhat far-fetched character. He is alternately a psychology professor, a Samaritan who runs a mission for the homeless and a ruthless crime boss! Neither of his lives cross-over and his university students do not know of his mission activities and vice-versa, while his gangster boss life is a secret kept from everyone bar his fellow criminal underlings. Despite what the title and star would imply this is not a horror movie but really a crime-thriller. More accurately it is a crime film with a bizarrely incidental horror angle, as there is a character that creates zombies in the cellar of the mission! Needless to say, Bowery at Midnight is total nonsense but will be enjoyed by those with a tolerance for low budget genre flicks from this period.

bkoganbing Bowery At Midnight has Bela Lugosi cast as a psychology professor who doubles as a master criminal using a Bowery mission as a blind for his activities. It was a great role for Lugosi and perfectly illustrative of the tragedy of that man's career. In fact the part once again proves that Bela could go way beyond the horror genre if needed though there is a bit of ghoulishness provided by someone else in the cast.If this had been done at major studio with a tighter script and infinitely better sets, this could have become a classic. Lugosi gives a great performance and he was followed closely here by Tom Neal who plays a truly malevolent and murderous hood. The lack of continuity that so typified a Monogram product is present here, especially when you find out that someone who Neal shot at point blank range is quite alive at the end of the film. Lugosi really carries this one to stratospheric ratings for a Monogram film. Bowery At Midnight sad to say had some unrealized potential.

gavin6942 Kindly soup kitchen operator and professor of criminology Bela Lugosi uses his soup kitchen as a front for a criminal gang who commit a series of daring robberies and murders.The biggest problem with this film, at least for me, is that it has fallen into public domain and nobody has come along to clean it up. I understand the process might be costly, and it would be a labor of love because this film will never be a big seller. But that is what it needs. The acting is solid, the plot is strong... it just looks like a 1920s rather than 1940s film, and that is a travesty.Bela Lugosi made some stinkers in his day, but this is not one of them. Although I only gave the film an "average" score, I could bump it up a bit if the film was properly restored to full glory. Have a film historian or Lugosi biographer do a commentary track on top of it, and you would have a decent disc. Just saying.

wes-connors Respectable psychology professor Bella Lugosi (as Frederick Brenner) moonlights by operating a soup kitchen for New York's Bowery denizens. At "the mission", Mr. Lugosi (as Karl Wagner) fronts a secret underground criminal organization. There, Lugosi's entourage includes baby-faced recruit Tom Neal (as Frankie Mills), mad zombie-maker Lew Kelly (as Doc Brooks), and pretty assistant Wanda McKay (as Judy Malvern).While working on a term paper he calls "The Psychology of the Underprivileged," student John Archer (as Richard Dennison) discovers professor Lugosi's daring double life, which places Mr. Archer's life in grave danger. Innocent Ms. McKay is also put in peril. The plot is all over the map in "Bowery at Midnight". Don't stop watching to think about what is going on with the interesting set of characters - or, the film may make less sense.*** Bowery at Midnight (10/30/42) Wallace Fox ~ Bella Lugosi, Tom Neal, John Archer