azathothpwiggins After miraculously living through an otherwise fatal bus crash, "Dynamo" Dan McCormick (Lon Chaney Jr.) finds himself being studied by two scientists. Dr. Lawrence (Samuel S. Hinds) wants to see if the electrical jolt that McCormick endured was somehow responsible for his being the sole survivor of the accident. Lawrence's partner, Dr. Rigas (Lionel Atwill) has other, more sinister plans for the big lug. He exposes McCormick to increasing doses of voltage, to fulfill his own secret agenda . Unfortunately, Dan becomes utterly dependent on Rigas' electrical treatments for his very life! Of course, this goes from bad to worse, and McCormick eventually becomes a human glow-stick of the killer zombie variety! Chaney and Atwill are terrific in their roles, helping to make MMM a semi-classic. This movie gets extra points for the gloriously familiar lab equipment and for Rigas' awesome goggles!...

simeon_flake Chaney's first horror film with Universal Pictures. I heard this was described as a test vehicle, to see if young Chaney Jr. had the chops to fill the shoes not only of his legendary father, but to see if he could become the studio's new horror man after Karloff and Lugosi.He must have passed the test because it was not long after this that Universal put him in a little picture titled "The Wolf Man" where Chaney cemented his legacy as one of the all-time horror greats.Getting back to "Man Made Monster", it's a pleasant B-Movie programmer, speeding along at barely over an hour & featuring a suitably sinister "mad doctor" performance from the always capable Lionel Atwill. And Chaney is excellent as the ill-fated & tragic Dynamo Dan, a type of character that he would portray again as Larry Talbot. Hopefully one day, this Universal feature will get a standalone DVD release (fingers crossed).

preppy-3 Silly horror film with a mad scientist (played by Lionel Atwill) charging a nice guy (Lon Chaney Jr.) with volts of electricity over a long period of time. Eventually Chaney becomes addicted to it and begins to go mad.The characters are clichés, the plot is ridiculous but this moves quickly and (for a low budget picture) is pretty well made. The special effects that make Chaney glow at the end are obvious but kind of fun in a strange way. Atwill chews the scenery (and is clearly enjoying himself) and Chaney is very good in his role. In the last half he (for some reason) can't talk so he has to show all his emotions through body language and facial expressions and he pulls it off. This isn't really a good movie but I remember enjoying it on late night TV when I was kid and I have fond childhood memories of it. I give it a 6.

dougdoepke Plot— to control his mind, a mad scientist (is there any other kind) sends a big current of electricity through a carnival guy making him glow like a neon sign. Trouble ensues.Anyone familiar with horror pictures of the 30's and 40's knows that under no circumstance do you let Karloff, Zucco, or Atwill strap you down, especially in a laboratory. Pity poor Chaney Jr. He's really a nice guy, but after one horizontal session with Atwill, he lights up like Main St. on a Saturday night. But then he should have seen it coming— after all, Atwill's laboratory has more bells and whistles than Cape Canaveral. Chaney'll never get his old life back now that he's turned into a walking light bulb.Worse, after Atwill has fried Chaney's brain, the big guy has all the personality of a zombie. So, what does the trial court's head doctor say is wrong with him after he's murdered a guy —why, acute melancholia, of course. Sounds to me like the screenwriter has something against head doctors. But then, he doesn't much care for district attorneys either. Because a woman drops dead of fright right after the righteous DA says the public has nothing to fear. Hope the guy has a back-up job.Good slick production from a practiced Universal crew. I especially like Corky the dog, a fine canine actor, along with ingénue Anne Nagel who certainly lit up my corner of the room. All in all, I guess we have electricity to thank for these pre-war laboratory monsters and then nuclear radiation for the post-war mutant monsters. One way or the other, they're still a lot of fun, like this one.