Rainey Dawn While this may not be the greatest B-film out there - it's certainly better than I guessed it would be. I found this one interesting, it's a pretty cool film.This really is your classic werewolf story - kinda like The Wolf Man but replacing wolves with bats. This becomes the story of The Bat Man. It's sorta Wolf Man meets Dracula merged together in one film in a roundabout way. So this film intrigued me.Naturally our character, Dr. John Beck, is told it's "all in his head" - he's not really or literally transforming. And there is a police sergeant (Sgt. Ward) that is suspicious of him for flat out murderer - medication or not he's a murderer. And our Bat Man goes on the run. There is a nice story to between Bat Man (Dr. Beck) and his wife Cathy.If you like the Wolf Man type of films and Dracula/Bats then give this film a chance. It's a B-film but a pretty good story. BTW I think this film is underrated. 8/10

geminiredblue Being a devoted Mysty (follower of the MST3K TV series), I've seen my share of truly bizarre movies. THE BAT PEOPLE (AKA: IT LIVES BY NIGHT) is easily one of the most... um, interesting. Let me just tell you: Johnny (Stewart Moss) and Cathy (Marianne McAndrew) are newlyweds on a belated honeymoon. While exploring a cave, Johnny's bitten by a bat. From there, things get strange. Occasionally, he has these weird visions and goes into a convulsive trance. In the dreams, he sees flocks of bats. When people start turning up dead, Sheriff Ward (Michael Pataki) begins to suspect that Johnny is behind it. Yeah, Johnny is a bat person. Though the make-up actually makes him look more like an extra from PLANET OF THE APES. Then his wife... oh nevermind. The ending is a little confusing. Though, when you actually stop to think about it, you might get creeped out. Let's just say (spoiler alert) the bat virus could be a VD. Story-wise, this is one of the most original ideas I've seen. The problem, however, is that the film lacks oomph. The kills either need to be more elaborate or the tension needs to be ratcheted up. The actors give their roles 110% and it doesn't hurt that both leads were married to each other at the time. My personal favorite, though, is Michael Pataki. I first noticed him years back when he appeared in SIDEHACKERS (AKA: FIVE THE HARD WAY). He's deftly shown a willingness to play creepy characters. And he totally disappears into each role. In BAT PEOPLE, his Sheriff Ward is an interesting blend of professional duty, personal vengeance, and lechery (especially toward Cathy). His fate is tragic, even though you might be cheering for it. Like or leave it, the film has got something going for it. SQUEAK! *FLAP! FLAP! FLAP!*

gavin6942 After being bitten by a bat in a cave, a doctor (Stewart Moss) undergoes an accelerating transformation into a man-bat creature, which ruins his vacation and causes considerable distress for his wife (Marianne McAndrew, Moss' real-life spouse).So, yeah, there is a lot of unnecessary fluff, such as scene of skiing and sentimental music playing. But why the hate? We still have a cool transformation scene, not unlike a werewolf film... only into a much more awesome animal. Did the creators of this film read Detective Comics #400 (June 1970) and get inspired by Man-Bat? Maybe...Best of all, this was the first film for makeup legend Stan Winston. Say what you will about this film, but the effects are cool and Winston went on to some of the greatest projects in film history.

Paul Andrews The Bat People starts as a scientist researching Bat immunology Dr. John Beck (Stewart Moss) & his wife Cathy (Marianne McAndrew) take a public tour of an underground cave system, like a typical woman Cathy gets into trouble & ends up at the bottom of a crevice. John follows her down & he is bitten by a Bat, eventually they are missed & rescued. Better safe than sorry John checks in with Dr. Kipling (Paul Carr) who starts him on a course of rabies antibiotics, unfortunately John as changed & periodically transforms into a half-man half-bat type creature which has the antisocial habit of murdering anyone it meets & eating rats. Sergeant Ward (Michael Pataki) likes a quiet life & all these murders are upsetting him, he sets about tracking John down & putting an end to his murderous reign...Directed by Jerry Jameson & despite it's bad reputation I rather liked The Bat People, it certainly isn't any sort of masterpiece but as monster on the loose type thing I though it was watchable if nothing else. The script by producer Lou Shaw is hard to defend, if I'm honest its a bit slow, it can get dull at times, it's silly & never explains why John turns into the Bat creature he does & when all said & done not that much happens. But I still like it, for all it's bad points I liked it. I found the story quite cool & reminded of those monster films from the 50's & 60's, everything is played with deadly seriousness which I also thought gave the proceedings a certain silliness & there were a couple of effective scenes in here. The Bat People is one of those films I can't recommend as if I think about it with my head it's total crap but there's something in my heart which made me enjoy it, I'm sure monster film fans would like it to some extent although more casual viewers may want to skip it.Director Jameson does OK & I just love the 70's atmosphere, the clothes the fashions & the way it's shot. I thought the scene when John escapes from the hospital was funny, if your trying to escape from somewhere maybe stealing an ambulance with screeching sirens & flashing lights while dressed in a night gown isn't the best idea for not attracting attention. This was Stan Winston's second film as a make-up artist & he probably did the best he could on a low budget but if John turns into a Bat creature where are his wings? He looks more like a Werewolf to be honest. The murders are tame, there's no blood & the film doesn't linger on them.Technically the film is alright, it certainly looks better than a lot of low budget horror films that have been made within the last few years, the special effects are decent & the New Mexican location shooting adds a lot to the film. The acting is alright with Pataki as the sleazy police officer standing out.The Bat People is crap if I'm completely honest, having said that I liked it despite it's faults however I think many won't. Impossible for me to recommend but at least I've put a different & honest point of view across compared to most people who slate it.