Kindly small town physician Dr. John Beecher (a fine and likable performance by John Beal) gets transformed into a vicious predatory vampire after mistakenly taking an experimental drug made from the blood of vampire bats. Director Francis Lederer relates the engrossing story in an admirably taut and straightforward manner and neatly grounds the fantastic premise in a believable quiet small town setting, but unfortunately fails to generate much in the way of either suspense or creepy atmosphere. Moreover, the vampire make-up is regrettably shoddy and the pace a touch too slow. That said, this film still delivers a few tense and thrilling moments such as when Beecher chases after his loyal nurse Carol Butler (well played by the lovely Coleen Gray) through the dark streets. The climax is likewise quite exciting. Pat Fielder's concise and offbeat script offers a fresh and inspired non-Gothic modern scientific take on vampirism. The sound acting by a sturdy cast helps a lot: Beal makes for a sympathetic anguished protagonist, Kenneth Tobey is in typically fine form as the stalwart Sheriff Buck Donnelly, plus there are nice turns by Dabbs Greer as the cheery Dr. Will Beaumont, Ann Stanton as the terrified Marion Williams, and James Griffith as the aloof Dr. Henry Winston. Jack MacKenzie's crisp black and white cinematography boasts several graceful fades and dissolves. Gerald Fried's spirited shivery score does the shuddery trick. A rather flawed, but overall still solid and enjoyable movie.

The film begins with a nice town doctor being called to the lab or a strange chemist who is dying. It seems that the chemist has developed something that he considers important but when the nice doctor arrives, the dying chemist mentions some pills he created and then dies. What these pills are for, the doctor has no idea but he sticks them in his pocket. Later, when the doc has a headache, he accidentally takes one of these pills and it makes him into a blood-sucking monster with really lousy makeup.

While it's obvious that United Artists did not break the bank to make this film, despite its low price tag, it was reasonably interesting and is worth a peek to horror fans. Sophisticated patrons will most likely find the whole thing rather silly, but what sort of sophisticated or snobby viewer would watch a film like this in the first place?

At least that's the case of doctor John Beal in this above average B horror film when he accidentally takes pills meant for vampire bats in his scientific experiments rather than his own. His small town community is besieged by violent crimes where the victims all have vampire bats like marks which only indicates that there's a maniac on the loose. Upon his discovery, he consults veteran doctor Dabs Greer who tries to help him which leads to a long night of Beal begging for a sedative just like a drug addict under withdrawals would beg for a small hit.

The chilling atmosphere and a lack of camp and unintentional humor makes this an above average programmer coming at a time when horror films needed a shot in the arm of new ideas. This has a lot of tense moments with some pretty frightening scenes involving the victims, one removed from sight in a very shocking manner. Colleen Gray as Beal's devoted nurse and Lydia Reed as his loving wife offer good support with new doctor in town Kenneth Tobey the hero who helps the police uncover the shocking truth. The special effects aren't anything new, and the vampire looks more like a werewolf. Still pretty good considering the low budget they had to deal with.