Tonight we stayed with pre-'50s horror, moving up from 1935 to '48. Our movie was "The Creeper", found once again on the Youtube list of Mr. Spinks. Like last night's "Dr. Crespi", it was short, running 64 minutes. Former child star Janice Wilson ("Now, Voyager") stars as "Nora Cavigny", the young daughter of a chemist. When we first meet her, she is walking in her sleep, holding a gun taken from her father's drawer. She places it under her pillow and goes back to bed. Nora is terrified of cats, to the extent that she subconsciously needs to arm herself.
Her Dad, "Dr. Lester Cavigny" (Ralph Morgan) is a researching an experimental serum containing phosphorus. He believes it's luminescent property will help in surgery, by demarcating organs slated for removal or repair. If hard to reach tumors or cancerous areas were illuminated, surgeons might work with greater precision; lives could be saved. Dr. Cavigny has been working on this project with another researcher, "Dr. Jim Bordon" (Onslow Stevens), whose office is next door. But Cavigny is becoming increasingly distracted by the outbursts of his daughter. Every time Nora visits his office, she becomes hysterical at the sight of the cats kept there as test animals. Her fear of them is so great that her father considers abandoning the project. Dr. Bordon is unsympathetic to Nora's phobia. He has no time for her neurotic displays and tells Dr. Cavigny that if he won't participate any longer, the project will continue without him. Bordon suggests Cavigny put Nora in a psych ward and be done with it.
Of course, the doctor loves his daughter and will do no such thing. Instead, he gives her sedatives so she can sleep, but these cause bad dreams, in which she remembers a time in the West Indies, where she lived as a little girl. The script hints that, in her waking hours, Nora has no memory of living there, or that her memory was deliberately erased through hypnosis. Whatever the reason, she only recalls it in dreams, and even then they are just glimpses, fragments of whatever happened there. But whatever it was, it has something to do with her extreme fear of cats.
During one of her visits to the office, Nora meets the tall, handsome "Dr. Reade" (John Baragrey), Dr. Bordon's young assistant. Reade is engaged to Bordon's nurse "Gwen Runstrom" (June Vincent), but begins to pay more attention to Nora, who has developed a crush on him. Reade is sympathetic to Nora's plight, which pits him against his boss Dr. Bordon and also to Gwen his fiance, who is actually pretty cold hearted when you get right down to it. She's gung ho to produce the serum also, despite Nora's protests and Dr. Cavigny's ambivalence. Thus we now have two opposing camps in the plot ; on one side is Dr. Cavigny, Nora and Dr. Reade, on the other is Dr. Bordon and Gwen, his nurse. There is a third doctor involved, Dr. Van Glock (Eduardo Cianelli), an older man who watches most of the proceedings from his work table where he quietly mixes chemicals. There seems to be something sinister about Dr. Van Glock, mostly because he is played by Cianelli, who often portrayed gangsters and bad guys in his numerous onscreen roles. Also, and quite oddly I might add, he is given top billing in this film when his part is actually very small. The picture belongs to Janice Wilson and John Baragrey, who are third billed for some strange reason. June Vincent and Onslow Stevens are above them as well.
Anyhow, back to Eduardo Cianelli as "Dr. Van Glock". He keeps one cat as a pet. It's name is "Creeper" and it's allowed free run of the office. Creeper follows Nora around until she's about to jump out of her skin. She passes out one night and winds up in the hospital. Baragrey brings her flowers. By now, his engagement to the ice queen Gwen is all but over. In the hospital, Nora tells Baragrey she saw something horrible in the office before losing consciousness. It looked like a Giant Cat, but it walked upright like a man. Now we are getting into "Cat People" territory, but you probably expected that. Baragrey tells her it was just a nightmare, but then Nora adds that she's beginning to remember more of what happened during her time in the West Indies. "I think it's the same thing now", she says.
The following night, there is a murder in the research lab. The cat handler, an elderly man named Andre (David Hoffman), is found ripped to shreds. Now the police are involved, but the scratch marks don't match those of an ordinary cat. That rules out the ones in the lab. Detectives think a psycho may be on the loose, one with an animal rights agenda. "Maybe the guy used a weapon, something to simulate claws to get his point across". But it still doesn't make sense. Who would want to kill poor old Andre? He was just a lowly assistant.
When Nora learns of the murder, she tries to tell the detective what she saw the night before. Baragrey, who is now in love with her, makes excuses for Nora so she won't be considered crazy. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. She doesn't know what she's saying. Please forgive her, she's been under a lot of stress lately". But Nora is remembering the West Indies now. What happened there is happening all over again and she won't be dissuaded from talking. She confronts her father with what she knows. He in turn goes to Dr. Bordon and demands the project be stopped. Bordon won't abandon it, so Nora finds his notebook with the serum formula and burns it in the fireplace. This creates a showdown. That night, Nora is visited by The Creeper in her bedroom. All we see is a shadow on the wall, but it's suitably terrifying. It looks like an oversized Cat Claw, moving vertically as if it were walking.
That's all I can reveal about the plot, but it's quite an effective story considering it's brief length and the fact that much of it is related via expository dialogue rather than action. This isn't one of those jam-packed scripts where a ton of stuff happens, but what does happen is very atmospheric - very "Creepy" in fact, so the title lives up to it's name. I would classify "The Creeper" as "quiet horror", where the focus is mostly psychological. It relies on the performance of young Janice Wilson, which I found quite good. Some IMDB fans thought she went over the top, but I disagree. She is playing a supposed "hysteric" after all, but we know that she's entirely sane. She really has seen a Cat Creature, and her memories from the West Indies prove it. Also, her father knows she's telling the truth but has been trying to cover it up. Wilson has to portray all facets of Nora's mental state, and I thought she did a great job. It's her movie all the way, and though it's low budget and lacks a layered script, "The Creeper" is a nice little horror flick, one that stays with you through the night. I give it Two Solid Thumbs Up and recommend it to fans of overlooked, minor gems. /////
That's all for the time being. Gonna go for a CSUN walk now. See you later tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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