THE MONSTER (1925) is a fine little comedy horror film featuring the great Lon Chaney as deranged mad scientist Dr Ziska. I was surprised at just how entertaining this was given that I'd never heard of it before watching a decent print on Amazon Prime. The story has three characters getting waylaid by asylum inmates in the countryside before finding themselves trapped inside the sanatarium itself. An early entry in the 'old dark house' genre, it has all of the usual hijinks including ugly characters creeping around in the dark, mysterious disappearances, secret experiments and even a bit of action.
The comedy angle is certainly played up throughout with the main character a Chaplin lookalike who fancies himself as an amateur detective and has a mail-order certificate to prove it! He's in love with a beautiful shopkeeper's daughter but must battle a love rival while fending off Chaney's sinister intentions to boot. No especial prosthetics for Chaney in this one, just a creepy makeup job, and he's excellent alongside his kooky comrades. A really enjoyable and funny little silent film that feels ahead of its time, this one.
The comedy angle is certainly played up throughout with the main character a Chaplin lookalike who fancies himself as an amateur detective and has a mail-order certificate to prove it! He's in love with a beautiful shopkeeper's daughter but must battle a love rival while fending off Chaney's sinister intentions to boot. No especial prosthetics for Chaney in this one, just a creepy makeup job, and he's excellent alongside his kooky comrades. A really enjoyable and funny little silent film that feels ahead of its time, this one.