Bonus Reviews: Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) and NYX 2022 13 Minutes (2022)

Horror Bulletin Bonus for Week 184

Aug 27, 2022

For this week’s bonus films, we’ll look at yet another Abbott and Costello collaboration with Universal Monsters, this time they encounter "The Invisible Man." We'll also look at a super-short anthology of 13 horror shorts, called simply "13 Minutes" now showing on Shudder.

Don’t forget, the first week of each month, we publish ALL our reviews, including the bonus content, in our monthly “Horror Bulletin” print magazine (also available as an ebook). If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you! The new issue is out now!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JN2WBJ8

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)

Directed by Charles Lamont
Written by Hugh Wedlock Jr, Howard Snyder, Robert Lees
Stars Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Nancy Guild, Arthur Franz
Run Time: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes
Trailer:

Synopsis

Dugan’s Detective Training is having a graduation ceremony. Bud and Lou are in the first row of graduates. Soon after, Lou starts wearing a deerstalker cap like Sherlock Holmes with a big curved pipe and carrying a magnifying glass.

Suddenly, a sketchy-looking man comes into the office. A call comes on the radio talking about an escaped murderer, Tommy Nelson. That’s the guy in their office. Lou realizes this, but Bud doesn’t get it. Tommy calls Helen and asks if the doctor is in. He pays the two junior detectives to drive him to Dr. Gray’s house.

Inside, Dr. Gray asks if Tommy really wants the serum. Tommy swears that he didn’t kill the man he’s accused of murdering. Gray demonstrates the invisibility serum on a guinea pig. Gray warns that the serum would turn Tommy into a maniac, as it did with John Griffin, the original inventor of the serum. Gray refuses, just as the police pull up outside. Tommy decides he must take the serum; otherwise, it’ll be the chair for him.

Tommy runs into the room where Lou is as Bud runs off to get the police. Tommy vanishes right in front of Lou’s eyes. By the time the police show up, Tommy is gone. Detective Roberts thinks Lou is insane. The police psychiatrist doesn’t know what to make of Lou; he’s too stupid to be insane. Before long, Lou has half the police station hypnotized and asleep.

Back at their own office, Helen is waiting to hire them to prove Tommy’s innocence of murder. She gives them a suitcase of clothes to give to Tommy if they “see” him. Tommy soon finds them and puts out a suit and the traditional bandages and dark glasses. Bud calls the police on Tommy, but he undresses before they find him.

Tommy explains that he’s a boxer and that he found his opponent’s dead body after a fight, but the room was locked; the police pinned the murder on him. They go to the gym and watch Rocky Hanlon fight. Morgan arranged for Tommy to throw a fight, but Tommy didn’t follow through. He’s getting ready to fix another fight, and Tommy overhears the arrangements.

Tommy “helps” Lou get noticed as an expert boxer, which Lou is definitely not. Rocky Hanlon is jealous and wants a fight. “Lou” knocks out Rocky in one invisible punch, with Tommy’s invisible help. Soon, Lou and Rocky are scheduled for a real fight. Tommy loves the idea of beating up Rocky invisibly, but Lou is less than confident.

Helen comes over to talk to Tommy. She warns him that it’s foggy outside, and people may be able to see him. Also, how is the insanity coming along? He makes it clear that it’s progressing. They all go out to dinner afterward for some eating hijinks. Morgan is there, and he gets Boots Marsden to seduce Lou.

Lou goes to see Boots that night, and he’s got a recording machine so that they can catch her admitting something about the murdered fighter. She tells him that a single punch could hurt his good looks, so he shouldn’t fight, or better yet, agree to go down in the first few rounds. Lou sits on the recording and breaks it. Meanwhile, Tommy is starting to talk crazy.

Morgan is the money man behind the fake fights, but Rocky says he can beat Lou on his own. Tommy gets drunk, and Bud and Lou carry him to Dr. Gray’s house. Tommy tells Lou to take Boots’ deal, but Tommy can make sure he can win, which will break the deal with Morgan. The boys leave, and then Tommy finds out that Gray has him strapped down to a table; he’s not going anywhere.

It’s the night of the fight, and Tommy is nowhere to be found. Lou wonders if he can even make it to the fifth round. Tommy eventually does show up after breaking the straps. Lou goes ahead with the fight.

Rocky mops the floor with Lou, and Tommy isn’t helping as much as he should. Tommy eventually helps. Lou wants to finish Rocky off by himself, but that doesn’t go so well. Morgan thinks something fishy is going on; Rocky tells his manager that he’s hearing voices, which makes the manager think he’s been punched one too many times.

Tommy gets out of the ring and starts messing with the audience. Lou gets beaten up and wants to quit, but Bud says he’s doing just fine and pushes him back into the fight. Lou/Tommy ends up winning the fight. Now, Morgan is ready to kill them. Dr. Gray shows up and says he has the cure for invisibility if they can just find Tommy.

In the dressing room, Bud and Lou find Morgan and his goon. Suddenly, the invisible man beats up the bad guys. A steam pipe gets broken, making Tommy visible; one of the goons throws a knife at a semi-visible Tommy. Bud tells the cops what really happened.

They take Tommy to the hospital, where Gray gives him the antidote. Soon enough, Tommy is back to normal and can be with Helen. Happy ending. Lou, who was giving a transfusion to Tommy, starts turning invisible himself.

Commentary

The invisibility effects just get better with each passing movie. This time, he eats spaghetti, which is well done. The re-visibility thing is similar to previous Invisible Man films, with blood vessels appearing first.

There’s a lot of physical comedy here, especially in the boxing match.

This one got more chuckles out of us than the previous A&C movies did, so that works for me.

NYX 2022 13 Minutes (2022)

Written and Directed by various
Run Time: 17 Minutes
Trailer: https://reelgood.com/movie/nyx-2022-13-minutes-of-horror

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

These were so quick, it’s hard to talk about them and give a synopsis. It literally is a collection of one minute films. They were all top entries to NYX, and they are all winners. A very interesting watch.

Synopsis

The premise is simple: thirteen short films in 13 minutes. Here’s my summary, which will take even less time:

Don’t get plastic surgery from a vending machine.
When you don’t get sick days, why not work after death?
Sometimes dating a psycho is a good thing.
Sometimes Skype is better.
Transform(hers) are dolls.
The problems of an apocalyptic lifestyle and one easy solution.
Space-Time distortions can be creepy.
Something about a sentient infection, I think.
Diet pills are bad, mmmmkay?
Space babies and a crazy wall.
Torture by VR.
What can you do in five minutes?
Don’t bring up the past. It’s always bad.

Commentary

It was good. It’s hard to tell much of a story in under a minute, but are mostly good attempts. Some were a bit better than others, but it’s a matter of opinion. It’s hard to pick a favorite when they were all so short and interesting.

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