The last of nine films that horror icon Bela Lugosi made for the ultra-cheap Monogram studio. It's certainly one of the more intriguing in this series, thanks to a twisted story and a cast of vintage old reliable scare men.Sneaky gas station owner Nicholas (George Zucco) steers young women down the wrong road whenever they get lost in their automobiles and require directions at his place. After sending them off on their gullible way, he hot tails it to the telephone to alert Dr. Marlowe (Lugosi) that another victim will soon arrive. The doc utilizes his dimwitted henchman Toby (John Carradine) to help kidnap the girls and take them to his basement, so Bela can place them into a trance and use them to restore life to his lovely but brain dead wife. The method is for Lugosi and Zucco to don voodoo garb and chant bizarre rites while Carradine bangs maniacally on a drum, in an effort to transfer the life spirit out of the hypnotized victims and into the doc's unresponsive spouse.Sounds like a hoot, does it not? This film got an extra boost around the time of this writing due to a wonderful newly restored Blu-ray release from Olive Films. Looking way better than ever before or than it probably deserves, this is a slight hour of absurd fun. Lugosi is restrained and has some emotional moments when caring for his wife's well being, and it is such a laugh to see Shakespearean veteran Carradine making an utter buffoon out of himself. How did he do it? Lord knows they couldn't afford to pay him enough. **1/2 out of ****.

"Voodoo Man" is a silly horror film from Monogram Pictures. Fortunately, the film very consciously knows it's silly and because of this, it makes an otherwise stupid film quite enjoyable--particularly at the end.When the film begins, a young woman is driving all alone--and the evil guy working at the gas station (George Zucco) takes advantage of that. He calls ahead to Dr. Marlowe (Bela Lugosi) and informs him that she is headed his way and Marlowe's henchmen (one of which is John Carradine) set a trap to capture her. Why? Because Marlowe hopes to use voodoo to somehow re-animate his dead wife! After five of these ladies vanish, there are finally some clues--and they point to Marlowe and his gang of weirdos. This movie is jam-packed with silly mumbo jumbo and silliness. However, and this is important, it never takes itself too seriously and the ending really made me smile. While this film will never earn any high praise from anyone who is sane, it is quite enjoyable escapism despite its many deficiencies.

Voodoo Man is like a lot of the poverty row horrors in that it showed signs that there was a good film in there somewhere, but somehow it just doesn't quite come together. The film starts out pretty good and the first fifteen minutes or so allow for a fine introduction to the story. Girls are disappearing in the town and everyone is concerned. Then we are treated to an excellent scene with Louis Currie and Bela Lugosi with some eerie lighting, great close ups, and a generally spooky atmosphere. Things are looking up!But then 4 minutes later we have George Zucco in face paint and a headdress chanting rubbish backed up by John Carradine acting a fool and banging on a bongo drum. Sigh. Welcome to a Monogram horror film.Oh well, the story continues and it becomes typical poverty row horror dribble with ineffective humor thrown in. The good part is that Louis Currie, Wanda McKay, and the other kidnapped girls look great. George Zucco in the headdress is always funny, and I laughed out loud when the Sheriff said, "Gosh all fish hooks" when he spots Louis Currie wandering around the road. You just can't get that kind of dialog in an 'A' picture.Voodoo Man is not a total waste. Bela Lugosi is fine in the film, and the ladies look great. The first fifteen minutes could almost be mistaken for a better film, and if that mood had continued, Voodoo Man could have been so much more.

A car pulls into a lonely country gas station. Owner George Zucco oozes out to greet the driver, a young woman. "Stranger in this part of the country, aren't you?" he inquires. She should not ask him for directions!Yes, attractive young female motorists are disappearing, and it's not long before we learn that they are being misdirected onto a detour that will take them to a spooky mansion where Bela Lugosi is practicing—with Zucco's assistance—some very strange magic.Lugosi has most of the best lines in this goofy but entertaining quickie. For example, his introduction to his wife, who died 22 years ago: "She's dead…only in the sense that you understand that word." (Actually, she's dead in a way I do not understand, since she seems to walk okay but just doesn't have much to say.)John Carradine is hilarious as a sort of nutty henchman; he is in charge of the hypnotized captives and moves from spot to spot in a sort of hippity-hop trot instead of just walking. Henry Hall is also funny as the local sheriff: "Sheriff's job in this county used to be a cinch," he says. "Now it's a pain in the neck"—meaning, all of these missing motorist reports are really eating up his time. Wanda McKay and Tod Andrews are the attractive if rather bland young couple who are drawn into the mystery.Zucco spends most of his screen time in a sorcerer's robe decorated with stars and crescents; Lugosi has one that matches. They look…um…silly. But they appear to be having fun—and although this picture is no great shakes and contains no great frights, it is indeed fun.