Bride of the Monster

"Bride of the Monster" (1955) features Bela Lugosi as Dr. Eric Vornoff, a scientist who has some interesting ideas about what happens when you combine human subjects with atomic energy. To keep his clandestine activities secret, Vornoff has Lobo (Tor Johnson) for muscle and a giant octopus that inhabits the lake near his lair.

It's a bit unclear whether The Monster is supposed to be Lobo, the octopus or Vornoff himself. The titular bride is easier to pin down: it's reporter Janet Lawton. She gets more than she bargained for when she investigates a string of mysterious disappearances near The Old Willow Place (a.k.a., The Vornoff Institute for Improbable and Unethical Experimentation).

The mechanical octopus used for the climactic scene in "Bride" is rumored to have been stolen from the set of another movie, minus the mechanism that enabled it to move properly. As a result, Lugosi's Varnoff appears to be flailing in nothing more menacing than a pile of garden hoses—a far cry from the doomed struggle against a pitiless beast he's meant to depict.

Sci-fi fans know to expect such quality acting and special effects when watching an Ed Wood picture. This incomparable director was also responsible for the must-see classic "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1959) which earned the honor "The Worst Film of All Time" in the 1980 book The Golden Turkey Awards.