Murders in the Zoo (1933)
Dr. Gorman is a millionaire adventurer, traveling the world in search of dangerous game. His bored, beautiful, much younger wife entertains herself in the arms of other men. In turn, Gorman uses his animals to kill these men. When a New York City zoo suggests a fundraising gala, Gorman sees a prime opportunity to dispatch the dashing Roger and anyone else who might cross him.
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That was an excellent one.
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
The acting in this movie is really good.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Murders in the Zoo (1933) a really good surprise, this seem like way before it's time, Really opening scene in the movie, we see someone being tired up and left in jungle or something and then we see his lips sowed up as well. As the movie was about just hour long, it was kind of fast movie, There were dome dark moments in the movie and i did find this movie to be very funny in some placesI liked how movie flowed, there some really great scenes for it's time and I liked how the movie ended, Really good acting from the cast 8 out of 10
When rogue sunspot activity grants the chimps at the zoo hyper-intelligence, they quickly rebel against their human captors, forcing the humans to ride tricycles while wearing ill-fitting bell boy outfits and smoking cheap cigars while mocking the humans' pale, unswollen buttocks. In an attempt to befriend the chimps, the humans refer to them as mere "monkeys" which sends the chimps into a face eating frenzy that transforms the zoo a cotton candy coated abattoir!Okay, maybe not. This is actually a lean and mean tale of obsession and revenge. I don't want to spoil it for you by giving away any details except to say that this type of story, the pathologically jealous husband who views his wife as property, and the brave wife trying to escape him, has been told many times over.This version however, is stripped down and raw, and the zoo setting gives it a slightly bizarre twist, just enough to jar you yet not so much it detracts from the emotional impact of the story. The acting is good on all sides with Atwill especially frightening as a man both driven and intelligent enough to exact a horrible fate on anyone he even suspects of crossing him. The opening scene is actually pretty disturbing and but does it's job well in that it lets the viewer know exactly how far Atwill will go to impose his retribution.
Animals that kill on command could make a great horror movie but I wasn't impressed with this film.Murders in the Zoo has a strong opening (can be found on YT) but the rest of the movie doesn't hold up.I've read several reviews that call this movie "grisly" "chilling" "creepy" but I don't see it. To me it has very little horror to it at all. It's a mystery crime movie first.**SPOILERS** one death scene has a woman fall into alligator infested waters and you see nothing except a piece of her clothing afterward. For another death scene a boa constrictor does what they do best. You would think a scene like that would be gripping but still nothing. Then there are some obviously tame and oppressed big cats released into a small area to act as a blockade while Atwill makes an escape. The cats run around scared and confused. You see a male lion attacking smaller cats like cougars and female lions. It's off putting.Then this terrified actor is squeezing the life out of a snake for a scene where he extracts venom to create an anti venom. I was surprised the snake still had it's head when he was done.Then there was a bumbling drunk running in and out of scenes for comedic relief which was really unnecessary and detracted from any macabre quality this movie may have had.The last half of the movie dragged. It gave the impression that three months were spent filming the first half and one week for the last half.
Who said the old horror movie weren't graphic, this baby begins with Lionel Atwill sewing a man's mouth closed before feeding him to the animals and going on from there. Great classic horror film thats been picked apart over the years for other films but its never really been done as good as this. The plot is simple, Atwill runs the zoo and uses the animals to dispose of people who annoy him or try to get too close to the women he loves. Its dark and creepy stuff that sends shivers up and down your spine, not so much for what it shows, which isn't much, but for what it doesn't. If you want the perfect mixture of terror of the eyes and terror of the mind this is it. Perfectly paced and played it does what it does and gets off. I can't recommend this film enough. Its great (even if its a tad creaky)