Just perfect...

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Barney Chavez (Burr) is in-love with Mrs. Dina Van Gelder (Payton) but she is married to his employer. Chavez ends up killing the employer but is seen by a voodoo priestess who casts a spell, a curse, on him that turns him into a murderous Gorilla. Barney and Dina end up married but with lots of problems. Police Commissioner Taro (Chaney) is on the trail to find out the answers. The question is: Is Chavez' transformation into a Gorilla real or all in his mind.Raymond Burr is good in this role - convincing, Barbra Payton does well as a woman tormented, Lon Chaney Jr makes a good police commissioner - so the film is overall fun to watch.This film is not nearly as bad as the critics say it is - it's actually interesting. There are some intense moments and it's a good ending. If you like movies where one of the characters is transformed into a creature and film concerning voodoo then you might like 'Bride of the Gorilla'.6.5/10

Here comes the groom awaiting his doom....and there goes the bride with no place to hide...In watching this science fiction film of the voodoo kind, I was actually very surprised how much I enjoyed it after not having seen it in over 10 years. I got past my film snobbishness and upped the rating from "2" to "5" because even though one capsule book on film reviews called it one of the top films to be on everybody's worst list, I found it extremely enjoyable. The critic referred to it as a plethora of non-actors at their worst, but even ones I sometimes sneer at myself (Lon Chaney Jr.) gave sincere performances here that surprised me with their simplicity and believability.The Maria Ouspenskaya like Gisela Werbisek is the servant to plantation owner Paul Cavanaugh and when she witnesses his foreman Raymond Burr arrange his "accidental" death, she plots her revenge which takes place on the day Burr marries Cavanaugh's beautiful younger widow, Barbara Payton. This turns him into a feared monster who in the form of a gorilla terrifies the natives as it brutally kills other wild animals and makes them wonder if human beings will be next. As this creature takes over Burr's personality, his marriage to Payton crumbles with his desire to remain in the jungle as she longs to escape it. Lawman Chaney and Cavanaugh's doctor (Tom Conway) suspect something is amiss with Burr, and in short order, all is revealed.Chaney, who in his Universal leading roles bothered me with his attempts to be a leading man, narrates the film simply. This is actually quite eerie in spots, especially the shot of Werbisek placing poisonous leaves on the eyes of the deceased Cavanaugh as she vows her vengeance on Burr. Don't expect the usually one-dimensional villain performance from Burr; The motives are understandable and as the tensions arise in the early scenes between Burr and Cavanaugh, you know that evil is afoot more in just the monstrous character Burr eventually becomes. Burr actually looks more like a romantic leading man here than normal, his handsome face very distinguished even if he shows a hefty build in a few shots. Payton is very appealing as the bleach-blonde femme fatal and also gets much dimension in her characterization of the younger wife who comes to resent her older husband (Cavanaugh) for spending more time reading the bible than with her.Although obviously made on the cheap, the photography actually is pretty good and the dialog (at least not until the end) never so over the top that you laugh at it. Perhaps this gets more of a ribbing because of its rather campy title, the presence of Burr in a romantic lead, film noir vixen Payton as a mostly noble woman and the hideously evil woman which Gisela Werbisek plays, glaring through her giant bush baby like eyes with the evil of a Disney villainess.

A plantation manager (Burr) defies his boss (Cavanagh) by courting his wife (Payton) then is implicated in a web of murder, deceit and witchcraft whereby he becomes a marauding jungle ape, a feared symbol of the local folklore and fable. Local police captain (Chaney) has his hands full dealing with the monster's wake, and Burr's erratic behaviour culminating in his suspicion that the two matters might be one in the same.Difficult to predict that Raymond Burr would go on to become a household name after a performance as pedestrian as the one he casually delivers here, his rich baritone a clue to why he prospered in spite of some early, lacklustre performances such as this effort. Payton plays Payton, the over-rated alternative to Marilyn Monroe, whose life descended into a tragic abyss after only a handful of films. Interesting to see Woody Strode in an early, minor role as a police officer (two brief scenes) as Chaney's offsider early in the picture.Chaney is a likable character actor, but the dialogue and plot here is very weak and uninspired, director Siodmak has difficulty with momentum and the film never hits its straps. While it might be attempting to imply the "monster within" concept, Burr never reaches deep enough to make you believe he's a man possessed, and the dialogue doesn't support that angle. In this vein, there's one effective scene in which Burr confronts his alter ego in the reflection of a mirror, but otherwise, it's a dull, soap opera fantasy.

To my mind, this is a really great cast: Lon Chaney, Jr., Raymond Burr, Tom Conway, and a young Woody Strode. In spite of the poverty-row level of production and a flawed script, these guys give it their best and deliver. The female lead, Barbara Peyton, isn't functioning on the same level, nor is her rival, Carol Varga, but Gisela Werbisek as an ancient witch-woman gives us at least one great female performance. This is not, by the way, the same as the Ed Wood-scripted "Bride and the Beast," about a woman who lusts after a gorilla. No, this woman betrays her husband for a man who is "little more than a beast" and then watches as her new lover transforms, little by little, into an ape. Or maybe not. It all may be (seems to be?) in his head, a guilt-complex over committing murder, and all that 50s psycho-babble. It's fun, but not really a proper monster movie. Know that going in and you may enjoy.