Horrorfest 2018: Captive Wild Woman

In the 21st century we have Awkwafina but back in 1943 we had Acquanetta, star of Edward Dmytryk’s CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN.

This is the tale of an animal trainer (Milburn Stone) who returns from Africa with lots of new animals for the circus he works for, including a giant (and smart) gorilla named Cheela (Ray Corrigan in a monkey suit). Stone’s girlfriend (Evelyn Ankers, who has probably been in more Universal horror films than anyone) has recently dropped her sister (Martha MacVicar) off with an endocrinologist (John Carradine) who takes a liking to the gorilla and arranges to have it kidnapped.

Turns out Carradine’s not just any endocrinologist – he’s a MAD one. And he wants to transplant human glands into a gorilla for… reasons. He does this (and a quick brain transplant) and ends up with an exotic woman played by Acquanetta who doesn’t remember she was once a gorilla but possesses the ability to control other animals simply by being in their presence. This comes in handy at the circus where Stone’s in over his head with a show featuring too many lions and tigers. It backfires, though, when Acquanetta falls for Stone before realizing Ankers already has him all locked up.

Who is this Acquanetta, you might ask? I asked also. Turns out it’s a mystery. Some sources say she was an Arapaho orphan, others say she hails from Africa and still others say she was originally from Venezuela and grew up in Spanish Harlem. Whatever the case may be, she was a model in New York and then became an actress, starring in several Universal horror flicks, including this one and a sequel I won’t be watching this year (though she will pop up in an Inner Sanctum mystery later!).

This movie’s weird because it has a lot going on but is still full of filler even at its short running time. You’ve got an ape that transforms into a woman and back who can control other animals and a mad doctor who is burning through human female patients just to keep his ape/human hybrid alive. Seems like plenty for a 61-minute-long film but most of it is made up of stock footage of lions and tigers being trained to sit on chairs by guys with whips and revolvers. All the roaring and whipping and gunfire gets old after a while and it’s like “Hey man, get Acquanetta back on the screen.”