This is only the 3rd in The Bowery Boys series of films. Not my favorite in the series but pretty standard for The Boys. This time they get mixed up with some bank robbing gangsters and have to clear their name. There are impersonations of Edward G. Robinson and the old SCARFACE movie in this one and also a mad scientist that turns a guy into a walking bomb(hence the title). SPOOK BUSTERS is next and that was always one of my favs just for it's haunted house setting.
I watched this one right after SPOOK CHASERS which I thought was the worst Bowery Boys movie I'd ever seen and I believe this might be the best one the Boys did. It was obviously inspired by ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN and apparently was also the highest-grossing film in their long-running series. Since this is clearly a very low-budget deal, as were all of the Boys adventures, you're not getting very top-shelf monsters. There's a couple of mad scientists, a vampire lady, a man-eating plant(owned by Grandma Walton(Ellen Corby) from THE WALTONS TV program) and a killer gorilla and robot thrown in for good measure. The kooky family that lives in our monster house is kind of Addams Family-ish with their large Lurch-like butler and creepy mansion home. There's also a couple of brief scenes where someone is turned into a hairy Mr. Hyde-like monster. While obviously not on the level of Abbott & Costello this is still good for a goofy late-night watch.
This might be the worst Bowery Boys movie that I've seen. It was one of the last films for the Boys, there were only 3 more to go and I haven't seen any of them yet and I'm not sure if I really want to! By this point in the series(the 44th film?) Leo Gorcey, the main character in all these films!, had quit leaving Huntz Hall to be the star and if there's anything more annoying than a solo Hall I've yet to see it. It's like watching Costello without Abbott except not even that good! If that's not bad enough Leo's dad Bernard Gorcey(who played store owner Louie) had passed away so they replaced him with Percy Helton who also seems like a big step down in charisma. The story itself must have been done a hundred times by this point in time by everyone from The Three Stooges to Abbott & Costello about an old spooky house and some gangsters trying to spook our protagonists. Not exactly a laugh riot.
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