The Bat

A 1959 American crime-mystery thriller directed by Crane Wilbur, starring Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead. Mystery novelist Cornelia van Gorder (Moorehead) rents a country mansion for the summer, only to find herself in the middle of a killing spree by a mysterious murderer known as "The Bat," who wears all black and slashes his victims' throats. Meanwhile, a million dollars has gone missing from the local bank, and the bank president has disappeared. As the bodies pile up in the mansion's secret passages, Dr. Malcolm Wells (Price) may hold the key to the mystery. Based on the 1908 novel The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart and the 1920 play The Bat, this is the fourth film adaptation of the story. Written and directed by Crane Wilbur, who also wrote House of Wax (1953).