Like many other fans Mystery Science Fiction Theater 3000 I was introduced to films that I would otherwise have never known existed. Among these is the bizarre and incomprehensible Wild, Wild World of Bat Woman. Made with no other intent than to sponge off of the Batman series of the late 60's but done under a micro budget and little talent or imagination, but therein lies its charm, for me at least. The MST3K DVD disc has both the riffed version with Mike, Tom, and Servo during the agonies of the damned watching this as well the uncut version. I have watched both an equal amount of time with equal enjoyment.
Why??? What is the appeal? I don't really know the answer. It is like watching an Ed Wood film. If you watch it in the right frame of mind it feels like a weird dream you might have whilst in the throes of a high fever and it defies all logic. It is a rare thing when all these bad elements come together to make such a wonderful mess.
Trying to make any sense of the story is an act of pure futility. I highly doubt they made the film with nothing more than a vague outline and nothing close to a complete script, throwing everything at the wall whether it stuck or not. I imagine this was made in about a week with a budget of a few thousand dollars.
But its "plot" concerns Bat Woman and her team tasked to travk down something called "the hearing aid", even contacting the spirit realm in an attempt to track it down. Her nemesis is a character named Rat Fink who walks around inconspicuously in a black mask, cape, and derby hat. But this plotline is quickly dropped as characters run around from one location to another. Bat Woman plays a small part in the story and has none of the campy charm of Adam West's Batman. The most charismatic characters are the villains but they are more bumbling than threatening and thus easily defeated Bat Woman and her Bat Girls. The "acting" is appropriately hammy. Whether this was intended to be a comedy or a drama is debatable. At moments we see scenes from the film The Mole People spliced in for some reason.
This would make a good double feature with the Ray Dennis Steckler film Rat Pfink a Boo Boo.
Why??? What is the appeal? I don't really know the answer. It is like watching an Ed Wood film. If you watch it in the right frame of mind it feels like a weird dream you might have whilst in the throes of a high fever and it defies all logic. It is a rare thing when all these bad elements come together to make such a wonderful mess.
Trying to make any sense of the story is an act of pure futility. I highly doubt they made the film with nothing more than a vague outline and nothing close to a complete script, throwing everything at the wall whether it stuck or not. I imagine this was made in about a week with a budget of a few thousand dollars.
But its "plot" concerns Bat Woman and her team tasked to travk down something called "the hearing aid", even contacting the spirit realm in an attempt to track it down. Her nemesis is a character named Rat Fink who walks around inconspicuously in a black mask, cape, and derby hat. But this plotline is quickly dropped as characters run around from one location to another. Bat Woman plays a small part in the story and has none of the campy charm of Adam West's Batman. The most charismatic characters are the villains but they are more bumbling than threatening and thus easily defeated Bat Woman and her Bat Girls. The "acting" is appropriately hammy. Whether this was intended to be a comedy or a drama is debatable. At moments we see scenes from the film The Mole People spliced in for some reason.
This would make a good double feature with the Ray Dennis Steckler film Rat Pfink a Boo Boo.