Genre: Horror

Rating: NR

Synopsis:
Janet Smith (Gloria Talbott) visits her guardian, Dr. Lomas (Arthur Shields), to inform him of her engagement to George Hastings (John Agar). Janet and George tell Dr. Lomas that, once they're married, they won't accept any more money from him but he informs them that the money he's been spending on Janet is actually a sizable inheritance from her father. While exploring the house, Janet and George discover a secret laboratory in the attic. When they ask Dr. Lomas about it, he tells them that Janet's father was actually Dr. Henry Jekyll, the man whose experiments transformed him into the evil human werewolf Mr. Hyde. Afraid that her father's madness is hereditary, Janet calls off their engagement but George refuses to accept that. Later, Dr. Lomas hypnotizes the distraught Janet and puts her to bed but she dreams about brutally murdering her maid Maggie (Molly McCart) and wakes up screaming. Unfortunately, the next morning, the handyman Jacob (John Dierkes) discovers Maggie's body with the throat ripped out. Jacob believes that Janet is a werewolf, like her father, and starts stirring up trouble with the local townsfolk. That night, Janet insists that Dr. Lomas lock her in her room but, again, she dreams about murdering a young woman (Rita Greene) and wakes up screaming, this time covered in blood. When another young woman is found with her throat ripped out, tensions in the town grow even higher. Even the Dr. Lomas' steadfast housekeeper (Martha Wentworth) leaves him. Convinced that she's a werewolf, Janet begs George to drive a stake through her heart (the only way to kill a werewolf) but he refuses. This time, when Janet goes to bed, Dr. Lomas not only locks the door but also offers to spend the night by Janet's side. Unfortunately, when the full moon rises, Dr. Lomas reveals his true nature, putting Janet into a hypnotic trance and leading her to the family tomb. Luckily, George sees what's happening and follows them. In the tomb, Dr. Lomas tells the hypnotized Janet that she will again dream of murder, then cut herself and cover herself in blood, before hanging herself in atonement. Hearing enough, George attacks Dr. Lomas but the doctor transforms into a werewolf and knocks George unconscious, giving him time to kill another young woman (Marjorie Stapp). Back at the tomb, George wakes up just in time to stop Janet from hanging herself and tells her how Dr. Lomas was manipulating her to her inheritance. Unfortunately, before they can leave, Dr. Lomas returns to the tomb with a mob of villagers hot on his trail. A brief battle ensues, with Dr. Lomas finally being killed by Jacob.

Type of mind control: Hypnosis

Mind control scenes:
The first mind control scene is when Dr. Lomas hypnotizes the distraught Janet with a candle and sends her to bed. Later, Janet dreams of murdering Maggie and another young woman and we find out afterward that these dreams were a hypnotic suggestion from Dr. Lomas. The next mind control scene is when Dr. Lomas puts Janet into a trance and leads her to the family tomb. In the tomb, he gives her a series of hypnotic suggestions before putting her to sleep. Following the doctor's hypnotic instructions, Janet tries to hang herself to atone for being a werewolf.

Subjective Rating: 4 out of 5
The rest of the movie suffers from serious logic flaws (e.g. if Janet's father became Mr. Hyde by doing experiments on himself after she was born, then how could it be hereditary?) but the hypnosis is pretty good. Gloria Talbott plays hypnotized quite well, shuffling along with that blank stare that all stereotypical hypnotized movie characters have but I would have liked to see more hypnosis.