Creature with the Atom Brain

Having just seen this for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised; this is a solid, well-acted and scripted, somewhat tongue-and-cheek but scary horror/sci-fi film with a premise simutaneously nightmarishly banal/outrageous: a petty American criminal (looking like a cheap burley thug, the kind who would "threaten" George Reeves on the cheap sets on the t.v. Superman) hooks up in Europe with a German (read: Nazi) scientist experimenting with neural stimulation, and uses the doctor to seek revenge on his enemies by having the doctor's lab subjects become zombiefied killing machines, all via t.v. screens and microphones. The scenes of the gangster and the conflicted scientist constantly standing in front of the screens is at once deliberately "boring" and yet so weirdly disturbing. Even more disturbing and nightmarish are the two of them constantly donning radiation suits to crawl through what looks like some sort of embryonic white plastic tunnel to get to the lab and work on the zombies brains. The science fiction is contrasted humorously with the white-picket fence-ish 1950's domesticity of Richard Denning and his little family. Ah, Richard Denning! Golden wavy-haired, stalwart, fine-figured, supremely handsome, serious yet light-hearted, flirting with his wife yet always ready at a moment's notice to follow up any lead as a police doctor. One of the delights of this movie is a sort of spoof of pipe-smoking! Denning and a detective constantly light up so much that the detective offers Richard to "try my special blend". We also get the much used and appreciated staple of 50's sci-fi movies, the educational film strip, although here it is a bare, er, "bones" demonstration, with just a little doggy who has electrodes on his head. (I do NOT recommend this film for children say, under 12 years old!) The climax has a very "modern" Night of the Living Dead feel to it. The plot moves along at a satisfying pace and never lags. The dialog is punchy and clever. The villains are definitely memorable in a strangely "unmemorable" way. (the genius of the movie, I think!) I highly recommend this to all sci-fi/horror film buffs.

One might think with the extremely low budget, the lack of true star power, and a title like Creature with the Atom Brain that this project would be nothing more than many of the same types of science fiction/horror films grinded out in the 1950s, but it is better than you might expect. Sure, it looks pretty cheaply made. Yes, Richard Denning is it when it comes to a name your average 50's movie fan might know. Like other movies of its era and genre, the film is fast-paced and to the point without a lot of expository information given to the audience. What makes this film a bit different is that the story, even though quite ridiculous in and of itself, is rather inventive and the script keeps to that inventiveness quite nicely. Both the story and script are the work of Curt Siodmak, the famed horror/science fiction writer of such films as The Wolfman, I Walked with a Zombie, and so many others. The story is simply that a gangster who had been run out ten years ago comes back with a German scientist that has discovered how to reanimate dead bodies with uranium. The gangster then commands these dead bodies with a microphone and looks at what they see through their eyes on a big screen as they are sent to avenge those men that put Frank Buchanan(said gangster) in exile. The dead bodies have super human strength but otherwise look somewhat normal except for cutting lines around their foreheads. Some of the scenes with the dead are very persuasive, and director Edward L. Cahn knows how to keep the pace tight and the action relevant. The acting including lead Denning as the man able to solve the mystery of the dead rising and taking their revenge is adequate with S. John Launer as Captain Harris, Denning's partner, standing out in an interesting role. Angela Stevens as Denning's wife has little to do, but she looks very nicely doing it nonetheless.Michael Granger and Gregory Gaye play Buchanan and the scientist respectively and are also adequate. But the real stars of this film are the script and Cahn's solid direction with limited resources. The hideout for Buchanan and the way they crawled through these blowing tubes were really inventive uses of limited means. While not a great film, Creature with the Atom Brain is a solid 50's sci-fi addition and quite possibly even a forerunner to movies like The Night of the Living Dead.

A high minded German scientist [in the 1950's??] is duped by a vengeful, deported gangster into creating atomic-powered zombies from the recently deceased, stolen from the local morgue, in order to wreak revenge upon his enemies.[Whew!] Now that is a dynamite combination! Never mind how they got six or seven bodies out of police custody; or where they got the radioactive isotopes they are waving around. This one is fun!

A classic, know-it-all police MD, with a pre-women's lib, blonde bombshell wife, and just-too-cute little daughter, is on their trail. He patiently tracks them down with the help of another scientist and his doomed police captain boss. The pipe smoking scene is hilarious; as is the inevitable science film: a trained dog being stimulated with electrodes. The villains give the doctor some scary moments. They even tear his little girl's favorite doll limb from limb. But since the German scientist is radioactive, he cannot escape the ubiquitous geiger counter that appears in all of these films. The climactic battle between the police, the army, and the zombies is to be savored time and again. This one is a classic, and worth your while!

This is a pretty weird sci-fi/cop film, but because it is well written and carried off very well, it works. However, with such a strange plot, it could have easily just been a grade-z film.

The film begins with a robbery and murder. How the perpetrator was able to so easily snap the neck of the victim stumps the cops as well as the strange glowing trail left following the attack. A short time later, another man is killed in a similar manner. With the second murder, a pattern has emerged. Both men had testified years earlier in a trial of a mobster--who has since been deported to Europe. When a third man, also involved with this trial, is killed, it's certain why the killings are occurring--but how?! The police have a crazy idea that dead men are being reanimated using atomic power--making them robotic zombies!! As I said, it sure sounds like a plot that COULD have made for a dumb film.

Here are some of the reasons for the film working. First and foremost, the idea works because the writing is crisp and works well. Second, while the actors in the film are mostly unknowns (with only Richard Denning being recognizable to only a few discerning viewers), they did a great job--and the director did a good job eliciting good performances from all, though I must admit that the little girl in the film was a bit of a weak point--not terrible but not particularly good. Another minor problem is that the reanimated folks talk just like robots BUT no one seems to notice this!! After all, this is a dead giveaway that something is amiss, but time and again none of the living seem to notice! Overall, this is a great film for lovers of 1950s sci-fi/horror/cop films. The rest may just find it all a bit silly, but if you give it a chance you might be surprised to see it's pretty good. It sure ain't Shakespeare...but it is entertaining.

I'm glad that Skin-amax aired this monster movie from the 50's. In my opinion, this is not your typical cheesy b-movie material for MSTK3000 because the plot is surprisingly good and the atmosphere is beyond cartoonish. Well, you can't ask for spectacular f/x (or even decent ones) but this movie delivers.

The acting is beyond regular. The cinematography and the plot are the strong points of this b-movie. I highly recommend it for fans of old monster movies.

The effort deserves a mention mainly because the plot is well crafted and actually delivers some chills. Not in the likes of "The Elephant Man" but still it makes you imagine scary things.

This is a b-movie that deserves some little respect.