Creature with the Atom Brain

I finally bought a copy of this movie off of eBay because I had heard the Roky Erickson song of the same name like a billion times. I expected a cheesey flick, but instead watched a good, solid feature. It's definitely a B-movie, but that didn't mean "bad" back then. It just meant unknown talent and lower budgets. This is a decent story about an exiled mobster and a German scientist who reanimate the recently deceased with atom rays, and control them to take revenge on those who once testified against the mobster. A well-done but obscure flick.

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.

Richard Denning is an actor who can turn any movie into a pleasant experience. Creature with the Atom Brain is one of those movies. This movie has been copied many times, but this is still the best. Written by Curt Siodomak (The Magnetic Monster) it deals with the resurruction of the dead with atomic energy.Sci-fi cult fans should really enjoy this one from start to end.

I first saw this film when I was about twelve years old on T.V., and at the time I didn't think it was anything special. I saw it again recently for the first time thanks to modern miracle of video. I must admit that I remember many scenes from this minor little picture more vividly than much better films I saw as a kid: atomized Karl "Killer" Davis busting into a room to break the back of a gangster, the scene where Richard Denning discovers his partner has become a zombie, and the films climax where an army of creatures with atom brains do battle with the police. Oh! and I almost forgot, the scene where walking dead "Uncle Dave" tears Richard Denning's daughters doll to shreds. In retrospect, the scene makes little sense, but it came as quite a shock.

Most of the cast is acceptable. Edward L. Cahn's direction is perfunctory but he keeps things moving. Seen today by younger audiences influenced by MST3K or cheaply cynical critics like John Stanley and Randy Dreyfus, CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN probably looks pretty bad. However, if one views this film in the right frame of mind, it is very entertaining.

Apparently CREATURE WITH ATOM BRAIN has effected a lot of people over the years. Clips from this film have turned up on few TV shows and movies. Roky Erikson (13 Floor Elevators) wrote and titled a song about this movie on his album "The Evil One". He even incorporated lines from the movie in his song "Creature With The Atom Brain."

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!