Banditi atomici

I saw Creature With The Atom Brain when I was 11 years old. To this day, no horror film has scared me more. The opening credits are shown over a view of one of the creatures lumbering through the woods with the accompanying sound of a beating heart. At the final credit we get a closeup view of the creature's face complete with the telltale stitches across his forehead. The carnage has begun I guess it was that these seemingly unstoppable creatures looked so ordinary, except for their awkward gait and gruesome stitches, that made them seem so scary. I had to walk (run) by some woods in the dark on the way home from this movie and I was quite convinced that one of these guys was going to stroll out from among the trees and break me in half just as the first creature, Karl 'Killer" Davis, did to his gangster victim in the opening scene. Nobody should enter his garage without checking to either side of the garage door to make sure one of the creatures isn't lurking there waiting to rip the steering wheel from your car before throttling you with one hand. This was not a high tech movie nor was it overly bloody, but the threat of bodies raised from the dead being able to bend the bars on a window as if they were well done noodles and take multiple gunshots without noticing was more than enough to scare the pants of of an 11 year old. Once the creature had you zeroed in, there was no hope.

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.

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."

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.

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.