Seddok, l'erede di Satana

"An exotic dancer has a terrible automobile accident and, as a result, is horribly scarred, on her face. Hoping for a miracle treatment, the dancer visits a scientist who has had marvelous results in restoring patient's (sic) appearances, and is cured of her scars. Unfortunately, there are some terrible side-effects from the procedure … the scientist must use unethical methods to try and make the cure permanent. With suspicions (growing, and) the dancer's boyfriend and the authorities closing in…" according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Inappropriately re-produced as "Atom Age Vampire"; this is actually an adaptation of "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", with some other horrific clichés, quite neatly layered into the mix. Mad scientist Alberto Lupo (as Alberto Levin), unappreciated Franca Parisi (as Monique), and lackey Roberto Bertea (as Sacha) are an intriguing set-up. Horribly dubbed (although, the voices are good), and painfully predictable; it very obviously wouldn't be a completely awful film, in its unaltered Italian version.

**** Atom Age Vampire (1960) Anton Giulio Majano ~ Alberto Lupo, Susanne Loret, Sergio Fantoni

A brilliant but overly obsessive scientist has to kill young woman in order to constantly supply his own beloved female patient with fresh facial cell structures, since hers was incurably damaged in a nearly fatal car crash. Nothing really new or innovating here, as this was quite a popular premise the in late 50's/early 60's European exploitation-cinema industry. The downright brilliant French milestone "Les Yeux Sans Visage" launched the trend and also Jess Franco's "The Awful Dr. Orloff" and Ferroni's "Mill of the Stone Women" revolve on a similar theme. This dark and mean-spirited Italian production comes out as very weak compared to any of the previous titles, mainly because of its cheapness and lack of credibility. The other titles had convincing and naturally evil-looking mad doctors in the lead roles, while Albert Lupo in "Atom Age Vampire" more looks like an amateurish clown, completely incapable of developing breakthrough medical treatments. The fact that he spontaneously transforms into a hideous monster himself doesn't really help, neither…In fact, that was rather awkward… Still, there are some redeeming elements that Euro-horror fans might enjoy: the atmosphere is sinister, there's some nice camera-work here and there AND quite a lot of gore and icky make-up art to admire (especially considering the time it was made and the non-existent budget!). Too bad these positive aspects can't nearly make up for the slow pacing and the total lack of tension. The dialogs are sometimes hilarious although I'm quite sure they weren't intended to be. For example, can you imagine a doctor saying encouraging words to his desperate patient like: "Oh my God, your case is worse than leprosy!!" Overall, I wouldn't recommend this film unless you're well trained in seeing trashy exploitation junk.

A crazed Professor Levin goes to rather bizarre and extreme lengths to ensure his formerly disfigured young girlfriend remains beautiful, desirable and under his control.

This Italian Science Fiction/Horror epic is really quite silly thanks in large part due to the English dubbing and likely editing. But the film does work somewhat on a soap opera level and has some better than average transformation sequences. Actually it's quite entertaining but not always for good reasons. Still it was better than I was expecting.

This is a good example of how distributors can ruin a movie. I have watched the 103 min original Italian widescreen version on DVD, entitled "Seddok, l'erede di Satana" ("Seddok, the heir of Satan"), which is a nice old-fashioned b/w horror flick based on a Frankenstein variation, with dialogs explaining the characters very well. But the movie was cut by a quarter of an hour for the export cinema version, ridiculously retitled "Seddok, der Würger mit den Teufelskrallen" ("Seddok, the strangler with the devil's claws"), and then it was cut by another quarter of an hour for video release. The fragment of what is used to be ended up under the title "Atom Age Vampire", and everybody complains how poor it is - well, if you tried getting the complete picture (both referring to widescreen format and its running time), you probably would have a better impression, although it can't be denied it is rather slow moving, and they wouldn't get away with this 'scientific' explanation of skin restoration anymore.

Like a previous poster mentioned, I also purchased this film for about 50 cents (USD). I wasn't expecting much from a DVD film that didn't even cost one dollar. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise! The change sequences from human to monster were amazingly well done for the time and the acting and dubbing to English were not bad either. Also, the late 50s early 60s black and white look and feel to the film was a plus. Many of the Italian made horror films I've seen from this era have a certain atmosphere and charm to them that is fascinating to watch. They often have a more bizarre or off beat story then USA made horror films of the same period. That's refreshing if you are a horror film fan like me and see lots of these movies hoping for something a little different. If you have the chance to view it, this film is well worth your time.