Monstrosity

Movies like this were what drive-in managers lived for back in the 1960's. Originally co-billed with THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER this is one fine example of gonzo filmmaking at its best. Directed by Joseph Mascelli, who was director of photography on Ray Dennis Steckler's THE INCREDIBLY STRANGE CREATURES WHO STOPPED LIVING AND BECAME MIXED UP ZOMBIES, the very ineptness of this picture is what makes it attractive to lovers of B-movies. Wealthy Mrs. March (Marjorie Eaton) wants her brain transplanted into a young body so she hires Dr. Frank (Frank Gerstle) who has so far succeeded in transplanting the brain of a dog into a man and creating a . . .well . ..a dog-man and lets him install a nuclear reactor in her basement. When three beautiful au-pair girls from Europe show up its obvious one of them is going to lose her mind, literally! I just love movies that involve brain transplants. GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN, RETURN OF THE APE MAN, THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL and this film to name only a few, all depict brains being switched back and forth with relative ease and without having the shave the patients head! Before the 66 minute running time has gone by a girl gets the brain of a cat (sadly she and the dogman never get to fight each other), one girl gets her eye gouged out and Mrs. March finally gets her brain switched, but not exactly the way she had planned. Oh and that nuclear reactor in the basement? You just know that's going to provide a bang-up of an ending! The cast is good, no of them betraying just how ridiculous the plot is. Judy Bamber, who plays the Cockney girl, was in Roger Corman's A BUCKET OF BLOOD. You can spot Marjorie Eaton in ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU (1957)and NIGHT TIDE (1962); and Frank Gerstle played the FBI agent in KILLERS FROM SPACE (1956). Once a staple of late night TV (and deservedly so!) ATOMIC BRAIN can be had from several mail order video sources. See it, you'll be glad you did.

I'm kind of surprised by the nature of many of the comments here. OF COURSE the movie is terrible, people! But I don't think you or anyone needs the MST3K commentators to know that this is a mega-turkey on a grand scale and add your own commentary! I'm also really surprised how many people find the sexism of the film "offensive." Wow, I never would have expected a 60's drive-in exploitation film to be sexist! I can't believe that!

I found this movie totally enjoyable, and at 66 minutes it's just the right length. The story about switching bodies with a younger person and willing all your posessessions to them (that is, to YOU, after the switch) is from a relatively well-known 18th-century ghost story... I actually wish I could find it again. There were so many enjoyable aspects... the ridiculous narration that tries to cover for the fact that they can't form a coherent story with the footage at hand... the idea that you can fit a human brain into a cat's skull... the animal noises coming out of the people (which is actually fairly effective)... the hideous accents ("Me no speak good English")... it's just a hoot from start to finish.

Some notable moments: >>When the mad scientist explains that if anyone discovers the lab he'll just trip off a NUCLEAR EXPLOSION that'll take care of them! ...and of course the few miles around the house as well. And really, how many of us have space for a nuclear reactor in our basements? >>I love how the two remaining women are getting freaked out and decide that they have to leave, NOW. So they go downstairs to the first floor (where presumably the front door is), but they just keep on going, down to the basement, where they witness the old lady (previously wheelchair bound) up and walking around near her nuclear reactor. So they go back up, pass the front door again, and go back to their room where they proceed to read a magazine! >>The acting in this film is just so on the surface. Like the scene in which the blinded woman reaches around above her until she hits the lamp and sends it swinging, THEN removes her bandage... because if not, what excuse would we have to see the gouged-out eye socket in the chilling swinging light?

Excellent cheese! Ridiculous, glorious, and yeah, a bit on the disturbing side.

--- Check out my website devoted to bad and cheesy movies at: www.cinemademerde.com

"An elderly woman has invested a fortune on a scientist's research which, if successful, will allow him to transfer her brain into the body of a young woman. Needing a host body for her brain and subjects to experiment upon, the elderly woman advertises for a housekeeper in hopes of securing what the scientist needs, human guinea pigs. Three unlucky women are selected by the elderly woman as the choices and are unaware of the true motives behind their employment…" according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Re-titled "The Atomic Brain", the toothy "Monstrosity" referred to in the title is the fusion of a "live dog to a dead human body." He is the one of the mistakes mad doctor Frank Gerstle (as Otto Frank) has made. The body-snatching doctor is funded by haggish, but wealthy Marjorie Eaton (as Hetty March). The elderly Ms. Eaton wants her brain transplanted into a younger woman's body.

Fortunately, Eaton has good taste in the female form - she and gigolo Frank Fowler (as Victor) help arrange for the arrival of three fresh young female bodies: enticing Erika Peters (as Nina Rhodes), shapely Judy Bamber (as Beatrice Mullins), and lovely Lisa Lang (as Anita Gonzalez). Described as "firm and nicely-rounded," Otto's Angels think they've been hired as servants…

If you like good bad movies, by all means, check out this "Monstrosity"; it sinks quickly into awful, but slowly rises up the "so-bad-it's-good" meter. In his only directorial credit, James Mascelli gets in some nice shots, for the budget. The young women are fun to watch - all, coincidently, have "Monstrosity" as their last acting credit. There is a strong erotic undercurrent - think of petting pretty, brain-dead women in captivity...

**** Monstrosity (1964) James Mascelli ~ Marjorie Eaton, Frank Gerstle, Erika Peters

I enjoy bad movies. There is such a wicked delight in watching something that fails on many levels. Because of this enjoyment, I had originally intended to regularly review a movie from the Treeline 50 Sci-fi movie collection. But that was until I watched "The Atomic Brain" (aka Monstrosity).

It all came to fruition in a particular scene which made me uncomfortable with my whole bad movie fascination; like finding out that your first girlfriend has since turned into a lesbian.

But first, a quick précis of the film.

Given that its a black and white film called the Atomic Brain (aka Monstrosity), you should be guessing that you are about to watch a movie with obvious D-grade plot, photography, acting and script. And you would have made an excellent guess.

But what differentiates this film from other D-grade fodder are two unique aspects.

The first is the voice over. This film must have the longest voice over introduction in history. The only voice you hear for the first 15 minutes of the film is the voice-over guy. Normally, the voice-over guy is a device to setup a film, then he vanishes, to maybe reappear at the end, if everyone has died, with an "I told you so".

But this voice-over is unique. Firstly, the delivery is akin to the "You will follow the great leader" type you might associate with mass hypnosis cults. Except, instead of delivering the facts, the voice-over not only paraphrases the feeling of the main characters, but in places provides disparaging editorial comment on the actions taken by the main characters. Its all quite strange.

The second aspect relates to the uncomfortable scene mentioned earlier. Essentially, voice-over guy in his first 15 minutes establishes that the old lady wants to transplant her brain into a new young body. So, later in the movie, we have this scene where the old lady is asking the young women to model some underwear (so she can also check out her shape), and our friend the voice over guy reappears, and you sense lewdly enjoys telling us what she thinks, with comments such as "she is so nicely rounded in places men like".

Basically, listening to a disturbed voice-over guy explaining the desires an 80 year old women has for the body of a 19yr old girl is not something I would like to experience alone again. Especially when the old lady has the same name as your first girlfriend.

Worth only watching so that when you view the Mystery Science Theatre version, you actually begin to see how clever those MST guys must be to make it enjoyable.

In The Atomic Brain, Marjorie Eaton does a wonderful job of creating a thoroughly unlikeable rich old woman (Hetty March) with a scheme to have her brain transplanted into an attractive, healthy, younger body. To accomplish this, she supports the research of the brilliant sociopath Dr. Frank (Frank Gerstle), who has successfully transplanted various animal brains into humans - creating a dog-man and, later, a cat-woman. Once it becomes clear that cadavers are not going to suffice, Mrs March hires three young women from Europe to serve as maids (and, unbeknownst to them, possible body donors). Erika Peters does well with the Austrian Nina. Judy Bamber - the English Bea - is lovely but overacts and sounds about as English as Tom Cruise. Finally, Anita from Spain (nicely played by Lisa Lang) isn't fully human long enough for us to get a good sense of her personality. Overall, the acting is OK.

The pace is decent throughout most of the film, and the plot, though ridiculous, remains the central focus. Unfortunately the cinematography is, to say the least, uneven - there are a number of unnecessary shots of people moving about. This is sort of surprising since the director was later hired as a cinematographer for some higher profile films. And the voice-over narrative - which is also unnecessary - really seals the deal.

In a sort of in-your-face way, Atomic Brain portrays stereotypes of the rich, the elderly and the feminine gender, and really makes a horror of them. It also adds the cliché of the mad, self-righteous and egotistical scientist, and the somewhat lurid exploitation of youth and beauty. It is not an entirely thoughtless film, but it is not a good film either. Recommended for late night viewing after or during intoxication events.