O Herdeiro de Satanás

A young singer/dancer has a car accident and loses her good looks to several large scars on one side of her face. She is soon visited by a lady with a solution to her facial problem just as she contemplates suicide with a revolver. The lady takes her to a doctor working out of a lab in his basement that has come up with a drug/serum that will make her face all better and supposedly cause the young, beautiful girl to fall in love with him. Nothing real special here at all. The film is very Italian and cheaply-made, but it does have some nice camera work here and there. The acting leads are all hams(prosciutto)and way over the top in terms of believability. The fellow playing the policeman does do a fine job amidst the bacon around him! The film has a somewhat grainy quality and some poorly lit scenes, but atmosphere is created through the lens. Although the serum must have some component from a living-turned-recently-dead woman, the scientific premises used in the film are very big flights of fancy. I laughed quite a bit at the serious turn the film tries to make explaining that the doctor's work sprung from his experiences in Hiroshima/Nagasaki. The lines are uttered with little conviction and carry virtually no plausibility in them. Though a bad movie in many ways, one could do far worse as a means of entertaining oneself on a cold evening.

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.

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.

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.

Having read comparisons between this movie and Mario Bava's films, I'd looked forward to seeing it for sometime. It's the story of a horribly disfigured woman who goes to a doctor for some unconventional treatments. It seems he has developed a serum that will restore the woman's beauty. But, the serum must be applied regularly and the supply soon runs out. As the doctor has fallen in love with the woman, he must do whatever it takes to get the ingredients to make more serum - even if that means killing other women.

Let's see, comparisons with Bava. 1. Black & white - so is Bava's Black Sunday. 2. Well, there really isn't a 2 as far as I'm concerned. Atom Age Vampire makes most other "slow" movies seem like roller coaster rides. I actually had to wake myself twice and rewind the movie. Also, while I'm generally one of those people that will defend dubbing in Italian movies, I can't do that here. This is one of the first times I can actually say that the dubbing got in the way of my enjoyment of a movie.