Monstrosity

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.

Not likely to attain cult classic status, "The Atomic Brain" concerns a rich old woman, Mrs. March (Marjorie Eaton), who is funding researcher Dr. Otto Frank (Frank Fowler) to discover a way to transplant her brain into a younger woman's body. Otto has a small nuclear reactor in the basement of Mrs. March's house. The laboratory set looks even cheaper than similar stuff on the original "Outer Limits" television show.

The scientific basis behind Otto's experiments and the need to radiate his subjects is never adequately explained, obviously they needed the reactor to justify the original "Atomic Brain" title, the word fission is unconvincingly thrown around several times. I can only assume that the alternate title, "Monstrosity", is someone's comment on the quality of the film. At the start of the movie Otto's success has been limited to the transplant of a dog's brain into a man (who has large teeth and looks a bit like the goon in one of shorts featuring "The Three Stooges").

Mrs. March is encouraged when the doctor steals a woman's corpse from the graveyard and reanimates it to zombie status. Needing fresh living bodies for her transplant she hires three attractive young girls from Europe serve as housekeepers. Mrs. March has no other staff at her mansion, only a wimpy "companion and gigolo" guy who is turned on by the young girls. His name is Victor and the narrator sums up his motivation with the movie's best lines: "Three new bodies. Fresh, live, young bodies. No families or friends within thousands of miles, no one to ask embarrassing questions when they disappear. Victor wondered which one Mrs. March would pick. The little Mexican, the girl from Vienna, or the buxom blond? Victor knew his pick, but he still felt uneasy, making love to an 80 year old woman in the body of a 20 year old girl; it's insanity!"

Despite the low budget and feeble scripting, the movie is not entirely awful. Eaton (who played the fortune teller in cult classic "Night Tide") is wonderfully evil and nasty. Fowler (a veteran of countless golden age television classics) is amusing as your basic mad scientist, and the house itself is appropriately sinister. In fact, when the girls first arrive I thought that it might actually turn into a decent film as things get very spooky and suspenseful. One of the girls is played by Erika Peters, who was quite underrated as an actress - her talent dismissed because she was so beautiful. Unfortunately the other two actresses (neither did any subsequent film work) are not up to even modest acting challenges and things pretty much fall apart until a nice twist at the end (which would have worked much better if they had not spoiled it with a second twist). Despite the frequent use of a narrator to explain much of the story, so much happens off camera that is never explained that it is likely there was a much longer original version that was extensively trimmed to get to the present 72 minute running length. This much slash and burn editing does have the benefit of requiring viewers to exercise their own atomic brains whenever a narrative gap occurs. But the story follows the genre's formula so closely that it is not too difficult to fill in the blanks each time this occurs.

Only fans of bad 50's-60's science fiction are likely to ever actually watch "The Atomic Brain" and they should find it fairly representative of this genre. At least the premise is decent, with a significantly bigger budget for sets and competent supporting cast members it could have been an entertaining movie.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

"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

An elderly woman wants to be young again. She has lots of money and enlists a mad scientist who works all day in the basement with his nuclear device to transplant brains atomically. Brought into the picture are three young women who will provide the body, once the process is perfected. One woman gets a cat brain transplant and runs around scratching people and screeching. Another is a victim of cat-woman and loses her eyesight. The third becomes the target for the transplant. Unfortunately, there are failed experiments running around the house, particularly a young woman who has no brain at all. She is just there to provide amusement. The old lady continues to bully the young women who ask to leave, but stay just because she tells them to (apparently, they need her to let them out of their contract and she will call immigration and get them sent back). When they finally act, it is too late. There is also an old lech who can't wait for the old lady to get a new body, but comes to realize that he is going to be left in the dust. He then becomes a possible roadblock, although the old lady is so mean spirited she doesn't seem to care. Nevertheless, the transplant does finally take place but with different consequences than the old lady had anticipated.

The biggest problem has to do with trust. The scientist works at the behest of the old woman, but seems to have his own agenda. He is annoyed by her constant meddling in what he is doing. He betrays here of course. So much of the movie is in anticipation of finally doing the transplant. We just can't get there and the ride is long and tedious.

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.

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