Creature with the Atom Brain | |
---|---|
Directed by | Edward L. Cahn |
Screenplay by | Curt Siodmak |
Story by | Curt Siodmak |
Starring | Richard Denning |
Cinematography | Fred Jackman Jr. |
Edited by | Aaron Stell |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Clover Productions |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 69 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Creature with the Atom Brain is a 1955 American zombie horror science fiction film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Richard Denning. [1]
American gangster Frank Buchanan (Michael Granger) forces German scientist Wilhelm Steigg to create zombies by resurrecting corpses through atomic radiation in order to exact revenge on his enemies.
Creature with the Atom Brain was released as the bottom half of a double feature with It Came from Beneath the Sea .
A hulking zombie breaks into a mansion and kills a gangster named Hennesy. The glowing bloodstains left behind at the crime scene are radioactive, as are the killer's fingerprints –which are of a man who had died days before. The police are baffled, but begin their investigation.
They soon discover that the connection between Hennesy and subsequent murders is Frank Buchanan, a former crime boss who had been deported to Europe. While there, Buchanan funded the research of German scientist Wilhelm Steigg to reanimate the dead. Having returned (with Steigg still beholden to him for funding) to the States, Buchanan seeks revenge on all who had sent him to prison in the first place.
The zombies, although they move fairly slowly, obey their radioed commands explicitly. They have no initiative, but can readily navigate the city and perform fairly complex tasks. They can drive, speak on behalf of Buchanan (including over the phone), are impervious to bullets, including those fired at point-blank range, and can bend steel bars and tear off steering wheels with ease. They also all have large scars visible on their foreheads from their brain surgery.
Following the fantastic yet irrefutable clues under the leadership of Chet Walker, both police and army troops eventually converge on Buchanan's mansion. Buchanan summarily kills Steigg and sends out a horde of zombies to battle them. Walker smashes the atomic-powered equipment which controls them, rendering them useless.
The film was made by Sam Katzman's Clover Productions for Columbia Pictures Corp. [2] Later analysis has suggested that the film Donovan's Brain provided influence on this one. [3]
The Williamson Daily News noted in January, 1956 that the film had "chills and suspense". [4] One local educational group of teachers found that the film was a "grotesque distortion of scientific facts" that would "create fear and confusion in the minds of children". [5]
In The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academic Peter Dendle wrote, "Good '50s fun abounds, with all the twisted gender ideology and antiseptic social ideals that that implies, packed in a tightly-wrought action film with strong (if entertainingly dated) conceptual support". [6] David Maine of PopMatters rated it 6 out of 10 stars and called it "a thoroughly enjoyable, noir-ish SF chiller, if you can get past the dingbat wife and cutie-pie kid". [7]
Psychiatrist, Sharon Packer, notes that the film draws influence from 1919's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari for its "idea of creating mindless surrogates". [8]
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the film on Region 1 DVD in October 2007 as part of the two-disc, four-film set, Icons of Horror Collection: Sam Katzman, which also included these Katzman-produced films: The Werewolf , The Giant Claw , and Zombies of Mora Tau . [9] [10] These films were later released in high definition by Arrow Video in 2021 as part of the Cold War Creatures set. [11]
Roky Erickson and the Aliens, a band whose lyrics often riffed on old horror and science fiction movies, recorded a song titled "Creature with the Atom Brain" in 1980. This song, in turn, became the namesake of the Belgian rock band Creature with the Atom Brain. [12] In addition, The Celibate Rifles released a song titled "Return of the Creature with the Atom Brain". [13]
Director Cahn would go on to make Invisible Invaders (1959) using the same basic concept (invading aliens inhabit the reanimated corpses of humans).
It Came from Beneath the Sea is a 1955 American science fiction monster horror film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Sam Katzman and Charles Schneer, directed by Robert Gordon, that stars Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, and Donald Curtis. The screenplay by George Worthing Yates was designed to showcase the stop motion animation special effects of Ray Harryhausen.
Richard Denning was an American actor who starred in science fiction films of the 1950s, including Unknown Island (1948), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Target Earth (1954), Day the World Ended (1955), Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), and The Black Scorpion (1957). Denning also appeared in the film An Affair to Remember (1957) with Cary Grant and on radio with Lucille Ball in My Favorite Husband (1948–1951), the forerunner of television's I Love Lucy. He's more well-known as Governor Paul Jameson in late 1960s-early 1980s police procedural TV series Hawaii Five-O.
Sam Katzman was an American film producer and director. Katzman's specialty was producing low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers.
Voodoo Woman is a 1957 American horror film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Marla English in her final film role, Tom Conway, and Mike Connors. It was released in February 1957 by American International Pictures as a double feature with The Undead.
Monstrosity is a 1963 American science fiction horror film produced by Jack Pollexfen and Dean Dillman Jr. and directed by Joseph V. Mascelli. The film stars Marjorie Eaton, Frank Gerstle, Erika Peters, and Xerxes the cat. It tells the story of a wealthy elderly woman who wants to have her brain transplanted into the head of a young woman. Actor Bradford Dillman, the younger brother of co-writer and producer Dean Dillman, Jr., narrated the film.
The Werewolf is a 1956 American horror science fiction film directed by Fred F. Sears and starring Don Megowan and Joyce Holden.
The Earth Dies Screaming is a 1964 British science-fiction and horror film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Willard Parker, Virginia Field and Dennis Price. It was written by Harry Spalding.
The Giant Claw is a 1957 American monster film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Sam Katzman, directed by Fred F. Sears, that stars Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday. Both Sears and Katzman were well known as low-budget B film genre filmmakers. The film was released as a double feature with The Night the World Exploded.
Day the World Ended is a 1955 independently made black-and-white post-apocalyptic science fiction film, produced and directed by Roger Corman, that stars Richard Denning, Lori Nelson, Adele Jergens, Paul Birch and Mike Connors. Chet Huntley of NBC, later of The Huntley-Brinkley Report, served as the film's narrator. It was released by American Releasing Corporation as a double feature with The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues.
The Midnight Hour is a 1985 American made-for-television comedy horror film directed by Jack Bender and starring Shari Belafonte-Harper, LeVar Burton, Peter DeLuise, and Dedee Pfeiffer. Its plot focuses on a small New England town that becomes overrun with zombies, witches, vampires, and all the other demons of hell after a group of teenagers unlocks a centuries-old curse on Halloween.
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake is a 1959 American black-and-white horror film written by Orville H. Hampton and directed by Edward L. Cahn. It was one of a series of films they made in the late 1950s for producer Robert E. Kent on contract for distribution by United Artists. The film stars Eduard Franz, Valerie French, Grant Richards, and Henry Daniell. Set in the present day, it tells the story of a curse placed on the Drake Family by the witch doctor of the Jivaro, a tribe of indigenous people in Ecuador, following a 19th century massacre led by Capt. Wilfred Drake. Since that time, for three generations, all the Drake men have died at age 60, after which they were decapitated, and their heads shrunken by persons unknown.
Bone Sickness is a low-budget 2004 horror film directed by Brian Paulin. The plot is about a degenerative bone disease. The film runs for 98 minutes.
Nazi zombies are a horror trope found in films, video games, and comic books. Nazi zombie narratives usually feature undead Nazi soldiers resurrected to fight for the Third Reich. The book Nazisploitation!: The Nazi Image in Low-Brow Cinema and Culture described the genre as a small theme of horror films.
Zombies of Mora Tau is a 1957 black-and-white zombie horror film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Gregg Palmer, Allison Hayes and Autumn Russel. Distributed by Columbia Pictures, it was produced by Sam Katzman. The screenplay was written by George H. Plympton and Bernard Gordon. Zombies of Mora Tau was released on a double bill with another Katzman-produced film, The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957).
Invisible Invaders is a 1959 American science fiction film starring John Agar, Jean Byron, John Carradine and Philip Tonge. It was produced by Robert E. Kent, directed by Edward L. Cahn and written by Samuel Newman.
Kung Fu Zombie is a 1981 comedy-themed Hong Kong martial arts film written and directed by Hwa I Hung. It stars Billy Chong as a martial artist who must fight supernatural foes.
Biohazardous is a 2001 American horror film written and directed by Michael J. Hein. It stars Sprague Grayden as a teenager who discovers that a local research company has been creating zombies.