Creature with the Atom Brain

I went to see this film with my cousin Stanley and my Aunt Priscilla when I was ten years old. The only reason I went to see it is because it was the second feature after "It Came From Beneath the Sea." I had always loved Ray Harryhausen-type monster movies, but I had a dread of seeing "Creature With the Atom Brain" right from the start. "Creature..." came on first, and I was so upset about what I was expecting to see that I put a handkerchief over my eyes so I wouldn't view the carnage. In the very first scene Karl Davis (as the first creature) lifts a gangster over his head and literally breaks him in two. I knew what was coming, but even with the handkerchief over my face,I had to close my eyes. It didn't help when I heard the audience screaming in what can only be described as unbridled fear. I turned to Stanley and asked him, "What happened?" My cousin, who was usually a pretty nice fellow, seemed to get a great deal of enjoyment out of my discomfort, and he snickered, "he broke him in half." That did it for me. "I want to go home," I whimpered. Aunt Priscilla got went to a pay phone*, called my mother and my mother swung by and picked me up. To this very day I have not even attempted to watch this film, although I have heard from many sources that it is not nearly as gruesome as I thought it was when I was ten years old. Even so, this is one film that I probably will never watch again. *This was in the year 1955 B.C.P. (Before Cell Phones.)

"Creature with the Atom Brain" is a decent little film. Not on par with some other films of the era but still fun to watch. Richard Denning plays a Doctor who works for the police-basically a forensic guy(way before CSI). He does well in this role. The rest of the acting is good, the direction is fine and the film moves along slowly in some parts and flows well in others. A bit more action and this would rank higher. A crazed scientist implants dead criminals with a radioactive solution and keeps them moving via radio control. The creatures kill to get even. There are some chilling moments, especially at the beginning of the film. All in all, not a bad film. One to catch for fans of 1950s Sci/Fi.

I have seen this movie on several occasions. Mostly as a filler for the time after the local news and the start of prime time.as a kid and as an adult i have always look forward to the old movies and this is one good flick for its time.I am trying to find this on DVD and would appreciate if some one who reads will help me find it although it will probably pretty tough.When Tris movie was on the TV i would always make an effort to see it.Although seemly laughable i still think it is a worthwhile investment for what is still a good scare.When the zombies come out to do battle with the police is still a shocker even by todays standards

This is a classic 1950s Sci/Fi film. I originally saw it when I was nine, and had nightmares for six weeks, thereafter. My rating for this film is 8 out of 10, primarily because of the impact it had on me as a child. I can now look at it and smile, but also recall those dreams which invaded my sleep. Enjoy; It is worth a viewing.

One might think with the extremely low budget, the lack of true star power, and a title like Creature with the Atom Brain that this project would be nothing more than many of the same types of science fiction/horror films grinded out in the 1950s, but it is better than you might expect. Sure, it looks pretty cheaply made. Yes, Richard Denning is it when it comes to a name your average 50's movie fan might know. Like other movies of its era and genre, the film is fast-paced and to the point without a lot of expository information given to the audience. What makes this film a bit different is that the story, even though quite ridiculous in and of itself, is rather inventive and the script keeps to that inventiveness quite nicely. Both the story and script are the work of Curt Siodmak, the famed horror/science fiction writer of such films as The Wolfman, I Walked with a Zombie, and so many others. The story is simply that a gangster who had been run out ten years ago comes back with a German scientist that has discovered how to reanimate dead bodies with uranium. The gangster then commands these dead bodies with a microphone and looks at what they see through their eyes on a big screen as they are sent to avenge those men that put Frank Buchanan(said gangster) in exile. The dead bodies have super human strength but otherwise look somewhat normal except for cutting lines around their foreheads. Some of the scenes with the dead are very persuasive, and director Edward L. Cahn knows how to keep the pace tight and the action relevant. The acting including lead Denning as the man able to solve the mystery of the dead rising and taking their revenge is adequate with S. John Launer as Captain Harris, Denning's partner, standing out in an interesting role. Angela Stevens as Denning's wife has little to do, but she looks very nicely doing it nonetheless.Michael Granger and Gregory Gaye play Buchanan and the scientist respectively and are also adequate. But the real stars of this film are the script and Cahn's solid direction with limited resources. The hideout for Buchanan and the way they crawled through these blowing tubes were really inventive uses of limited means. While not a great film, Creature with the Atom Brain is a solid 50's sci-fi addition and quite possibly even a forerunner to movies like The Night of the Living Dead.

Richard Denning is an actor who can turn any movie into a pleasant experience. Creature with the Atom Brain is one of those movies. This movie has been copied many times, but this is still the best. Written by Curt Siodomak (The Magnetic Monster) it deals with the resurruction of the dead with atomic energy.Sci-fi cult fans should really enjoy this one from start to end.

Some science fiction films are so bad that they're good; this one is so boring that is just plain bad. Infecting human corpses and other living men into doing their nefarious deeds by brutally murdering those responsible for the breakup of a crime ring years before. The murders may be gruesome, but the explanatory scenes in between are sleep inducing. Made at the height of the atom film craze, this lacks serious suspense and continues to rely on annoying clichés that go back 20 years. Hideously bad acting by the bad guys giving orders to the walking dead, this adds more idiotic clichés by giving leading man Richard Denning a typically boring domestic situation. The only scene I found amusing was when Denning's boss, turned into a monster by the evil scientists, destroys Denning's cloying little girl's dolly, giving me laughs for all the wrong reasons. While the swarm of approaching zombie like atom men march together, they remind me of an army of For Johnson's, but without the unintentional laughs and camp value of "Plan Nine From Outer Space". If the first 69 minutes of this turkey didn't make me gag, the final scene sure did.

This is a pretty weird sci-fi/cop film, but because it is well written and carried off very well, it works. However, with such a strange plot, it could have easily just been a grade-z film. The film begins with a robbery and murder. How the perpetrator was able to so easily snap the neck of the victim stumps the cops as well as the strange glowing trail left following the attack. A short time later, another man is killed in a similar manner. With the second murder, a pattern has emerged. Both men had testified years earlier in a trial of a mobster--who has since been deported to Europe. When a third man, also involved with this trial, is killed, it's certain why the killings are occurring--but how?! The police have a crazy idea that dead men are being reanimated using atomic power--making them robotic zombies!! As I said, it sure sounds like a plot that COULD have made for a dumb film. Here are some of the reasons for the film working. First and foremost, the idea works because the writing is crisp and works well. Second, while the actors in the film are mostly unknowns (with only Richard Denning being recognizable to only a few discerning viewers), they did a great job--and the director did a good job eliciting good performances from all, though I must admit that the little girl in the film was a bit of a weak point--not terrible but not particularly good. Another minor problem is that the reanimated folks talk just like robots BUT no one seems to notice this!! After all, this is a dead giveaway that something is amiss, but time and again none of the living seem to notice! Overall, this is a great film for lovers of 1950s sci-fi/horror/cop films. The rest may just find it all a bit silly, but if you give it a chance you might be surprised to see it's pretty good. It sure ain't Shakespeare...but it is entertaining.

I'm glad that Skin-amax aired this monster movie from the 50's. In my opinion, this is not your typical cheesy b-movie material for MSTK3000 because the plot is surprisingly good and the atmosphere is beyond cartoonish. Well, you can't ask for spectacular f/x (or even decent ones) but this movie delivers. The acting is beyond regular. The cinematography and the plot are the strong points of this b-movie. I highly recommend it for fans of old monster movies. The effort deserves a mention mainly because the plot is well crafted and actually delivers some chills. Not in the likes of "The Elephant Man" but still it makes you imagine scary things. This is a b-movie that deserves some little respect.

Some movies make their impression on you during the actual experience of watching. That's how we think it always is, but most movies enter our minds through other means. Often it is not the movie itself, but our memory of the movie. Sometimes it is the idea of the movie rather than the movie. When you enter the world of 50's cheapo sci-fi you enter another dimension. That's because these were made to expire quickly. In those days, there really wasn't the availability of information we have now about a movie. It would simply appear in our neighborhood theaters or drive-ins and our only knowledge would be the title, a poster, perhaps a few words from the little lady in the ticket booth and what we could infer from all that, knowing the rules all these movie makers used. This one has it all to make a great poster: "creatures" (not just one) who are technologically created zombies; a Nazi scientist; gangsters; revenge; some amazing confusion about the relationship between atomic "rays" (here the word is the incorrect "atom ray") and electronics, and finally a threatened little girl (who isn't really). Along the way we get rather direct references -- for the times -- to sex between our hero and his wife. And we get the odd idea of the zombies transmitting TeeVee pictures back to home base through their eyes. That hero by the way is a "police scientist" who guesses the improbable truth early on and never, ever makes a mistake in deduction. At one point, he consults with another expert; the two call each other doctor and light competing pipes so many times that the one scene could stand as an icon for an entire period (incidentally still alive in German universities). Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.