THE
ATOMIC BRAIN aka MONSTROSITY (1964)
LOVE AFTER DEATH (1968)
THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD (1957)
Directed by Joseph Mascelli/Glauco
Del Mar/Jerry Warren
Something Weird DVD
Reviewed 06.03.05
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILMS
This is such a no-brainer, you don't
even need to dip into your imagination.
Remember the days of pining for
ratty copies of films like Monstrosity
aka The Atomic Brain on
VHS? Possibly forking out $15-20
a piece? Sure, there was a certain
romanticism to xeroxed covers from
far away lands (still is, to some
extent), but today, things are thankfully
different. Holding the case for
this Something Weird triple feature,
all I can do is bask in the warmth
of tainted trash pixie dust.
The pairing of three black and white
rarities (The Atomic Brain,
Love After Death, and The
Incredible Petrified World),
complete with extras, isn't just
another DVD release. For individuals
that thrive on the allure of old
cemeteries, bad acting, a little
spice, and surreal occurrences (that's
you and me), this is a shrink-wrapped
package of golden promise...all
for less than it would have cost
you to track down just one of these
films on VHS five years ago. Pretty
enlightening, no? Now that we're
all on the same page, please extinguish
your flashlight. The cemetery can
get very dark at this time of night
and we wouldn't want to disturb
the work of the twilight people,
now would we?
You can't go around flinging this
kind of "holy grail" comparison
too often, so here goes: The
Atomic Brain would make Ed
Wood proud. It's all here: the Lobo-esque
man-monster, a scientist involved
in grave robbing experiments, one
or two residential sets, odd sexual
underpinnings ("Making love
to an 80 year old woman in the body
of a 20 year old girl is insanity"),
and strangely iconic music cues.
The kind-of-odd-but-not-really plot
deals with an old bag's quest to
find a fresh young form to replace
her own rapidly decaying body. After
a series of failures utilizing recently
expired victims, Dr. Frank (he works
for the lady, Mrs. March) decides
that still-living specimens are
needed. Cue Nina, Beatrice, and
Anita, three cover girl foreigners
that answer Mrs. March's “help
wanted” ad. And have really,
ahem, interesting accents. After
Mrs. March examines the girls via
towel striptease, her "gigolo"
servant Victor gets a little lustful,
Dr. Frank continues his atomic chamber
experiments, and someone gets a
little cat on the brain. Death comes
from below and escape is futile!
Filmed in ten days by Ray Dennis
Steckler cohort Joseph Mascelli,
The Atomic Brain is a Backyard
Hollywood Classic, sure as shootin'.
Aside from the film's similarities
to Mr. Wood's late 50s oeuvre, a
reliance on post-dubbing, dead pan
narration, and a singular claustrophobic
location (an old mansion located
around Hancock Park in L.A.) is
like cement in the mold. This is
the kind of perfect strange/bad
film charm that inspires global
searches to uncover its existence.
Luckily, you don't have to reach
that far, so savor all 65 minutes
of it.
If The Atomic Brain started
a drizzle with its sexually endowed
strangeness, then Love After
Death is the ensuing tidal
wave. Sharing more than a few filmic
ticks with Doris Wishman's early
films (sound effects occur without
action, lots of foot shots, sets
made up of everyday apartments and
stairwells), this South American
obscurity is a sight to behold.
Meet Montel. Suffering from cataleptic
fits, he's been buried alive by
his scheming wife Sofia and her
doctor/gangster/lover. Seconds after
the funeral, Montel bursts forth
from his grave and spends the next
few minutes roaming the cemetery
over strains of theremin angst.
From there, we find out that Montel
was "sick" (impotent)
and train-wreck skeeze Sofia is
still a virgin (hilarious). Montel
decides to enact his revenge on
those that have wronged him. What's
the best way to do that? Attack
women, watch people having sex,
and finally prove his manhood by
bedding a fab mod girl in her apartment.
With all that out of the way, Montel
grabs a switchblade and gets down
to business, leading to a completely
nonsensical climax.
The basic crunch is this: 30 minutes
of plot, 40 minutes of strange,
almost innocent sex; boobs, butts,
lesbos, drag queens, an old woman
watching (to which she replies,
"Oh, if I were ten years younger!"),
the works. Normally, a film like
this wouldn't raise an eyebrow to
non-sexploitation fans, but Love
After Death (titled Unsatisfied
Love onscreen) is too horrifically
cracked to deny. A lot of the shots
are haphazard and kinetic, coming
across as intentionally skewed and/or
just plain inept. Either way, one-time
director Glauco Del Mar does a nice
job of matching the film's subject
matter with an equal dose of visual
weirdness. Love that zoom lens.
There's also some mismatched footage
featuring "The Steve Rios Band,"
Montel humorously emerging from
his soil tomb with ear and nose
plugs, and a bathroom karate chop.
Since templated sexploitation films
are a dime a dozen, it would have
been nice to see this film play
out with more reliance on the cheapo
horror elements. Regardless, Love
After Death is a head-spinning
sex ‘n’ death trip,
one that won't be soon forgotten.
While the previous two films are
somewhat kindred spirits, Jerry
Warren's 1957 seaweed non-epic,
The Incredible Petrified World,
stands alone. Since Warren's aim
was to make quick profits out of
sludge-paced garbage, Petrified
hardly surprises. It's a clinical
mix of oceanic educational films,
underwater (pool) photography, and
Arizona cave exploration, which
turns out to be entirely pointless,
but strangely watchable. John Carradine
stars as a scientist who has invented
a new fangled diving bell. Four
divers (including Robert Clarke
and uber-bitchy Phyllis Coates)
make the maiden voyage, get stuck
a few miles below sea level, snoop
around in flippers, and discover
The Petrified World. After exploring
the caves and dodging gila monsters
from the zoo, our dysfunctional
team meets up with a bearded "weirdo."
Jeezus! Lovingly portrayed with
a dust mop wig and a mafioso speech
impediment, this bug-eyed killer
will give you sweaty nightmares
for days. Eventually, Carradine
sends down another bell and everybody
sees sunshine in a pre-Goonies wrap
up. Beautiful.
The all-original Petrified,
a rarity in J. Warren's cut 'n'
paste kingdom, boasts his highest
production values ever; close ups!
camera pans! actual lighting! The
film is up against some heavy competition
on this triple feature, so I was
glad to see it resembled more of
a unified production, rather than
a series of fly on the wall peeks
into characters' extended conversations
(see Creature
Of The Walking Dead for
an example on how not to do it).
While the element of talk was still
present, I found myself genuinely
interested in the plot as a whole.
Am I going nuts? Are Jerry's hacky
charms finally taking hold in my
brain? Only time will tell. In the
meantime, Petrified was
the first Warren film that kept
me awake throughout its duration,
so that should tell you something.
The wee hours of the morning are
upon us. Two and a half spooky trash
hits, all right around the hour
mark, wrapped up tight in a tiny
plastic case. I’m stuffed
and satisfied.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Both Atomic Brain and Petrified
are out on DVD from Alpha, in addition
to popping up on a couple of multi-film
budget releases. Something Weird's
presentation of these two films
is outta sight, like night and day
in comparison. All three films feature
thick blacks, high contrast, and
crisp-as-a-button picture quality.
Here’s a rundown: Atomic
Brain’s print is almost
completely clear of film damage,
but suffers from a few jump cuts
and a bit of audio noise; Love
is probably the hardest hit in terms
of scratches and blips (it only
adds to the wacked-out experience);
Petrified is the only one
to appear in widescreen and looks
about how you’d expect for
a late 50s film.
EXTRAS
Yep, there’s still a little
room left. Feast your eyes on an
alternate TV opening for The
Atomic Brain, which runs around
two minutes. This is the intro that
accompanies the film on Alpha’s
release and it’ll give you
a good indication of just how fantastic
the print looks on this DVD. After
that, you can check out theatrical
trailers for Atomic Brain
and Petrified, as well
six other hits. Monster A-Go-Go
(they actually make it sound good)
and Terrified
are definite highlights. Wrapping
up, there's a large cover gallery
of lurid 70s horror comics, which
pops up on a few other Something
Weird DVDs. If you’re crafty,
you can also find a three minute
easter egg featuring girls in their
underwear and plastic skull masks.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Releases like this realize the true
possibilities of the DVD format.
If you’ve got any interest
in these films at all, this disc
is a definite pleaser, especially
for the price (around fifteen smackers).
Let’s hope Something Weird
can take a hint and crank out a
few more just like it. |
Basement revue
Gentle as a kitten
Mrs. March sez, "She's hideous!"
Someone walked over my grave
The one
Great minds...
Dingy sleep
Gads!!
|
