Creature with the Atom Brain (1955 film)

Creature with the Atom Brain
Theatrical Poster
Directed by Edward L. Cahn
Produced by Sam Katzman
Written by Curt Siodmak
Screenplay by Curt Siodmak
Story by Curt Siodmak
Starring
Cinematography Fred Jackman Jr.
Edited by Aaron Stell
Production
company
Clover Productions
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • July 1, 1955 (US)
Running time
69 min.
Country United States
Language English

Creature with the Atom Brain was a 1955 B movie zombie film produced by Sam Katzman, directed by Edward L. Cahn from a screenplay by Curt Siodmak and distributed by Columbia Pictures as the bottom half of a double bill with It Came from Beneath the Sea. The cast included Michael Granger and Gregory Gaye as well as Richard Denning, who starred in a number of similar 1950s B movies.

Plot

Deported American gangster Frank Buchanan (Michael Granger) forces ex-Nazi scientist Wilhelm Steigg (Gregory Gaye) to create zombies by resurrecting corpses through radiation in order to help him exact revenge on his enemies.

Cast

Reception

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."[2] 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."[3]

DVD release

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the film on DVD in October 2007 as part of the two-disc, four-film set Icons of Horror Collection - Sam Katzman, along with three other films produced by Katzman (The Werewolf and The Giant Claw and Zombies of Mora Tau).

Influence

Creature with the Atom Brain inspired the name of the Belgian rock band Creature with the Atom Brain, as well as the 1980 Roky Erickson & The Aliens song of the same name.

Director Cahn would go on to make Invisible Invaders (1959) using the same basic concept (in the later film, invading aliens inhabit the reanimated corpses of humans).

References

  1. "Creature with the Atom Brain - Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) - Film". CineMagia.ro. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  2. Dendle, Peter (2001). The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company. p. 37–38. ISBN 978-0-7864-9288-6.
  3. Maine, David (2013-08-29). "Don’t Open That Door! #54: 'Creature with the Atom Brain' (1955)". PopMatters. Retrieved 2015-01-30.

External links