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5
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9 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett |
The
year is 1958 and the Cold War is raging across
the globe. One of its forward outposts is an American
air force base in Manitoba, Canada. Here Major
Jeff Cummings (Marshall Thompson of It!
The Terror from Beyond Space) is overseeing
an experimental new form of advanced radar imaging
that will allow early warning of Russian missile
attacks. Unfortunately recent tests have been
experiencing a power drain problem. Cummings is
perplexed because their energy source is a nuclear
reactor that should be able to provide as much
power as necessary. This mystery is soon compounded
by the strange death of a local farmer just outside
the base perimeter fence. The nearby townsfolk
are already unhappy with the base's constant noisy
flyovers, so the death sends much of the village
into an uproar. Accusations of a murderous G.I.
are made so Maj. Cummings does his best to smooth
the ruffled feathers; he especially tries to get
to know the farmer's grieving sister Barbara (Kim
Parker). His commanding officer, Col. Butler (Stanley
Maxted), is sympathetic to the setbacks but after
two more murders he begins pressuring Cummings
to investigate. An autopsy reveals that the brains
and spinal column of the victims have been sucked
out the back of their necks (!) and Cummings realizes
it can't be fallout or any other form of radiation
causing the deaths. Or could it?
Cummings quickly focuses on
Barbara's employer, retired Professor Walgate
(Kynaston Reeves). Walgate's books on thought
transference point toward the possibility of making
human thought tangible. After questioning the
ailing scientist he becomes convinced the professor
knows something about the murders. Next the town's
mayor is killed and Cummings observes Walgate
examining the body under cover of darkness. After
nearly suffocating in a sealed tomb, the Major
overrides Barbara's protests about the elderly
man's health and confronts him demanding answers.
Walgate explains that he's recently been experimenting
with projecting his own thoughts using leached
power from the military nuclear reactor. The experiment
progressed brilliantly and he managed to "detach
thought from my consciousness" but lost control
of the invisible creature he'd created. Suspecting
his own complicity after the first mysterious
death, he now fears that his creation has multiplied
and will grow stronger and more deadly as it drains
more energy from the base reactor. True to his
fears, the invisible "Fiends" kill the
base's nuclear engineers and increase the reactor's
power output just as they begin an assault on
the professor's home. Becoming visible with the
added energy, they besiege the house with the
intent of wiping out their creator and anyone
else in their way.
Fiend
Without a Face
is one of the most famous '50s monster flicks
for one reason and one reason only. It has the
most outrageous, gruesome ending of any horror
film until that 'Godfather of Gore', Hershell
Gordon Lewis, burst on the scene more than five
years later. For most of the movie's short running
time the Fiends remain invisible, their movements
illustrated via old cinema tricks (like skidding
chairs and moving hay piles) with only the very
odd sounds of slurping and thumping to signify
their presence. But in the last 15 minutes they
become gloriously visible as stop-motion animated
brains. They're truly a sight to behold, as the
brains come with spinal columns attached like
hideous tails and two eye-stalk-like projections
on top. Inching around, launching themselves at
people like demonic jack-in-the-boxes, they are
amazing creations only stop-motion could have
achieved in 1958. Not to say that the special
effects are great, but they are the best thing
about the film. The stop-motion work isn't at
the level of a Harryhausen production but these
"mental vampires", as they're called,
are pretty effective. The truly astonishing
thing for 1958 is what happens when the soldiers
begin pumping bullets into the creatures... They
gush great gouts of blood, splattering walls,
trees and anything else in range! And when the
final solution is found to deal with the nasty
things they don't just fade away — they dissolve,
hiss and melt like a frog under a blowtorch, producing
quite a grotesque display! These last few minutes
make the film a blast for monster fans and a pure
joy even for those that aren't willing to suspend
their disbelief and roll with the nuttiness. Truth
to tell, the story is pretty wild with very little
in the way of logic getting in the way of things.
Characters suddenly change their attitudes towards
each other for no reason; giant leaps of contrived
logic are made to advance the plot; instead of
being killed one victim is reduced to an imbecilic
state simply for a shock entrance to end a scene;
at no point does someone suggest that Geiger counters
be used to prove that radiation isn't the cause
of the deaths, and I'm pretty sure that blowing
up a reactor’s control room is not an effective
way to shut down an out-of-control nuclear power
plant! And not to be impolite, but some of the
acting is not exactly terrific (Stanley Maxted,
I'm looking right at you.) Still, Fiend
Without a Face
is a fun monster movie that I love to rewatch.
It's certainly not in the same league as The
Thing from Another World or Curse
of the Demon but those leaping, killer brains
are an unforgettable joy.
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In
a move both surprising and welcome, the people at
The Criterion Collection have issued this mad film
as part of their line of high quality, prestige
DVD releases. The film looks very good even though
there are a many instances of blemishes in darker
scenes in the first half. This less-than-perfect
print was my only disappointment with the disc;
I wonder why better elements couldn't be found for
a film that has been so popular over the years.
Anyway, the image is letterboxed at 1.66:1, enhanced
for 16x9 TVs and the original Mono soundtrack is
strong and clear.
As is usually the case with Criterion's discs this
one has some great extras. The best is an audio
commentary with executive producer Richard Gordon
being interviewed by film writer Tom Weaver. Weaver
is an amiable and very knowledgeable genre authority
with the ability to bring out pertinent information
about all aspects of the movie at hand. On this
track he does a great job of coaxing plenty of information
from Gordon (although the guy is pretty verbose
on his own). It's a fun listen, with not a bit of
wasted time in the whole 74 minutes. There are yet
more stories to tell, as Weaver and Gordon also
speak over a collection of rare photographs and
"ephemera" included as a separate extra.
This short piece gives a look into the advertising
schemes and ballyhoo adopted by MGM to sell Fiend
and its co-feature The
Haunted Strangler. (This is great stuff.
I loved getting a look at the theater decorations
set up to draw in the crowds back in '58.) Also
on the disc is a step-through illustrated essay
on British Sci-Fi/Horror filmmaking by film historian
Bruce Elder. It's a lengthy, intelligent piece that
sets the time period and explains the genesis of
the wave of English genre films of the '50s and
'60s. I feared this would be a dry bit of highbrowed
criticism but it was actually well worth my time.
I'm glad it was included as it's nice to see these
movies put into historical context. Other bonus
goodies include a gallery of lobby cards, posters,
and numerous newspaper ads from around the country,
plus a collection of trailers for other Gordon-produced
films. These include The Haunted
Strangler, Corridors
of Blood, First Men Into
Space, and The
Atomic Submarine. Altogether it's an excellent
DVD, and even with Criterion's usual (too) high
price, worth it for fun-loving monster fans.
6/20/04 |
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