CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN (1955)

Director: Edward L. Cahn

Writer: Curt Siodmak

Producer: Sam Katzman 

Cast: Richard Denning, Angela Stevens, S. John Launer, Michael Granger, Gregory Gay, Pierre Watkin, Linda Bennett, Nelson Leigh (uncredited), Tristram Coffin, Charles Evans, Karl “Killer” Davis (uncredited), Harry Lauter, Larry J. Blake 

Frank Buchanan (Michael Granger), an exiled gangster, returns to the United States with German scientist Dr. Wilhelm Steigg (Gregory Gay). He has been funding the scientist’s experiments to reanimate and control dead men. Buchanan sends these radioactive zombies out on missions to kill the men that betrayed him and convicted him of his crimes. Police scientist Dr. Chet Walker (Richard Denning) and his brother-in-law, Police Captain Dave Harris (S. John Launer), are baffled by the killings that are being committed by dead men that have superhuman strength, are impervious to bullets, and leave behind radioactive traces. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

I have always been a bit puzzled by the title to this film. If a creature has a brain the size of an atom, it must be too dumb to be much of a threat. I guess the noun “atom” was once used interchangeably for the adjective “atomic” back in the early nuclear age. They called The Bomb in World War II the atom bomb or the atomic bomb. Therefore, an “atom brain” means an atomic brain? Also, if these creatures, as police scientist Dr. Walker puts it, “have atom rays of superhuman strength,” just what the hell does that mean? How do rays of any sort have any human qualities, super or otherwise? I think I get what the scriptwriter means; the beings in question have atomic radiation that endows them with superhuman strength, and their brains and bodies are reanimated by that atomic energy. This peculiar adjective malpractice reminds me of the villain Atom Man in the '40s The Adventures of Superman radio serial. Superman’s arch enemy Lex Luthor also went by the alias Atom Man in the 1950 movie serial Atom Man vs. Superman. Back in the '40s and '50s, using the word atom as an adjective must have always been meant to liken something to the atom bomb. Yes, I know I am infuriating. Just wondering what the hell all of this misuse of the noun “atom” as an adjective is about, that’s all. Beware! For I am the creature with the anal brain! Or should that be “anus” brain? Hmmm…

Actually, this movie is about more than just a perplexing noun/adjective. It’s got Angela Stevens in it! As our police scientist hero’s wife Joyce, she’s the perfect woman; blonde, curvy, dimpled, beautiful, and makes martinis on demand. She even manages to keep her loudmouth kid under control. Lest you think that she is just a subservient housewife because she’s not allowed to eavesdrop on the police talk at home, think again. She must have put her foot down when it came to smoking in the house. You never see our scientist hero stink the joint up with his ever-present pipe to demonstrate his intellect, do you? 

And just why is Richard Denning, as Dr. Chet Walker, brandishing that pipe with such vim and vigor? Because our hero is stimulating his mighty brain with tobacco ala Sherlock Holmes to solve a bizarre mystery. Even a scientist colleague (Nelson Leigh) that he confers with on the case also smokes a pipe and offers him some of his special blend. Great minds stink alike, I guess.

Of course, Richard Denning was the star of plenty of sci-fi fright flicks of the era. He is probably best known for playing an atypically unlikable character in the 1954 classic Creature from the Black Lagoon. He also went on to play the governor for many seasons on the Hawaii Five-O television series. 

As the gangster mastermind Frank Buchanan, Michael Granger is very effective. He always underplays, yet with his low, sonorous voice and his baleful eyes you immediately know he won’t compromise his goals of revenge and destruction. He even gives hero Richard Denning all he can handle in the climactic punch-up. I suspect he was always ideally cast as heavies, but I can’t recall seeing him in anything else. 

Screenwriter Curt Siodmak is perhaps best known for inventing much of the werewolf lore for his script of The Wolf Man (1941) that most people think is authentic legend. Creature with the Atom Brain seems like a hybrid of his earlier gangster brain transplant and revenge story for BlackFriday (1940) and Frankenstein-style reanimated corpses. He also wrote the 1942 disembodied-but-alive brain novel Donovan’s Brain that has been adapted for radio and several films. 

Director Edward L. Cahn milks the opening moments of the film for some atmosphere and horror. The debut zombie and his attack on the gangster running a gambling house comprise the best scene in the movie, except for Angela Stevens bending over to fetch the daily paper or serving a martini. Look, I’ve got priorities! 

The rest of the story is dealt with in a matter-of-fact manner. There is plenty of atomic zombie mayhem, scientific speculation, and police investigation to keep things moving. However, we know from the very beginning just who is behind this menace and why. I think this film could have been much more intriguing if we did not know who was behind the killer zombies at the outset and made that discovery along with the police. A little mystery goes a long way toward making something compelling.

It still must be said that this is something unique among '50s sci-fi horror films. A gangster commanding a mob of atomic-powered zombies to kill and sabotage was certainly a change of pace from giant mutant monsters and invasions from outer space. 

While director Cahn never seems to get much respect, he directed this and at least two other '50s pictures that have been quite influential. His Invisible Invaders (1959) also deals with reanimating the dead, and it is a precursor to the under-siege-from-the-living-dead scenario of Night of the Living Dead (1968). It is widely acknowledged that his 1958 sci-fi fright flick It! The Terror from Beyond Space was a big influence on Alien (1979). 

Creature with the Atom Brain is a mix of police procedure, gangster revenge, atomic zombies, and domestic bliss that sets it apart from any other sci-fi horror movie. Whether that makes it any good or not depends upon your appreciation for a martini after a hard day at work being served to you by a beautiful blonde. However, if you have a pipe tobacco fetish, this film is required viewing.