Monstrosity (1964)

User Rating:

2.2/10   

Director:

Joseph V. Mascelli

Writers:

Dean Dillman Jr. (writer)
Sue Dwiggins (writer)

Release Date:

December 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Bodies for sale!

Plot:

A rich but unscrupulous old woman plots with a scientist to have her brain implanted in the skull of a sexy young woman.

Plot Keywords:

Brain | Old Woman | Experiment | Eye | Cat

Cast

Marjorie Eaton	...	Hetty March
Frank Gerstle	...	Dr. Otto Frank
Frank Fowler	...	Victor
Erika Peters	...	Nina Rhodes
Judy Bamber	...	Beatrice 'Bea' Mullins
Lisa Lang	...	Anita Gonzalez
Xerxes	...	Himself - The Cat

Also Known As:

The Atomic Brain (TV title)

Runtime:

64 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cinema Venture

Trivia:

Shot in ten days.

Quotes:

Narrator: Mrs. March had not realized her future body had such a satisfactory shape. Perhaps not as spectacular as the English girl but in excellent taste. She couldn't help being amused. The stupid girl was not only modeling Mrs. March's future wardrobe but Mrs. March's future body: so firm, so nicely round in places men like.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Horror Incorporated: The Atomic Brain (1964) (#2.5)" (2003)

Frankenstein versus the wolf man, zombies, Catwoman and a cripple old witch!

The Atomic Brain (or "Monstrosity", if you will) can be described best as Universal's Frankenstein for dummies with no money! The basic story is clearly imitating the classic Mary Shelley story, but so many hectic sub plots and extremely poor visual effects are added that the wholesome becomes incredibly bad. The Drive-In-Cinema type of bad…The MST3K type of bad! Or, in other words, so bad it becomes hugely entertaining again! "The Atomic Brain" is a totally WHACK movie that indeed features all kinds of monstrosities but absolutely no suspense, logic or continuity. It looks like the writers tried to camouflage their lack of inspiration and talent by constantly adding more genetically mutated monsters! Three young girls from different corners of the world are lured to the Californian mansion of the wealthy Mrs. March. Supposedly to work as servants, but the malicious wheel-chaired woman plots to steal their youth and virility! She has the bizarre Dr. Frank (got it?) experimenting with brain-transplants in her cellar and she pays him to surgically put her old brain into the body of one of the young beauties. As some kind of practice, Dr. Frank already created a half-man/half-ape monster, a zombie-girl that he keeps around for amusement (!) and a woman with the brain of a cat! This is pretty stupid 60's B-cinema with pitiful effects and an overload of obvious errors. For example, how the hell can you measure an adult's brain into the skull of a cat? Or vice versa? Oh heck, it doesn't really matter since it provides a few good laughs and at least the movie is never boring, unlike so many other poverty row Sci-Fi movies from that era. The finale is sensationally over-the-top and if they EVER plan to make a sequel, I suggest an appropriate title already: "Revenge of the Brainiac Cat". By the way, keep an eye open for the Oscar-worthy performance of Xerxes; the cat!