Monstrosity

1963

Horror / Mystery / Sci-Fi

4
IMDb Rating 3.1/10 10 3116 3.1K

experiment transplantation cat mad scientist murder grave robbing

Plot summary

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

Director

Joseph V. Mascelli Photo
Joseph V. Mascelli

Top cast

Erika Peters Photo
Erika Peters as Nina
Bradford Dillman Photo
Bradford Dillman as Narrator
Marjorie Eaton Photo
Marjorie Eaton as Mrs. March
Frank Gerstle Photo
Frank Gerstle as Dr. Frank
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
619.98 MB
1280*692
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 7 min
Seeds ...
1.12 GB
1916*1036
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 7 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by FranklinTV 3 / 10

Queerly Disturbing D-Grader

I enjoy bad movies. There is such a wicked delight in watching something that fails on many levels. Because of this enjoyment, I had originally intended to regularly review a movie from the Treeline 50 Sci-fi movie collection. But that was until I watched "The Atomic Brain" (aka Monstrosity).It all came to fruition in a particular scene which made me uncomfortable with my whole bad movie fascination; like finding out that your first girlfriend has since turned into a lesbian.But first, a quick précis of the film.Given that its a black and white film called the Atomic Brain (aka Monstrosity), you should be guessing that you are about to watch a movie with obvious D-grade plot, photography, acting and script. And you would have made an excellent guess.But what differentiates this film from other D-grade fodder are two unique aspects.The first is the voice over. This film must have the longest voice over introduction in history. The only voice you hear for the first 15 minutes of the film is the voice-over guy. Normally, the voice-over guy is a device to setup a film, then he vanishes, to maybe reappear at the end, if everyone has died, with an "I told you so".But this voice-over is unique. Firstly, the delivery is akin to the "You will follow the great leader" type you might associate with mass hypnosis cults. Except, instead of delivering the facts, the voice-over not only paraphrases the feeling of the main characters, but in places provides disparaging editorial comment on the actions taken by the main characters. Its all quite strange.The second aspect relates to the uncomfortable scene mentioned earlier. Essentially, voice-over guy in his first 15 minutes establishes that the old lady wants to transplant her brain into a new young body. So, later in the movie, we have this scene where the old lady is asking the young women to model some underwear (so she can also check out her shape), and our friend the voice over guy reappears, and you sense lewdly enjoys telling us what she thinks, with comments such as "she is so nicely rounded in places men like".Basically, listening to a disturbed voice-over guy explaining the desires an 80 year old women has for the body of a 19yr old girl is not something I would like to experience alone again. Especially when the old lady has the same name as your first girlfriend.Worth only watching so that when you view the Mystery Science Theatre version, you actually begin to see how clever those MST guys must be to make it enjoyable.
Reviewed by mstomaso 3 / 10

Not the worst of its kind, but far from the best

In The Atomic Brain, Marjorie Eaton does a wonderful job of creating a thoroughly unlikeable rich old woman (Hetty March) with a scheme to have her brain transplanted into an attractive, healthy, younger body. To accomplish this, she supports the research of the brilliant sociopath Dr. Frank (Frank Gerstle), who has successfully transplanted various animal brains into humans - creating a dog-man and, later, a cat-woman. Once it becomes clear that cadavers are not going to suffice, Mrs March hires three young women from Europe to serve as maids (and, unbeknownst to them, possible body donors). Erika Peters does well with the Austrian Nina. Judy Bamber - the English Bea - is lovely but overacts and sounds about as English as Tom Cruise. Finally, Anita from Spain (nicely played by Lisa Lang) isn't fully human long enough for us to get a good sense of her personality. Overall, the acting is OK.The pace is decent throughout most of the film, and the plot, though ridiculous, remains the central focus. Unfortunately the cinematography is, to say the least, uneven - there are a number of unnecessary shots of people moving about. This is sort of surprising since the director was later hired as a cinematographer for some higher profile films. And the voice-over narrative - which is also unnecessary - really seals the deal.In a sort of in-your-face way, Atomic Brain portrays stereotypes of the rich, the elderly and the feminine gender, and really makes a horror of them. It also adds the cliché of the mad, self-righteous and egotistical scientist, and the somewhat lurid exploitation of youth and beauty. It is not an entirely thoughtless film, but it is not a good film either. Recommended for late night viewing after or during intoxication events.
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