Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

kalibeans I stumbled across Creature With the Atom Brain during my period of collecting 50's and 60's sci-fi. I don't know how I had never caught it before. It's a very decently written and acted low budget film. Unlike many of the films of its genre it relies more on story and atmosphere to create fear as opposed to goofy costumes. The film grabbed and held my attention throughout. The trivia section states that it was released as a double billing with It Came From Beneath the Sea, which may explain why this little gem has been overlooked or lesser known. I found it to be a wonderful addition to my collection. I think it falls more directly in the category of films about the fear of what radiation can do as opposed to a true "creature feature"; which makes one think more of vampires, werewolves and the like.. I hope this helps.

AaronCapenBanner Edward L. Cahn directed this wacky Science Fiction thriller that stars Richard Denning as police doctor Chet Walker, hot on the trail of a gangster who is using an ex-Nazi scientist in his reanimating experiments to resurrect his dead thugs in order to take over the city. Fortunately, the process involved leaves a trail of radiation in its wake, making it easy for the authorities to pinpoint their exact location, which leads to a climatic battle of the living good guys against the bad dead... Silly film produced by Sam Katzman has no originality or credibility at all, though it is innocuous enough to be a guilty pleasure for some viewers!

Scarecrow-88 A "police scientist" (Richard Denning, always smoking pipe and exuberant/aware in how his talents are depended upon by the police and press) determines that a series of odd killings (tied to a vendetta-fueled mobster who afforded a Nazi scientist a laboratory and technology used to further his research and allow for revenge) are committed by dead gangsters with radioactive "blood" and fingerprints (that illuminate in dark!) and atomic power that allows them to snap backs and necks of targeted victims! The mobster named Buchanan likes to use a microphone to "speak through" the dead gangster zombie killers to those he is about to have killed as to remind them of who is responsible prior to their deaths! This silly sci-fi hokum from Sam Katzman Productions has the look and score of a Universal Horror film without the studio's finesse and pizazz. The plot is bonkers but that has always been part of the B-movie charm that comes with these kinds of films. Dead gangsters (and later cops) with "robotic" brains that can be controlled from a source, atomic energy used to give them great power that also includes being impervious to bullets or harm unless the machines and men behind them are put to rest; this all is preposterous yet entertaining nonsense. There's just always been an appeal to me with these dorky sci-fi movies. Denning has enthusiasm to spare and the zombie-formula helps make this far more fun than it has any right to be. Always handling the material with a serious approach, the actors involved holding a straight face when the plot is as far-fetched and loony as Creature with the Atom Brain, the entertainment value only increases. There's this imminent threat to the atom men that the film milks repeatedly, even at one point having a montage of disasters caused by them thanks to Buchanan who uses his zombies to cause chaos because the police and military are on the lookout, using radium-detecting devices to pinpoint high radioactive areas that send off warning signals. Of course, Buchanan and his German scientist consider Denning a threat because of his "imagination" and intellect, soon killing (and using as a zombie killer/locater) his cop buddy (a later possible threat to his child and wife is established)…Uncle Dave, because of his inside knowledge of the last two men Buchanan wants dead for snitching on him, implicating him, and thus responsible for his deportation to Europe (where Buchanan soon encountered the German scientist), could be important in putting a stop to Denning's hero. Seeing the zombies in gangster suits, their skulls with surgical marks indicating head surgery, attacking cops and soldiers is such an odd sight but should provide plentiful kicks and giggles. Obviously, Denning saves the day, following the lead to his zombie cop buddy, entering Buchanan's lair, and taking a wrench to the machinery behind all the death and violence. Lots of exploding consoles, broken windows, and fisticuffs result. Surprisingly violent for its time, we see bullets riddle the zombie gangster bodies, and there are shadow silhouettes and carefully photographed attacks of victims Buchanan wanted crushed for their betrayal of him. You know if you are the type of audience this is made for, and I am of that number. Complete with Denning, a dutiful wife in apron always preparing him a martini and wanting to spend just a little time with her busy husband, and the cutie daughter doting on her dolly. Fun fact: Curt Siodmak (who lent writing to such diverse screenplays as "Donovan's Brain", "Black Friday", "The Wolf Man", "Beast with Five Fingers", and "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers") was the writer for this film's screenplay.

Bob-45 Richard Deming has always been one of my favorite, if underrated actors. He lends credibility to one of Sam Katzman's most ludicrous projects, "Creature With the Atom Brain". What can you say about a movie where the Police Medical Specialist (Deming) immediately identifies the blood from one of the creatures as being "blood from some type of atomic creature" and reports this to the press (sure to cause a panic). How about a movie where the first two victims do not even have first names (so they are identified by a radio broadcast by their last names only). How about an Italian gangster with the name "Buchanan" or a scientist "dropping" potentially lethal doses of radioactive particles wherever he goes? How about Deming warning the Army not to use explosives or fire because fire "might burn up the lead shielding"(!), followed almost immediately by soldiers using hand grenades; or zombies walking into machine gun fire but not being pushed back by the force of multiple rounds? Shotguns would have taken these creatures apart, but no shotguns are used. Finally, the LEAST qualified man to take on the zombies and the gangster (Deming) manages to make it into the house for a showdown with the gangster. There is one other howler regarding Deming's actions with the radium, but that would be a spoiler.Production values are pretty good for a movie of this era. My only quibble was the closeups of Deming and the Helicopter pilot. For one, I believe Deming is sitting in the RIGHT seat, which is the pilot's seat on a chopper. The other is the rotor drive is rotating at a much lower speed than the blades.Deming and director Fred Sears ("Earth vs. the Flying Saucers") do pretty well with what they have. Unfortunately, what they have is not much.I give "Creature With the Atom Brain" a "4".