Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Atom Age Vampire

(1960) *1/2



Though it wasn’t my intention to devote my attention to skin graft movies, they just kept on finding me. Undoubtedly inspired by Les Yeux Sans Visage, Atom Age Vampire leaves much to be desired. After a stripper is mutilated in a car crash, Albert the scientist invents a breakthrough skin graft treatment and restores her beauty. Upon seeing her recovery, she passionately kisses him in gratitude, causing him to fall madly in love with her. Unfortunately Jeannette’s skin needs constant maintenance that can only be administered with the assistance of fresh bodies. Albert predictably starts to abduct young women while the police try to crack the case by drawing ridiculous conclusions and talking utter nonsense.

For reasons that are still unclear to me, the more Albert performs the surgery on Jeannette, the more he himself transforms into a horrific monster. This is one of many strange developments that served only to muddle the already uneven script. Equally unpleasant is Jeannette’s voice when she sobs, which sounds almost exactly the hermit from Life of Brian. Do yourself a favor and leave this one be.

1 comment:

JPX said...

This sounds suspiciously like the plot of Hellraiser! I was going to watch this, I'm happy you took the bullet, JSP.

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