Monstrosity (1963)

Director:

Joseph V. Mascelli
(more)

Writers:

Sue Dwiggins
Dean Dillman Jr.
(more)

Release Date:

September 1963 (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 | Cat | Eye | Experiment

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bradford Dillman	...	Narrator (uncredited)
Margie Fisco	...	The Walking Corpse (uncredited)

Directed by
Joseph V. Mascelli		(as Joseph Mascelli)
Jack Pollexfen		(uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Dean Dillman Jr.
Sue Dwiggins
Jack Pollexfen
Vy Russell

Produced by
Dean Dillman Jr.	....	producer
Sue Dwiggins	....	associate producer
Jack Pollexfen	....	producer
Vy Russell	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Gene Kauer

Cinematography by
Alfred Taylor

Film Editing by
Owen C. Gladden

Makeup Department
Lou Yates	....	special makeup effects

Sound Department
Charles T. Knight	....	sound (as Charles Knight)

Special Effects by
Ken Strickfaden	....	electrical effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Ove Schested	....	camera operator

Music Department
Gene Kauer	....	conductor

Other crew
Bill Ashley	....	dialogue director
Kemp Niver	....	production coordinator
Lucille Snyder	....	location manager

Production Companies

• Cinema Venture

Distributors

• Emerson Film Enterprises (1964) (USA) (theatrical)
• Rhino Home Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Vid Canada (2002) (Canada) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Rhino Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2003) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2003) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• St. Clair Vision (2004) (Canada) (DVD)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Shout! Factory (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Filmfax Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Nostalgia Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (????) (USA) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Space Age Rental

Also Known As:

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:

Producer Jack Pollexfen fired director Joseph V. Mascelli and finished directing the picture, uncredited.

Quotes:

Narrator:Oh, how she made them sweat. Especially this old fool, companion and gigolo. How many years she's kept him dangling on promises. Well, sometimes it's convenient to have a man, especially when he comes cheaper than servants.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Atomic Brain (#6.18)" (1993)

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.