Jump to content

Monstrosity (film): Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→Production: Added brief 'Production' section.
→Release: Created short 'Release' section.
Line 61: Line 61:


== Production ==
== Production ==
In an interview with film historian Tom Weaver, Pollexfen said that ''Monstrosity'' "was shot around '58, with fundamentally an amateur cast." It was originally budgeted at $25,000 but ended up with a final cost of "around $40,000," and was the only film he was connected with that never made a profit. Pollexfen said that "''Everything'' went wrong" with the making of the movie. He called it "certainly the worst picture I was ever involved with" and his least favorite of the movies he had worked on.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Weaver|first=Tom|title=Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Heroes: The Mutant Melding of Two Volumes of Classic Interviews|publisher=McFarland & Company Inc.|year=2000|isbn=0786407557|location=Jefferson NC|pages=282}}</ref>
In an interview with film historian Tom Weaver, Pollexfen said that ''Monstrosity'' "was shot around '58, with fundamentally an amateur cast." It was originally budgeted at $25,000 but ended up with a final cost of "around $40,000," and was the only film he was connected with that never made a profit. Pollexfen said that "''Everything'' went wrong" with the making of the movie. He called it "certainly the worst picture I was ever involved with" and his least favorite of the movies he had worked on.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Weaver|first=Tom|title=Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Heroes: The Mutant Melding of Two Volumes of Classic Interviews|publisher=McFarland & Company Inc.|year=2000|isbn=0786407557|location=Jefferson NC|pages=282}}</ref>

== Release ==
According to the [[American Film Institute]], ''Monstrosity'' was released to theatres in September 1963.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Monstrosity|url=https://www.catalog.afi.com/Search?searchField=MovieName&searchText=Monstrosity&sortType=sortByRelevance|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=7 November 2020|website=American Film Institute}}</ref> However, it was not reviewed by ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' until after a screening at a Hollywood theatre on 9 December 1964, some 15 months after its stated release.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Willis, ed.|first=Don|title=Variety's Complete Science Fiction Reviews|publisher=Garland Publishing Inc.|year=1985|isbn=0824087127|location=NY|pages=183}}</ref> And as part of a question that Weaver asked Pollexfen in the interview, Weaver referred to the film as being released "around 1964," approximately six years after it was made in 1958.<ref name=":0" />


== Reception ==
== Reception ==

Revision as of 16:07, 19 November 2020

Monstrosity
Promotional film poster
Directed byJoseph V. Mascelli
Written by
Produced by
Starring
Narrated byBradford Dillman
CinematographyAlfred Taylor
Edited byOwen C. Gladden
Music byGene Kauer
Distributed byEmerson Film Enterprises
Release date
  • September 1963 (1963-09)
Running time
64 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Monstrosity is a 1963 science fiction/horror film produced by Jack Pollexfen and Dean Dillman Jr. and directed by Joseph V. Mascelli. It is perhaps better known under its TV release title, The Atomic Brain. The film stars Marjorie Eaton, Frank Gerstle, Erika Peters, and Xerxes the cat. It tells the story of a wealthy elderly woman who wants to have her brain transplanted into the head of a young woman, so that instead of being old, ugly, and rich, she can be young, beautiful, and rich. Things do not go according to plan, however. The elderly woman's brain does end up in a younger body, but it is that of a long-haired black cat.

Plot

In an atomic-powered laboratory beneath the mansion of the elderly, unpleasant, and very rich Mrs. Hettie March (Eaton), Dr. Otto Frank (Gerstle) is experimenting with brain transplantation. Things are not going very well, though, as all Dr. Frank has succeeded in creating so far is Hans, a snarling man-beast with a dog's brain, and the "Walking Corpse" - a pretty young woman (Margie Fisco) who wanders about the lab with a brain-dead glassy-eyed stare. Dr. Frank's goal is to carry out the wishes of Mrs. March and transplant her brain into the head of a beautiful younger woman.

To that end, Mrs. March advertises for domestic help and hires Nina Rhodes (Peters) from Austria, Bea Mullins (Judy Bamber) from England, and Anita Gonzales (Lisa Lang) from Mexico. Mrs. March plans to pick out the best-looking of the three and use her as a body donor so that she will become one of the richest and most beautiful young women in the world. She rejects Anita because the birthmark on her back makes her imperfect and chooses the curvaceous blonde Bea instead.

Anita is turned over to Dr. Frank for experimentation, and he transplants the brain of Xerxes the cat into her head. Anita immediately takes on the aspects of cat behavior: purring, hissing, eating mice, etc. Neither Nina nor Bea know what has happened to Anita, and when Bea comes across her, she scratches out one of Bea's eyes. Nina finds Anita on the roof of the mansion and attempts to get her down, but Anita loses her footing and falls to her death.

Because of Bea's injury, Nina becomes by default the choice for Mrs. March's new body. However, Dr. Frank takes pity on Nina and instead transplants Mrs. March's brain into Xerxes. Now a cat, Mrs. March is quite unhappy about this unexpected development, and after scratching Dr. Frank's hand in anger, locks him inside his atomic-powered experimental chamber when he enters it. Xerxes/Mrs. March then starts the chamber, which quickly reduces Dr. Frank to a skeleton, and also begins the chain reaction in the atomic pile below the lab that will cause it to explode, destroying all evidence of the lab and burning the mansion to the ground.

A half-blind Bea stumbles into the lab to rescue Nina. But as the lab starts coming apart, Bea is killed when a piece of machinery falls on her. Nina flees into the night, unaware that following silently behind her is Xerxes/Mrs. March, waiting for a chance to someday, somehow claim Nina's body as her own.

Cast

Credited

Uncredited

Production

In an interview with film historian Tom Weaver, Pollexfen said that Monstrosity "was shot around '58, with fundamentally an amateur cast." It was originally budgeted at $25,000 but ended up with a final cost of "around $40,000," and was the only film he was connected with that never made a profit. Pollexfen said that "Everything went wrong" with the making of the movie. He called it "certainly the worst picture I was ever involved with" and his least favorite of the movies he had worked on.[1]

Release

According to the American Film Institute, Monstrosity was released to theatres in September 1963.[2] However, it was not reviewed by Variety until after a screening at a Hollywood theatre on 9 December 1964, some 15 months after its stated release.[3] And as part of a question that Weaver asked Pollexfen in the interview, Weaver referred to the film as being released "around 1964," approximately six years after it was made in 1958.[1]

Reception

Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academic Peter Dendle called it a "deservedly infamous" horror film that includes the earliest explanation that brain decay explicitly leads to zombies' diminished intelligence.[4] In Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For, academic and author Arnold T. Blumberg wrote that the "Mystery Science Theater 3000 version is the only watchable one."[5]

Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode

Under the name The Atomic Brain, the film was shown in episode #518 of Mystery Science Theater 3000, first airing on December 4, 1993. It was accompanied by a short, "What About Juvenile Delinquency?"[6] The episode is not considered to be among the series' high points. It did not make the top 100 in the poll of MST3K Season 11 Kickstarter backers; similarly, writer Jim Vorel, in his ranking of all 191 MST3K episodes, put the episode at #151, claiming, "The film is a slice of dull B&W averageness ... [that] feels interchangeable with any of the MANY other “mad scientist” episodes."[7]

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of the film was released by Rhino Home Video as part of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 3 DVD box set. The collection also included the MST3K versions of The Sidehackers (episode #202) and The Unearthly (episode #320) plus a disc of six MST3K shorts. The four-disc collection was later re-issued by Shout Factory in September 2016.[8]

Legacy

A 4K restoration of Monstrosity was released on BD-R and DVD-R in 2017 following a successful 2015/2016 Kickstarter campaign by Ben Solovey.[9][10] It featured an audio commentary by Tom Weaver (talking about the making of the movie) and Dr. Robert J. Kiss (discussing its theatrical and TV release).

The film was adapted into a musical in 2010.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Weaver, Tom (2000). Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Heroes: The Mutant Melding of Two Volumes of Classic Interviews. Jefferson NC: McFarland & Company Inc. p. 282. ISBN 0786407557.
  2. ^ "Monstrosity". American Film Institute. Retrieved 7 November 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ Willis, ed., Don (1985). Variety's Complete Science Fiction Reviews. NY: Garland Publishing Inc. p. 183. ISBN 0824087127. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ Dendle, Peter (2001). The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company. pp. 111–112. ISBN 978-0-7864-9288-6.
  5. ^ Blumberg, Arnold (2006). Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For. Telos Publishing. p. 432. ISBN 9781845830038.
  6. ^ Episode guide: 518- The Atomic Brain. Satellite News. Retrieved on 2017-11-17.
  7. ^ Ranking Every MST3K Episode, From Worst to Best. Vorel, Jim. Paste Magazine. April 13, 2017. Retrieved on 2017-11-17
  8. ^ MST3K: Volume III. Shout! Factory. Retrieved on 2017-11-17.
  9. ^ "Kickstarter: The Atomic Brain 4K Restoration". Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  10. ^ "Classic Horror Film Board Forums: MONSTROSITY - ATOMIC BRAIN restoration". Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  11. ^ "The Atomic Brain! the Musical". Retrieved 2017-07-02.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Monstrosity (film).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Monstrosity_(film)&oldid=989541388"