Rating: 3.5/5
Hooptober 2.0 | 17/31 | Before 1970 2/5
It’s 3 AM. U.S. Air Force jets line the tarmac of Interceptor Command Experimental Station 6 in Winthrop, Manitoba. A guard stops for a cigarette and watches the long arc of a jet’s condensation trail in the sky. He stops and picks up his gun when he hears the crunch of foliage under shoes from someone’s approach. He hears a scream, a thumping, and an odd slurping sound — following it, he finds a dead civilian, arched over in agony.
Major Jeff Cummings, functioning on little sleep and handfuls of Benzedrine at a time, investigates the death. Captain Al Chester suggests he leave the investigation to the local authorities. Cummings worries the locals will blame the death on their nuclear experiments.
Cummings leads an experiment where they use nuclear power to amplify radar so they can reach their aircraft from longer distances. When they fall just out of range, Cummings pushes for an increase in power, cutting close to dangerous levels. Still, the range does not increase. It’s almost like something is siphoning off the energy.
At a cow farm near the edge of the air base, Ben Adams hears his wife, Amelia, screaming in the barn. She grasps at her neck and collapses to the ground. Ben finds her dead. He hears a thumping and swishing under the hay. With a pitchfork, he stabs at the hay where he sees movement. Then, something comes behind him and kills him, too.
The Air Force gets to the bodies before the townspeople and performs an autopsy. They find on each a set of puncture holes on the neck, where the spinal cord meets the brain. They cut open the skulls to discover the brains missing — sucked out through the two holes. Not only that, the entire spinal cord is missing. Major Cummings jokes about a mental vampire. The coroner suggests that’s the best explanation he’s heard thus far.
The Colonel dispatches his team and asks Cummings to interview the townspeople and look for anything suspicious. Will Cummings get an answer before more people die? Is it the USAF’s fault that these people are dying, or is something else at play? His first clue is Professor R. E. Walgate’s manuscript on thought control.
Crabtree’s direction gives the film a human quality — the characters feel like people with lives, senses of humor, and curiosity.
The added melodrama keeps the story at work while the mystery brews beneath the surface. It’s not Howard Hawks-level dialogue or anything, but better than most 50s Sci-Fi.
Parker’s Barbara has a satisfying cool rationality — someone who isn’t quick to scare or jump to conclusions. Cummings has emotional outbursts, especially when accused of “tomcatting around.”
The film uses stop-motion for the special effects, a satisfying flavor to the film. This wasn’t a big-budget movie, so it’s surprising to see it used.
We don’t see the “fiends” until the climax — a bold approach that is confident in the power of its creature. The film relies on sound effects and pantomime to sell the invisible creatures, made visible through radiation. When we do, it’s a gore fest as the team shoots and chops up these brain creatures.
As someone who’s watched nearly every MST3K episode, and therefore a hefty pile of 50s sci-fi and brainsploitation, this film stands out. I finished this movie with a big dopey smile.