|
B-movies are a dime a dozen, but when a group like the Criterion Collection sets their sights on such a flick, my curiosity is instantly piqued. There's just something about the same people that painstakingly resorted the works of Kurosawa and Truffaut dedicating the same effort to The Blob that makes me snap to attention. After seeing the 1958 monster movie Fiend Without a Face, starring Marshall Thompson, I'm still not quite sure what made the Criterion folks bless it with the royal treatment, but I do know that in the realm of B-flicks, it's a fairly diverting little ditty.
Scene from Fiend
Without A Face
Strange things are afoot in a small Canadian village. A man has died mysteriously on the outskirts of a newly-installed U.S. Air Force base, leading locals to quickly blame the military's nuclear reactors for the death. The Air Force is confused as well about what could possibly be sapping the atomic power its scientists use for experimental reasons.
As Major Jeff Cummings (Marshall Thompson) launches an investigation into the matter, more strange deaths occur, with autopsies revealing that the brains and spinal cords of the deceased have completely vanished. It's
Marshall Thompson
not long before Major Cummings realizes that the murders are not the result of man but of a more ghastly evil, a scientist's earnest experiment gone horribly awry that must be stopped before it claims more victims.
Fiend Without a Face reads like a shopping list of essential B-movie elements. There are the signature monsters borne out of mankind's meddling in science (I knew biology classes would lead people down a dark road); the lovably bland male and female leads, who manage to swoon for one another despite some circumstances beyond human comprehension taking place; and, of course, a budget about as tiny as my respect for Mo'Nique.
So, what's so special about Fiend Without a Face? What's the kicker? There isn't one, at least not for the first two acts. Fiend Without a Face is predictable fare, decent enough of a watch but pretty much unspectacular in every way. The actors go through the motions in their one-note stock characters, and the turn of events in the story is so familiar by now, the movie tends to run into some slow patches.
Occasionally, things will be spiced up when someone dies at the hands of an invisible beastie sucking out their cerebellums, but for the first hour or so, Fiend Without a Face is pretty ho-hum stuff...until the last twenty minutes when the film takes off in a big way as it reveals that (SPOILERS AHOY!) the invisible monsters are actually human brains that use their spinal columns to crawl like worms. Instantly, the flick turns from slow-moving material to one of the more offbeat creature features of the 1950s.
 The last twenty minutes are so are some great stuff, turning into a Night of the Living Dead situation in which the surviving characters board themselves up in a house, while the crawling brains try to burst their way in. Especially awesome is when the brains get shot, and what comes out of the wound resembles some Smucker's strawberry preserves that got left out in the sun for a week. It's not often one sees a '50s sci-fi flick get this generous with the gore effects, and the results (including some rather good stop-motion animation work with the brains) are pretty cool.
While not quite good enough to etch its name in the annals of B-movie
Kim Parker in scene from
Fiend Without A Face
history, Fiend Without a Face deserves to at least walk away with an honorable mention.
Director: Arthur Crabtree
Writer: Herbert J. Leder, story by Amelia Reynolds Long
Cast: Marshall Thompson, Kynaston Reeves, Michael Balfour, Kim Parker
Rating: No MPAA Rating (some B-movie violence; fine for middle schoolers)
Classic Movie Guide Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Run Time: 74 minutes
Studio: MGM
Format: Black-and-white, widescreen
Photos © MGM Pictures
|
