B-Creature Feature maestro Edward Cahn outdoes himself with CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN: the cinematography alone lifts it head and shoulders above his standard fare (that most of the action takes place during daylight hours no doubt helps). There's not a single aspect of CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN to be found lacking. Critics who harp on the "improbable" storyline should probably just go watch a documentary or something: this is a "sci-fi" movie, the cinematic equivalent of a comic book (or, more accurately, a pulp novel); if you can't get past the preposterous plot, what's the point of watching one of these movies...? For True Fans, CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN is in many ways EVOLUTIONARY: it marks a significant leap Forward for Zombie movies. (And some of the fx are ahead of their time.)

Edward L. Cahn…I'm definitely a fan! The name of this b-movie director probably won't ring any bells, but I invite everyone here to click on his name and check out his impressive repertoire! He was an incredibly busy bee, with sometimes up to twelve movies directed per year, and active in various fields and genres like crime, western and horror. Admittedly he never made any true classics or influential milestones, but he did deliver a lot of fun movies like "It! The Terror from Beyond Space", "Invasion of the Saucer Men" and "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake". And, most of all, he – unwarily – contributed to the historic development of cinematic zombies with this unbelievably underrated and surprisingly suspenseful "Creature with the Atom Brain". This is just my own personal theory, but creation of zombie cinema roughly occurred in four phases and, as far as I know, this cool little movie kick-started phase II… Phase I started it all with the legendary pioneer movie "White Zombie", featuring what is arguably Bela Lugosi's best performance (yes, better than "Dracula"). In these very first zombie movies the living dead are portrayed as disciplined and docile slaves, solely resurrected from their graves to work for evil plantation owners. To a lesser extent, "I Walked with a Zombie" and "King of the Zombies" also fit into this initial phase. Then we have phase II with this "Creature with the Atom Brain". The zombies are still just slaves, but now they are brought back from the dead to serve as controllable murderers with superhuman strengths. The idea is brilliant, as far as I'm concerned, and results in a handful of truly suspenseful and innovative sequences. "Invisible Invaders", also directed by Edward L. Cahn, also belongs in phase II and here the zombies are controlled by extraterrestrials. Phase III – a very short one – almost exclusively contains the very first adaptation of Richard Matheson's monumental novel "I Am Legend", retitled "The Last Man on Earth" and starring genre icon Vincent Price. After a worldwide deadly plague, the dead rise again and act entirely by themselves for the very first time, but they are more reminiscent to vampires since they only come into action after dark. Then, of course, we have George A. Romero to thank for phase IV, as he made zombies to what they still are to this date with "Night of the Living Dead": vile and merciless undead monsters that hunt down the living in order to feast on their flesh and brains.So, I'm probably exaggerating a bit, but I personally think that "Creature with the Atom Brain" is a historically relevant little B-movie. But more importantly, it's a very clever and entertaining '50s horror gem with action and suspense. Frank Buchanan, a nation-wide feared mafia gangster enlists the help of a brilliant former Nazi-scientist to extract vengeance on all the people responsible for his conviction. Through zombies that are brought back to life with atomic energy and remote-controlled through brain wave manipulation, he kills off prosecutors but also fellow gangsters that betrayed him, while he remains within the safe and heavily isolated walls of his mansion. The screenplay of "Creature with the Atom Brain" is very talkative and many of the dialogs are quite tacky, but the underlying ideas of the film are compelling and – as stated above – quite renewing. The film does remain a low-budgeted '50s Sci-Fi/horror production, so naturally the special effects are cheap and cheesy. Still, the close-up zombie hit men are rather uncanny. Edward L. Cahn also maintains a grim atmosphere throughout and even the sequences with the head investigator's 6-year-old daughter aren't that irritating. Good movie, strongly recommended to horror fans with an open-minded mentality.

From what I understand, writer Curt Siodmak basically hacked this story out, as opposed to the more careful,serious novels and stories he built his reputation on. Even so, and even with some of the more carelessly thrown together elements of the movie, the strength of the story comes through. As a fried of mine who watched the movie with me commented,you can almost always tell when a real writer had a hand in the story.I've also heard that this director was something of a minor talent, but he tended to rise or fall to meet the level of quality of the story he was telling. He keeps things moving briskly here. Aside from a few obvious filler sequences involving driving or necessary exposition, there isn't really any dead space in the movie...so the viewer doesn't get a chance to really think about the absurdity of the premises or some of the unwise story choices that might otherwise detract from enjoying the movie.I've always enjoyed watching Richard Denning in various roles in and out of movies and TV - he can give a smart, humane, energetic feel to his heroes and seems instantly likable as an actor. The actor who plays the gangster Buchanan and the hapless Captain who gets zombified are also quite good at what they do and in the way they play their characters.I'm still not sure why a gangster who had control of a small army of atomic powered zombies would waste his energy and time on revenge when he could have his minions rob any bank in the city and use terrorist tactics to make millions, but we'll skip right over that, and over the part where the heroes neglect to inform the army detachment that backs them up that the zombies are essentially immune to anything but head shots...and over the facts that both the gangster and the professor who aids him should be long dead of radiation poisoning before the final events of the movie (the professor steps out for a beer, and it is discovered that everything he has touched is hotter than a pistol.) Good move, great fun. If I had been 10 years old when I first saw it, I am pretty sure I would have thought it was better than "Gone With The Wind".

This is a pretty weird sci-fi/cop film, but because it is well written and carried off very well, it works. However, with such a strange plot, it could have easily just been a grade-z film.The film begins with a robbery and murder. How the perpetrator was able to so easily snap the neck of the victim stumps the cops as well as the strange glowing trail left following the attack. A short time later, another man is killed in a similar manner. With the second murder, a pattern has emerged. Both men had testified years earlier in a trial of a mobster--who has since been deported to Europe. When a third man, also involved with this trial, is killed, it's certain why the killings are occurring--but how?! The police have a crazy idea that dead men are being reanimated using atomic power--making them robotic zombies!! As I said, it sure sounds like a plot that COULD have made for a dumb film.Here are some of the reasons for the film working. First and foremost, the idea works because the writing is crisp and works well. Second, while the actors in the film are mostly unknowns (with only Richard Denning being recognizable to only a few discerning viewers), they did a great job--and the director did a good job eliciting good performances from all, though I must admit that the little girl in the film was a bit of a weak point--not terrible but not particularly good. Another minor problem is that the reanimated folks talk just like robots BUT no one seems to notice this!! After all, this is a dead giveaway that something is amiss, but time and again none of the living seem to notice! Overall, this is a great film for lovers of 1950s sci-fi/horror/cop films. The rest may just find it all a bit silly, but if you give it a chance you might be surprised to see it's pretty good. It sure ain't Shakespeare...but it is entertaining.