Friday, September 19, 2014

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE (1958)

There's been a rash of killings in the area surrounding an American Air Force base in Canada and the locals ain't too happy about it.  Even stranger is the killer (or killers) have been poking two holes into the base of the victim's skull and sucking out their brain.  Kind of like a mental vampire or something.  Of course nobody has the foresight to wear some kind of protection around their neck/skull, so the killings continue.  Eventually an Air Force dude gets to the bottom of it and it is mental vampires!  And apparently a mental vampire looks like a disembodied brain with antennas that propels itself around with a spinal column tail.

I'm sure when FIEND WITHOUT A FACE came out in 1958 it scared the living bejesus out of younger audiences, but watching it now, it's extremely dated.  Tons of military stock footage, slow pace, lots of scenes of just people standing around talking, a slow-moving finale that seems to take like 20 minutes, stiff acting, amateur dialogue.  The monster attack scenes are entertaining, but other than it's a slow moving affair.  Worth a watch for fans of 1950's era monster movies, others might want to think twice.

Drinking game idea: every time somebody says "Gibbons", "mental vampire" or "atomic".