Atom Age Vampire (1960) — Triskaidekafiles

ATOM AGE VAMPIRE

WRITERS: Piero Monviso, Gino DeSantis, and Alberto Bevilacqua

DIRECTOR: Anton Giuilo Majano

STARRING: Alberto Lupo as Professor Albero Levin

Susanne Loret as Jeanette Moreneau

Sergio Fantoni as Pierre Mornet

Franca Parisi as Monique Rivere

Roberto Bertea as Sacha

Ivo Garrani as Commisario Bouchard

QUICK CUT: A dancer is willing to take any risk she can to fix her face following a horrible accident.

THE MORGUE

Jeanette - An exotic dancer struggling to have a relationship, and maintain her beauty, to keep working.

Pierre - Jeanette’s sometimes boyfriend, who is not happy with her job, but will find such things matter little at the end of the day, when love is true.

Doctor Levin - A mad scientist trying to cure scarring, who will do anything to further his quest for knowledge.

Atom Age Vampires to power, Titanium Age Turbines to speed…

TRISK ANALYSIS: Welcome back, Triskelions! After the previous review’s difficulties trying to get the movie done, I decided I needed something easily on hand, and easy to do, so I grabbed at random from one of my older 50 packs, Atom Age Vampire, from the 60s. Been awhile since we did a nice black and white bit of schlock, so let's get to it.

The movie opens up on stripper Jeanette coming off stage to the dressing room, and finding her boyfriend, Pierre, waiting for her. He's not a fan of her lurid choice of profession, and demands its him, or the job. She chooses the job, and so he's gone.

Jeanette storms off into the night and drives away, her emotions and engine running hot. She takes a turn too sharply, and the car rolls down off the road. It bursts into smoke and flames, as only movie cars can, and she barely escapes with her life.

While Jeanette should be grateful to be alive, the crash damaged her face, with a not insubstantial scar. Which is going to be rough for her career, and her vanity.

Elsewhere, Dr. Levin sends his assistant Monique to acquire Jeanette and bring her to him, so he can use her as a willing-ish guinea pig in his experiments.

She shows up just in time, as Jeanette is about to kill herself with Chekov's gun, but this is only the first act, so it can't go off yet.

Those chemicals really did a number on the Joker.

Levin's experiments are...do you remember how every scifi monster movie in the 50s was driven by atomic power? Yeah. That's what's going on here. He talks about the "destructive and regenerative abilities of atomic power" and look, we're just gonna have to go with it.

He's up to the 28th variation on his "Derma" serum, and he has had very little success so far. All of his previous experiments have turned people into monsters. If they survive, that is.

Monique does some self testing, and the doc freaks out, demanding she get in the radiation chamber before it harms her further. Not sure that tracks with what he just said about atomic power, but again, whatever.

But huzzah! The latest serum works, and her rash goes away! Levin wants to go out to celebrate, but Monique would rather stay home, and listen to their records. Look. It was a different place, a different time. We found entertainment where we could.

Jeanette finally shows up, doing her best to not stand out, because of all the secrecy. And she kinda fails miserably by LOOKING like she's trying to hide.

Levin gets a good look at Jeanette, and the dude has THE worst bedside manner as he goes on about how hideous she is, and will be hideous forever. Arguably it's on purpose, to provoke a reaction, but still. Dude.

Pierre wanders back into the plot, having heard about the accident. He arrives at the clinic 15 minutes late with a cappuccino, and discovers Jeanette has already left. And thanks to Levin's instructions, she's hard to find.

Back at Levin's, he's just getting to work on Jeanette when the power goes out. He heads to the basement to beat on his mute assistant Sacha, and get the generator started back up.

Sacha, being used to this sort of reaction probably, heads to his greenhouse to be alone and mope on his sadness couch.

As Levin performs the procedure, we cut back and forth to Pierre trying to figure out what happened to his girl. And eventually, Levin finishes, and...nothing happens. Oops.

Levin is grumpy over the results of the experiment, but OH WELL guess we're gonna have to kill her, because we can't let her go out there and have he telling people about his black market medical emporium!

But oh, hey, lookit that! It just needed time to start working, as the Derma-28 finally kicks in, and her scar literally crossfades away.

Monique is ecstatic, sure the procedure is a complete success, but Levin is less sure. He fears side effects, and if the change is permanent, or will fade, or what.

When Jeanette awakens and discovers her face is healed, she is thrilled, and wraps her arms around the doctor, and gives him a passionate kiss.

Something that Monqiue, who has made it clear she loves her boss, is not exactly thrilled about.

Help me, Doctor Levin Kenobi, you’re my only hope.

We go through a bit of scenes with Levin and Jeanette getting closer, and she's just all, "Yeah, whatever" but Levin INSISTS she loves him, because he fixed her beauty, has let her live in luxury instead of the squallor of the life of a stripper, and dude, she owes you nothing...well, okay. For services rendered, but you know what I mean.

But suddenly, the doc freaks out, having lost track of time, and he acts like his gown and coach are about to turn back into rags and a pumpkin.

See, there's a tiny catch with Derma-28, it requires occasional to frequent boosters. Unfortunately, Monique isn't willing to help, since she is feeling jilted. She finally agrees when the doctor agrees to never see Jeanette after the next procedure.

There's some more gibberish technobabble thrown around when they run out of serum, and the long and the short of it is, the doctor decides ah ha! He shall transfer the glands that produce the key ingredient to Derma-28 from a healthy woman into Jeanette!

Sure, that means he'll have to kill a few people, but what cost is that in the face of science??

In fact, immediately after that, Levin has a line, "I would kill a thousand times before I ever admit defeat!" and uhhh, that goes pretty hard for a 1960s rando flick like this. And speaks to a lot of mad sciencry. Herbert West would be proud.

The police arrive the next day at Levin's request, and oops, Monique is dead, mysteriously, and not at all at the hands of Doctor Levin and his mad experiments.

Unfortunately, commissioner Bouchard is a fan of Levin's, and has read a lot of his work. This doesn't matter yet, but it comes into play later as the plot unravels.

Doctor Levin, you son of a bitch! I read your book!

Levin talks about time he spent in Japan, studying those affected by the nuclear bombs we dropped on them. He asks the question, what if we could cause of reverse genetic mutations as we please? And geeze, this dude is an X-Men villain who fell into the wrong movie.

After a brief talk of science and philosophy - which I always appreciate in movies like this, it adds a little something - the cops leave, satisfied that Monique died a natural death, and Levin takes Jeanette out for some fresh air.

Unfortunately, after awhile, her face starts to feel like it's burning again, and Levin knows the serum isn't taking. He knows he will have to kill again. And he's okay with that.

He takes Jeanette home and 'helps' her get to sleep, and tells Sacha to watch over her until he returns. And as okay as he seems to be with his actions, Levin is still haunted by voices, and he has a bit of a telltale voiceover driving some guilt his way.

For some reason, Levin injects himself, transforming into a creature with a hideous face, and he sets out to do what needs to be done. Is this a disguise? Is this for added strength to get the job done? Is there something I missed, and he needs to do this? It's kinda inexplicable and weird.

He needs to invent some atom age zit cream.

Once the doctor's monster finds his next victim, he steps into the radiation sauna and gasses himself back to normal, then fixes Jeanette once more.

Jeanette is smarter than she looks, and is starting to piece things together, and begins to reject Levin's advances.

She finds Sacha and gives him a letter to mail to Pierre, but he instead gives it to the doctor, the little snitch.

Following another murder, where we find Levin's monstrous self is being called "the gorilla", and sometimes Seddok, Pierre wanders back into the movie, as Jeanette escapes Levin's house and goes in search of him.

They catch up, she finds out he never received the letter, but before anything else can be said, Levin and Sacha pop out of the shadows, and abscond with her.

Pierre goes to the cops, but they're not sure they believe his story, especially since everyone knows she was horribly scarred. He couldn't have seen the same girl, it must be a trick!

If you don't get on that plane, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of the film!

However, Bouchard takes Pierre to talk to the doctor, since he is the foremost expert on such things, coincidentally. That and, I think the commissioner has a few suspicions of his own.

This is also where they try and cram in the idea that these victims are having their lives taken away by this strange creature, like a "vampire of the atomic age" and if anything, he's more like a werewolf.

When he's asked if someone with a scar like Jeanette's could ever be healed, of COURSE he says no no, not at all, how absurd!

Dance for me, my angel of stripping, dance for meeee!

The doctor is upset at all this, and tells Jeanette that if she will just wait a few more days, he can cure her permanently. Levin says he’ll let her decide if she stays or goes at that point, but you get the impression he will force it to be “stay”.

Which is when Pierre shows back up to ask a few more questions. Levin tries to explain away all his concerns, like maybe he was drinking, maybe the night was foggy, and of course Piere is like, "No! It must have been her!"

And like...I get it, you wanna cast doubt in Pierre’s mind, you don't want to be connected, and it keeps the drama going narrative but... Dudes. He literally had Jeanette in his arms. They talked. They spent several minutes of quality, face to face, up close and personal time together. It's not like he saw a figure on the other side of the wharf through the fog that maybe kinda looked like her.

Pierre leaves, and Levin heads out to get more pineal glands, or whatever, so he can finish the procedure on Jeanette. But the cops are following him.

He finds his next victim after making it seem like he's at the theatre, but this time she wakes up. AND has a dog that protects its owner. GOOD BOY.

Oh. Oh no, this is the wrong theatre, this is the XXX theatre, that's...oh god I'm sorry.

The cops are on his trail though, sure he's eluding them somehow, but they don't have anything really solid.

Levin goes to tell Jeanette her final treatments will take more time, and gasp! Her face is healed! Again!! Once again, all it took was time!

Jeanette wants to leave, live her own life, but the doctor is obsessed, unwilling to let her go, and he's getting a bit Jekyll and Hyde up in here, as he is losing control of his monstrous side.

Gasp, surprise, the woman who feared no one could love her with a scarred face, wants nothing to do with the man with a scarred face. To be fair, his monstrous behaviour isn’t helping matters.

Pierre, who is just chilling outside!, jumps the wall once Jeanette starts screaming, and barges into the house. He is overcome with joy upon seeing Jeanette is really there, which lasts all of a half second when he sees the monster chasing her.

The menfolk fight over Jeanette, as the sirens grow nearer, Levin takes Jeanette into the greenhouse for a final stand.

As he and Sacha try and hide Jeanette, a hail of police bullets blast through the greenhouse. Levin decides he must kill Jeanette in a fit of "If I can't have her, no one will", which sets off Sacha, who turns against his boss, and kills him. Somehow. I think there was a garotte involved, but it's hard to see.

Levin's dead, the lovers are reunited, and the movie comes to an end.

TRISK ASSESSMENT

Video: The quality is fairly low, for a 50 pack movie, but at least everything is passable and visible. Well, that final attack on the monster is a bit dodgy, but fine.

Audio: Could be better, but it’s fine.

Body Count: An all right amount, about average for a 1960s era thriller.

1 - 34 minutes in, we learn Monique has been killed to harvest what Levin needs for Jeanette. Or maybe she took her own life because she couldn’t handle Levin’s love for her, and what he was becoming. It’s unclear.

2 - Another woman is found dead.

3 - Levin kills another woman for the treatments

4 - Another woman is grabbed

5 - Sasha kills Levin.....somehow?

Best Corpse: Kinda slim pickin’s here, but we got to see the random murder #2, so there’s that.

Blood Type - D: Like a lot of this era’s movies, there’s not much blood to be seen, and Seddok’s makeup isn’t too great.

Drink Up! Every time Pierre returns to the movie

Movie Review: This movie is messy. Maybe it’s translation issues, maybe it’s the era, maybe it’s the level of filmmaking, but it just feels…cluttered. I think there’s an idea here, and I’d like to see someone else tackle this in a remake. Probably with a different title, mind you. But there’s a lot of stuff that’s unclear, a bit too much hand waving. The acting is nice, it’s well shot, and the ideas and conflicts are solid, it’s just not polished. Three out of five vials of serum.

Entertainment Value: Not too much really stands out, as the movie is so muddled. It never quite has the time to be ridiculous, and the good stuff is good, so it’s hard to laugh at it for being inept. It’s all right, but not great. Two out of five sadness couches.