Customer Reviews

Atom Age Vampire [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There's something we need to clear up here at the very start. Despite the title, there are no vampires in this movie. No, the monster you'll find here (and I'm using the term monster rather loosely) is something else entirely, a sort of really ugly Mr. Hyde who is compared to "a vampire of the atomic age." Don't go in looking for a lot of atomic whatsits either, as you won't see anything much beyond the technology of the vaunted machine that goes ping - oh, and radiation is apparently just white smoke that can't harm you, by the way.

With the preliminaries out of the way, let's talk about the story. You've got this stripper named Jeanette (and, sadly, I only know she's a stripper because the film tells me so) who gets dumped by her boyfriend Pierre, reacts rather hysterically, and ends up driving her car over a cliff. She's left horribly disfigured (even though it's really not that bad at all), which really bums her out. That's when this stranger named Monique shows up in her room, telling Jeanette all about her colleague Professor Levin and the miraculous work he is doing with cell regeneration. It's all hush-hush, though, so Jeanette has to sort of sneak over there after she is released. Well, the doctor does his thing, and his super-duper Derma-28 works wonders. Naturally, Doc falls madly in love with the girl, which causes problems of its own sort. Even worse, the miracle cure doesn't seem to be permanent - and Doc is all out of Derma-28. He could get what he needs from a living specimen, of course, but the donor would probably not live to tell about it. Hmmm. You see where this is going, don't you? Doc will do anything to cure the woman he loves - anything. That's where your monster bit comes in. There hardly seems to be a point to the whole monster business, if you ask me, but what are you gonna do?

The main problem with this film is the fact that it seems to have passed through the hands of several snip-happy editors on its way from Italy to America. The Italian original (Seddok, l'erede di Satana) is some 18 minutes longer than the standard American print (although I think the version I saw was even shorter than that) - this is a good time for me to point out that I'm reviewing the movie, not the DVD (thus, I can't tell you for sure just how long the DVD print runs). However you slice it, though, this is just your basic 1960 sci-fi/horror film. There are a couple of nice transformation scenes, the first half of the film fares reasonably well, and Mario Bava had a hand in the production, but the bad pretty much balances out the good. The dubbing isn't all that great, the over-acting of several characters would be obvious in any language, and the whole story is a little less than original. Despite its faults, though, it's still entertaining enough to be worth a look. Just remember - it's not a vampire film at all, no matter what the title says.

A beautiful exotic dancer named Jeanette Moreneau (Susanne Loret) is disfigured in a car wreck after her boyfriend Pierre breaks up with her. Jeanette is later visited in the hospital by a mysterious woman named Monique, who tells her of a doctor who can repair her scarred face. Jeanette goes to the doctors home and is subjected to injections of his "Derma-28" serum (derived from human glands). Professor Levin (Albert Lupo), as he is called, is of course, a mad scientist experimenting with radiation and various chemical concoctions in his basement lab. He manages to cure Jeanette and fall deeply in lust with her, sending Monique into a jealous depression. Unfortunately, Derma-28's healing effects are only temporary, causing Prof. Levin to seek fresh glands from living (soon to be dead) female victims. Levin kills Monique and tells police she had a bad heart. Levin feels bad after his first murder, so he digs up an older serum called "Derma-25", which has the effect of turning him into a hideous beast, and injects himself with it. Now the killing can really get started! Meanwhile, Pierre realizes what a great thing he had going, and sets out to find Jeanette. Loaded with cheesy action and lots of mad science, ATOM AGE VAMPIRE is a masterpiece of schlocky horror! Check it out at once...

I also got this movie as part of a 50 horror movie set. I think that 50 cents was about the right price for this awful movie. The only reference to anything atomic is the display of some rather unfortunate photographs of Japanese atomic bomb victims. The "vampire" part is just..just..well, wrong. I think something was lost in the translation from Italian. The story is about a mad scientist in his basement with a formula that can revive disfigured flesh. He wants a human subject on which to test his discovery, and his devoted, romantically frustrated assistant will not do. So in her role as a classic enabler, the assistant goes out an "procures" a disfigured stripper for him. Of course, the doc falls in love with the stripper, much to the consernation of the assistant, the stripper's boyfriend, and the hapless young ladies wandering in the night who become ingredients in his evil potion.
As an example of what you're in for with this, our mad, love obsessed doctor transforms himself into a monster in order to kill women for their adrenal glads to keep the object of his desire in flawless physical condition. When he is a "monster", he wears what looks like a "barf" mask over his head. However, the mask was so cheaply made that the mouth does not move when he talks. We're talkin' quality, here. The transfer was poor, but I attribute that to the fact that I shelled out 4 bits apiece for these classics. My recommendation? If you can find this for what I paid, I say add it to your collection. But don't get ripped off!

I SAW THIS ON TV BACK IN THE 60'S & REMEMBERED IT BEING PRETTY SCARY WITH A COOL VAMPIRE/WEREWOLF/WHATEVER? TRANSFORMATION SCENE...A STRIPPER HAS HER FACE DISFIGURED (IT'S NOT ALL THAT BAD) IN A CAR ACCIDENT & THE ATOMIC VAMPIRE DOCTOR KEEPS HER BEAUTIFUL BY KILLING OTHER WOMEN (IT'S A GLAND THING) INCLUDING HIS ASSISTANT (SHE'S THE HOT ONE OF THE TWO) WHO REALLY LOVES DR. JEKYLL/ MR. ATOMIC VAMPIRE. CRAZY, TRASHY, DEMENTED, SEXY, SLEAZY, FUN !!!
THE ALPHA DVD BRINGS THIS RATING DOWN A NOTCH OR TWO. THERE IS A CONSTANT HUMMMMM THROUGHOUT, LOTS OF JUMPS & SPLICES & THE IMAGE ISN'T ALL THAT SHARP AT TIMES. IT SEEMS TO BE MISSING SCENES AS WELL, MAKING VIEWING THIS NEAT LITTLE SCHLOCKER SOMEWHAT CONFUSING...TO ME THIS IS STILL A FONDLY REMEMBERED SLICE OF TV TRASH & I RECOMMENDED IT TO ALL, REGARDLESS...

For the record, this flick has a little of the visual flavor of a Twilight Zone episode, Way Out, or even Alfred Hitchcock Presents, if that turns you on. The sets are spare, and the photography intermittently "choice" & rather pedestrian black & white. All in all, it is about as atmospheric as the budget allowed. (It may help put you in the proper mood to imagine yourself making a horror feature in a few days, on sets you can only use at night, after the real owners have gone home. Under such circumstances, the fact that the makers had any kind of product at all to show is amazing.) Work with it.

Of course there are no vampires in the film, silly. But it does have a great bat in the opening jazz-music titles.

One of my favorite of the sub Grade Z Franco-Italian thrillers of the early 60s. No, it's not LA DOLCE VITA by a light year, but it does try to pull off some 'Marcello and Anita-Styled' basement-rate moves in a hilarious, failed way with its low-grade minimalist sets, shimmering Black-and-white photography, and an ersatz-jazzy-sex music score by Armando Travolji. Of interest to mainly time-and-species watchers like myself who also have a fetish for an occasional dose of camp and kitsch.

Some choice moments make the 90 minutes tolerable: Jeannette, the stripper, throwing a fit in the hospital where she ails disfigured from a strange car crash brought on by despair with her boyfriend, Pierre(with the help of a saxophone) and her having a fit and smashing the windows; Dr. Levin's Betty Paige lookalike assistant, Monique (love these names!), showing up to offer Jeannette reprieve from her disfiguration with some of that groovy Derma-25 (call Glaxo) ; Monique crying by her record player; and Sascha, the sulking rose gardener, who slinks around the entire movie looking like he is someone's Quasimodian S&M victim.

Jeanette's mostly absent gumshoe boyfriend, Pierre (or is he a Navyman?) shows up ocassionally in a trench coat and a square jaw. I think the wardrobe people just threw crap at him without regard to any back-story in their rush to get to a meal of spaghetti! And Pierre doesn't get to do much more than coo "Oh, Jeannette!!!" and shove his hands in his pockets.

Dr. Levin is played by the woefully underused Albert Lupo, who must have been way down on his Italian luck when he took this job running around in a bad mask with a Billy Idol haircut. Lupo (which, oddly, translate as "wolf") was a decent talent of his day (which could be said of a lot of Italian industry talent, like the wonderful Catherine Spaak).

Some great lines, too, like "IT's not love, really, just some sort of sentiment!" and "I want to possess you... creatively!" I thought I was the only person who thought like this!!!

What's even better is that almost every line is dubbed with an exclamation point. The dubbers in NYC must have been on 60s-era Black Beauties speed tabs the day they recorded this one. I bet they had a blast.

I suggest you rent this with "Valley of the Dolls" and get your fill of 60s camp, then run back to the cloister and repent.

For note: I watch this movie in "50 movie pack horror classic", and I'm glad, I didn't buy it solely. Average, I buy this movie less than a dollar.

My general review, this movie is ridiculous. What atom age? What you got is wolfman-like creature, who kills woman for her glands. There's no relation between vampire and atom age. the motive's also laughable.

Jeanette Moreneau (Susanne Loret) makes her living in the entertainment industry. This makes her boyfriend (Sergio Fantoni) mad; so he leaves for the sea. She ends up in an auto accident that and really burnt over the situation.

Along comes a brilliant doctor (Alberto Lupo) with a secret. He promises to put Jeanette back together again. In the process, the Doc falls in love with his patient. So now, his nurse assistant is only good from spare parts.

If you aree wondering how the doctor dedided to turn into a monster there are two suggested cenarios in the film:
1) He use the previous generation of the serum that is known to create monsters that need to take periodic stem baths.
2) Monsters from Japan, which were created by the atomic bomb, sneak in to the U.S. disguised as normal doctors.

Well it is show time, the police are getting suspicions and the boyfriend is back. Can Jeanette be permanently fixed before the doctor is permanently fixed by a police bullet or worse?

Love at First Bite

Wow ,Sophie Loren lookalike. Tutti buoni. Beautiful players, cool cars, frenetic acting. This is better than Gone With the Wind, which did not have a fantastico stop motion claymation scene. I love the dubbing, it ads dynamic energy. There is so much passion in this movie that Marco loves. If you watch it 20 or so times you will see the streakless brush strokes that is canvassed. I have only seen a few movies that entrance me. ohh I have to go my mafalda is boiling over. You watch you like. Lupo call me.

The Alpha Video Copy of Atom Age Vampire is a short version and runs 68.8 min on my DVD player (running time on cover lists 87 min), so the storyline is sometimes a little bit confusing due to some cuts. Picture quality is not very crisp, the audiotrack has a sort of overlay, a tone in the background, not very loud but permanent. For me it's okay for 8 bucks, it's fun to watch, but don't expect a quality better than a rather bad video tape.