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+--- Thread: Fiend Without a Face (/thread-530.html)
Fiend Without a Face - fpw - 12-15-2004
Someone (fondly) mentioned this film a while back. I remembered seeing it but not being too fond of it. But what the hell, I put it on my Netflix cue. It arrived over the weekend. Watched it last night.
This 1957 b&w turkey is up there with Plan 9 in the howlingly bad category.
It starts off with a new airborne radar system that’s going to help us keep an eye on the Russians. It runs on atomic power that’s beamed up to a plane (a B-52 which magically changes to a B-47 and back again). But even though they ramp up the reactor to dangerous levels (think of Scotty saying, “Captain, she canna take no more!”) they can’t get enough power to the plane – something keeps sucking it off.
Hey, it’s 1957 and THEY’VE GOT BROADCAST POWER!
But never mind that: People are being attacked by invisible creatures who suck out their brains and spinal cords through 2 small holes in the back of the skull. One wonders anxiously where do these things come from and what can they possibly look like?
Well, in a steal from Forbidden Planet’s id creature, a scientist wired up his head and created them. He didn’t intend for them to be evil, but they are. They gain strength from the energy from the reactor and feed on human central nervous systems.
Somehow the creatures rev the reactor into overload level and destroy the rods that will cool it down. This extra energy allows them to become visible. Know what they look like?
THE BRAINS AND SPINAL CORDS OF THEIR VICTIMS!
Except that the brains have two antennae and the spinal cords are segmented.
SPINAL CORDS ARE NOT SEGMENTED – THE VERTEBRAE AROUND THEM ARE!
They use their (SEGMENTED) spinal cords to propel them like inch worms, with help from peripheral nerve trunks that act like spindly legs.
The stop-motion animation is bad while they’re on the ground or hanging from trees, but then they jump.
THEY JUMP!
Eventually the principals – army types and the designated female – are trapped in a house surrounded by the fiends. They shoot them with their .45s – revealing that the creatures are filled with strawberry preserves – but there are too many of them. The hero says the only way to stop them is to blow up the reactor.
YES, BLOW UP THE REACTOR!!!
How’s he going to do this? By stopping for explosives at the dynamite shack between town and the army base.
THE DYNAMITE SHACK???
Ever live in a town with a DYNAMITE SHACK?
But he reaches it, breaks in, makes off with four (FOUR !) sticks of dynamite and BLOWS UP THE REACTOR!!! (with 4 sticks of dynamite)
This causes all the fiends to dissolve into custard.
Whew. The protagonists and the town have been saved by BLOWING UP THE REACTOR!!
74 minutes of (depending on your mood) hilarity or pure crap.
Fiend Without a Face - Maggers - 12-15-2004
FPW, you just made my day! I laughed out loud! Thanks!
Fiend Without a Face - Lisa - 12-15-2004
Great review, Paul. You should do more!
Have you ever seen Teenage Zombies? I highly recommend you check it out if you like absolutely terrible movies. It is bee-ay-dee bad.
Lisa
Fiend Without a Face - Blake - 12-15-2004
fpw Wrote:[SIZE=3]Ever live in a town with a DYNAMITE SHACK?
No, but that gives me an idea for a good name for a singles bar.
Actually, this gets me in the mood to watch the MST3K version of "Attack of the the Eye Creatures". And that's not a typo if you look at the opening credits of the movie. They actually (mis)printed the word "the" twice. Classic.
Anyone know if that one's out on DVD?Lisa Wrote:Great review, Paul. You should do more!
Indeed. Mild shades of Dave Barry. FPW, want to do a weekly?
I'm going to be going through withdrawals when Barry takes his "break" from doing his "column" next year for the Miami "Herald".Blake
Fiend Without a Face - fpw - 12-15-2004
Lisa Wrote:Have you ever seen Teenage Zombies? I highly recommend you check it out if you like absolutely terrible movies. It is bee-ay-dee bad.
Hmmm..."See Teenage Girls Thrust Into the Weird Pulsating Cage of Horror!"
Sounds like my kinda flick.
Fiend Without a Face - the Oracle - 12-15-2004
fpw Wrote:Hmmm..."See Teenage Girls Thrust Into the Weird Pulsating Cage of Horror!"Yeah, but you can only rent it from that seedy section behind the beads...
Sounds like my kinda flick.
Fiend Without a Face - Maggers - 12-15-2004
the Oracle Wrote:Yeah, but you can only rent it from that seedy section behind the beads...
Ahh, but that's the joy of Netflix. No one but Netflix knows what you're renting.
Does Netflix have a seedy section???
I read FPW's synopsis again, and laughed out loud again. It is brilliantly funny. I want more!
(*exits happily chanting MORE MORE MORE!*)
Fiend Without a Face - jimbow8 - 12-15-2004
Maggers Wrote:Ahh, but that's the joy of Netflix. No one but Netflix knows what you're renting.Netflix only sorta has a seedy section. The seeds only produce very small saplings. :p
Does Netflix have a seedy section???
I read FPW's synopsis again, and laughed out loud again. It is brilliantly funny. I want more!
(*exits happily chanting MORE MORE MORE!*)
Fiend Without a Face - Peter - 12-15-2004
I have also had the pleasure (?) of seeing Fiend Without a Face, thank you for reminding me of it! However it doesn't quite reach the heights of Plan 9, a worthy contender though. Oh and FPW or anyone else reading if you can get it on video or DVD (which I frankly doubt) try and see The Crucible of Terror, it starred Mike (?) Raven,a semi-prominent disc jockey of the time and this was to be his big break into films, well, he didn't make it and if you can see the film you sorta get an inkling why.
Speaking of films, any progress with the RJ film? Only asking you understand...
Fiend Without a Face - Sam - 12-15-2004
Blake Wrote:Actually, this gets me in the mood to watch the MST3K version of "Attack of the the Eye Creatures". And that's not a typo if you look at the opening credits of the movie. They actually (mis)printed the word "the" twice. Classic.
The only MST3K I've seen on video was "This Island Earth", which was great. I didn't know there were more out there. I'd love to have them all.