Fiend Without a Face (1958)

Captivating movie !

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

In 1957 Hollywood produced "The Brain from Planet Arous" so, in 1958, the British replied with several brains from Manitoba.A number of mysterious murders have occurred in a small town in Manitoba which, naturally, the locals blame on a nearby U.S. Air Force Base. Why an American Air Force base should happen to be in Canada in the first place, when Canada has an Air Force of it's own, is not explained. But then this is a British production, and perhaps the British were unaware of that fact. In addition, since this is a British production, the Canadians are depicted as a bunch of ignorant, superstitious yokels who scarcely have a brain between them. Well, actually they do. The problem is that they are unaware of that fact because the Townies cannot see them, because the brains are invisible. Those invisible brains, which have been committing all the mayhem, are the creation of a mad scientist (English, naturally), who also has settled down in the remote Canadian community in order to pursue his irresponsible scientific experiments unhindered. Without a Face is classic 1950s sci-fi horror at it's best (or worst, depending upon your point of view). Either way, check your brains at the door, and enjoy.

An above-standard 1950s sci-fi/horror, steeped in Cold War paranoia, with some surprisingly gory scenes and commendable special effects.In a remote part of Canada, a joint Canadian/American atomic testing site is in hot water with the locals, who blame the constant air traffic for scaring their livestock and disrupting the milk flow of their cows. When a man is found dead out in the woods next to the base, tensions reach breaking point. Following the deaths of other nearby residents in quick succession, the locals - believing that the deaths have been caused by either radiation from the base, or from a mad GI who has gone renegade - have enough, but so does Major Cummings (Marshall Thompson, 1925 - 1992), who begins an investigation into the deaths, determined to take the heat off himself and his colleagues.The special effects in this film earned it much publicity and controversy at the time. The media, and British Parliament, were disgusted by the film, asking 'What is the British film industry thinking by trying to beat Hollywood at its own game of overdosing on blood and gore.' The monsters here are indeed a step above what Hollywood was producing during this period, and still hold up relatively well today, it has to be said. It is the last twenty minutes of the film that make it, because apart from that it is rather mediocre, run-of-the-mill; wooden actors and a flimsy, at times ludicrous, screenplay that would collapse if it was scaffolding. On a question of the film's influence on the genre, I've little doubt that George A. Romero and the monster team behind Ridley Scott's 'Alien' were fans. Face-huggers, anyone?

Invisible atomic monsters attack a U.S. Armed Forces base and the local residents.The screenplay by Herbert J. Leder was based upon Amelia Reynolds Long's 1930 short story "The Thought Monster", originally published in the March 1930 issue of Weird Tales magazine. Forrest J. Ackerman represented Long and brokered the sale of her story to the film's producers. Having not read the original story, I wonder what changes were made. Presumably a 1930 story would not have atomic power be such a central focus as its 1958 variation.The stop-motion, while somewhat cheesy, is quite effective at bringing the creature to life. It also happens to make the film quite memorable, because it is likely the only film of its kind using such effects. This creature is not one of Ray Harryhausen's lumbering beasts!

Fiend Without a Face starts late one night in Winthrop in Canada near a US air force base as a local man Jauque Griselle is found dead in some woods by a sentry, the man's death remains unexplained & over the next couple of days more of the locals turn up dead. The US base & is nuclear reactor are being blamed by the townspeople & it's up to Major Jeff Cummings (Marshall Thompson) to try & uncover the real reasons behind the mysterious death's, he contacts Barbara Griselle (Kim Parker) & becomes suspicious of her elderly scientist boss Professor Walgate (Kynaston Reeves) who is conducting strange experiments in the field of telekinesis that have created thought creatures that live by absorbing radiation & eating people's brains. Trapped in the professor's house & surrounded by these creatures Major Cummings has to destroy the creatures before they multiply & take over the world...This British production was directed by Arthur Crabtree & the script was based on the short story 'The Thought Monster' by Amelia Reynolds Long published in 1930 in an edition of Weird Tales, this 70 minutes film is surprisingly good actually & is a nice mix of sci-fi & horror. The script is lean & to the point despite a few goofs, a nuclear power plant reaching meltdown even though the fuel rods have been removed & then it is blown up with no significant damage to the surrounding area (hello, how about nuclear fallout?) & the fact that Major Cummings can't open the crypt door from the inside but Chester can open it easily enough from the outside? Also, if one of the creatures made it's way down the chimney & killed Melville why did none of the survivors in the room try to block the chimney afterwards? Overall though I can forgive some sloppy plotting because Fiend Without a Face has a lot going for it, it's brisk at only 70 minutes, it has it's fair share of creepy moments, the scientific aspect of the plot is fair easy to follow even if it doesn't make perfect sense, that character's are functional, the first fifty odd minutes serves as a nice little horror mystery with the unexplained death's while the last fifteen minutes goes for all out horror as the thought creatures are revealed & attack people stranded in a house in scenes that are reminiscent of The Night of the Living Dead (1968) complete with boarded up windows. I can see why Fiend Without a Face is still well know today, it's a good little film that makes the most of what it has & gives us a different sort of monster.Although set entirely in Canada this was filmed in London in England, there's some grainy stock footage of real planes & the like but nothing too distracting. Director Crabtree manages to build up a fair bit of tension & suspense, I love the heart thumping on the soundtrack. The end siege is well handled & never lets up, it's worth watching the previous hour or so just for this standout set-piece. The thought monsters look cool, they are just human brains with antenna that crawl on the floor as they push themselves with their spinal cord like tails. The effect is somewhat lost when they start jumping around & flying through the air. During a time when most monster films simply used guy's in rubber suits it's nice to see that stop-motion animation was used here & while not perfect it's pretty good for the era. There's a bit of blood here whenever one of the monsters is shot but nothing graphic is shown happening to any of the people.Supposedly shot on a budget of a mere £50,000 this opened in the US some six months before the UK, filmed in black and white the production values are alright if not amazing. The acting is OK apart from Constable Gibbons played by Robert MacKenzie who gives a truly terrible performance.Fiend Without a Face is a nice little sci-fi horror film from the late 50's that is better than it had any right to be & stood the test of time quite well despite some goofs in it's science & plotting. I liked it, I liked the monsters, I liked the atmosphere & I liked it didn't tone down the horror elements especially at the end. Fans of classic sci-fi & horror should definitely give Fiend Without a Face a watch.