Stubs - The Angry Red Planet

The Angry Red Planet (1959) Starring: Gerald Mohr, Naura Hayden, Jack Kruschen, Les Tremayne. Director: Ib Melchior. Screenplay by Sidney W. Pink, Ib Melchior. Produced by Sidney W. Pink, Norman Maurer. Color. USA Run Time 83 minutes Science Fiction, Horror

Science Fiction and horror are two genres that often get mixed together. In the case of The Angry Red Planet, a trip to Mars is filled with horrific space monsters that endanger the lives of the four astronauts sent there to explore. Originally called Invasion of Mars, the film was given a low budget of $200,000 and a short shooting schedule, 10 days. To compensate, the film is the first to use a technique called CineMagic, but more on that later.

Space was not a new subject when this film was made. Films about traveling in outer space are as old as filmmaking, including Le Voyage Dans la Lun (A Trip to the Moon) Georges Méliès’ 1902 fantasy about what it would take to get to the moon and what it would be like once they were there. But there was a real sense of urgency in the late 1950s after the Russians launched Sputnik in 1957 and the U.S. found itself in a Space Race that would culminate with man landing on the moon in 1969.

The Angry Red Planet skips ahead to a still future time when man lands on the moon, but still retains its 1950s sensibilities. When the film opens, an experimental rocket ship MR-1, thought to have crashed on Mars moons before, is suddenly sending signals back to Earth. No one is sure if any of the four-person crew is still alive or not, but a special meeting is held in Washington, including Maj. Gen. George Treegar (Paul Hahn) to devise a plan to retrieve the ship, which includes flying to Nevada, the origination and landing point of the MR-1.

Maj. General George Treegar (Paul Hahn) is briefed about the MR-1.

Using remote control, a ground crew brings the ship back for a landing. After checking for radiation, the ground crew finds two survivors on board, Dr. Iris Ryan (Naura Hayden), who opens the hatch, and a gravely ill Col. Thomas “Tom” O’Bannion (Gerald Mohr) is removed on a stretcher.

The command center for the MR-1 mission wouldn't give Mission Control a run for its money.

Iris, exhausted and in shock, is taken to the Norwood Air Force Hospital where doctors are flummoxed by a green growth on Tom’s arm. When doctors go to her for an explanation, Iris is at first unable to remember anything. But Dr. Frank Gordon (Tom Daly), who fears the growth might prove not only fatal for Tom, but could present a danger to life on Earth, needs her help and helps her relive the mission.

Aboard the MR-1 are Iris, a scientist; Tom, the ship’s commander; Prof. Theodore Gettell (Les Tremayne), who designed the ship; and Chief Warrant Officer Sam Jacobs (Jack Kruschen), who is in charge of communications with mission control and recordings related to the mission. The first few days go easily. As the only woman on board, Iris gets attention from both Jacobs and Tom. While Jacobs is more caveman in his approach and easily turned down, there is a smarmy aspect to Tom, who often walks around with his shirt unbuttoned and acts like God’s gift to women.

The crew aboard the MR-1, from left to right, Chief Warrant Officer Sam Jacobs (Jack Kruschen),
Professor Theodore Gettell (Les Tremayne), Dr. Iris Ryan (Naura Hayden) and Col. Thomas O'Bannion (Gerald Mohr).

When Iris goes to get food for the crew, yes even in space a woman’s place is still apparently in the kitchen, Tom follows and asks for a rain-check to take her out when they arrive back on Earth. She accepts.

Provisions already seem to be running low only a few days out.

On the 47^th day of the mission, the MR-1 finally lands on Mars and when it does, the crew is anxious for the next part of the voyage. But when they look out the ship’s portal, they don’t see any movement. That is until Iris sees a creature looking back and screams.

Iris screams and then faints after seeing the Martian looking in through the portal.

That recollection brings Iris back to the present of the story and she is so bothered by it that she can’t continue.

While she’s sleeping, Treeger informs Gordon that they have recovered the tape recordings made aboard the MR-1 but, so far, they appear to be blank. As the two ponder over whether Iris is recalling the events or only her fears, she awakens and asks Gordon to give her something to force her to remember what happened.

Back in the MR-1, Iris describes the horrible creature she’s seen and no one believes her, at least not at first. Tom decides they should go outside and the crew dons their protective clothing before the disembark. Tom has a sidearm and Sam grabs a freeze ray as they go out. Once outside on the very red planet, Tom orders everyone to stay within his sight as they venture further away from the ship.

The crew ventures out onto the surface of Mars.

Curious about a strange vine, Iris follows it to find the source and is suddenly grabbed by the octopus-like creature Martian Venus flytrap. The three men rush to her aide, and with machetes and Sam's ray gun, kill the creature.

Iris gets attached by a giant Martian Venus Flytrap-like creature.

Iris and Dr. Gettell conclude that the creature was a carnivore, beyond normal plant life, with a neuromuscular formation. The next morning, after studying samples from their previous walk, the group again leaves MR-1. When Iris cuts off a sample from one plant, it reveals itself to be a huge rat-like bat creature on stilt-like legs. But this time Sam's ray gun has little effect, until Tom tells Sam to aim at its eyes, thus immobilizing it, allowing Gettell, who has been trapped between boulders, to escape.

The most hideous creature they encounter on the planet,

Before returning to the ship, the group sees a large lake but decides to wait until the following day before exploring it. Back inside the ship, after discussing the great dangers they have encountered, Tom and Gettell agree that they have to abort the mission immediately. But while the rocket engines ignite, the ship cannot lift off. Tom orders the MR-1’s engines cut to save fuel and determines a powerful source is holding it down and preventing them from going back to Earth.

They decide to wait until the next day to explore the lake.

Tom calms the fears of the crew and wonders what “they” want. Later, the four return to the lake and start paddling across. In the distance, they see a huge, industrial city and as they contemplate the curious sight, a giant monster arises from the sea and comes towards them. The four paddle furiously to get away.

Paddling across the lake, their view is blocked by a huge monster rising out of the water.

The creature chases after them onto the shore and as they rush back to the ship. But just before they can close the hatch, Sam is enveloped by the amoeba-like beast and swallowed whole. The other three watch in horror as Sam is digested. Once they’re inside, they realize that Tom has been wounded and it begins to worsen.

The creature follows them back on shore.

Iris recalls from her previous experiments on Amoeba cells how electricity is the only thing that can stop the amoeba’s growth. At Tom’s request, Gettell figures out a way to electrify the outer skin of the rocket ship while not endangering their own lives. After rewiring the ship, the plan works, causing the creature to shrivel away. Just then the ship’s radio broadcasts a voice saying, “Red alert…we of the planet Mars give you this warning.”

Back on the ship, Iris is repulsed by the infection on Tom's arm.

A short time after liftoff, the stress and exertion cause Gettell’s heart to give out and on the flight back, he dies. With Sam and Gettell dead and Tom unconscious, Iris tries to determine what Gettell would have done with the ship’s wiring. When she looks out the window, she sees Mars in the rear getting smaller.

Gettell's heart gives out after launch from Mars.

Iris again awakens in her bed and cries. After saying she can’t remember any more of the Martian warning, she faints. But Dr. Gordon has gleamed enough from Iris’ story to figure out that Tom is suffering from an enzymatic infection.

A little later, Treeger asks Iris if there is anything in her previous research that might be helpful in treating Tom. They give her access to a lab and she gets to work. She knows that electricity must be the key and surmises that it can be used to shock the amoeba on his arm to a non-human host. The experiment, of course, works and while Tom is recovering, Iris comes to his bedside wanting to cash the raincheck for their overdue date.

While most of the tapes from the MR-1 were found to be blank, Treeger informs Tom and Iris that they were able to recover the entire Martian warning, which concludes with “Do not return to Mars. We can and will destroy you if you do not heed our warning.”

No doubt the intent of the film was to terrify its audience with the horrible creatures imagined to reside on the planet Mars. Sadly, they are either cringe worthy or laughable. For the most part the creatures look like Dali rejects or they’re cardboard cut outs. The CineMagic effect, which gives all of the Martian landscape a red overcoat, perhaps was an attempt to mask the poor special effects. The effect was achieved with a black and white film negative processed with solarization (a process that partially reverses the negative making some areas appear positive). The film was then tainted red and a film positive was not required. Using black and white film, which was less expensive to process and not having to make a film positive, also helped keep the costs of the production down. The cheapness shows on the screen, that is unless you're color-blind to red and then I don't know what you'd see.

The CineMagic effect baths everything Martian in a blood red tint.

Space travel was depicted sort of like it had been since Victorian times. The rooms are spacious and there appear to be no issues with the lack of gravity. While the set does attempt to be “computerized” for the time, occupants are free to walk around; nearly shirtless if your Tom. Professor Gettell even smokes a pipe on board, so relaxed are the circumstances.

No cramped quarters for the crew aboard the MR-1.

The protective suits worn on the planet would probably be good in a rainstorm, but useless on another planet. I’m not sure if it was a cost-effective measure or one that the actors wanted, but there are no protective shields over the faces of the actors.

Who needs protective masks to breathe while on Mars?

All films reflect the time they were made in and Angry Red Planet is no exception. While its viewpoints on space travel seem backward, so do its views on women. Even though Iris would have to be an accomplished scientist to be included on an interplanetary space trip, she seems very much stuck in stereotypes of women in the late 50s. Not only is she part sex object, but she is also expected to cook, as it were, for the rest of the crew. We’re not shown her making the beds or doing the laundry, but no doubt they would be a part of her duties aboard the MR-1.

The thin protective suits can't protect Iris from Tom's busy hands.

Low budgets usually accompany plot holes and Angry Red Planet does not tempt to upset the applecart here. When the film opens, MR-1 was thought lost for months. But the amoeba that is taking over Tom’s body never seems to progress past his arm in all that time. One plot device, the time since Earth had lost contact with the ship, doesn’t line up with the urgency to cure the enzymatic infection.

Also, Professor Gettell’s death seems more like a plot convenience than set up by the story. Yes, he’s older than the other actors, but his life seems superfluous. He was needed for the part of the story about getting and landing on Mars, but three’s a crowd when they get back to Earth, so he has to die on the way home.

The acting is somewhat along similar stereotype lines. Sam Jacobs would have worn a red-shirt if this had been Star Trek. Slower both physically and mentally, he reads comic books after all, it is no wonder that Sam is the first to bite it. Jack Kruschen, who the following year would play Dr. Dreyfus in Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, seems right for the role, even though I’m sure he was not the low wattage bulb in real life as the character he plays here.

Sam Jacobs (Jack Kruschen), communications officer/comic book reader.

Les Tremayne plays Professor Gettell, who we’re supposed to believe is super smart and refined, hence the pipe. What’s missing are patches on the elbow of his protective suit. Tremayne is one of those actors that you see in a lot of movies, but usually in small roles, like the Auctioneer in North by Northwest, also released in 1959. For whatever reason, Tremayne’s filmography includes a lot of Sci-Fi films. For every Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and The Fortune Cookie (1966), there is The War of the Worlds (1953) and Forbidden Planet (1956). He’s good here, but there isn’t really that much for him to do but react and look smart.

Gerald Mohr as Tom O'Bannion and Les Tremayne as Professor Gettell.

Gerald Mohr, who plays Tom O’Bannion, began his career on stage working with Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre. He then appeared more than 500 times during the 30s, 40s and 50s on various shows from playing Phillip Marlowe from 1949 to 1951, to appearances on The Whistler, Our Miss Brooks and The Lone Ranger. He would later move into television, appearing in a number of Westerns, including Bonanza and The Rifleman, as well as comedies from Burns & Allen to the Smothers Brothers. Here he plays the equivalent to Hugh Hefner in space, all that he’s missing is his walking around in pajamas and a robe.

Iris (Naura Hayden) is both scientist and sex-object aboard the MR-1.

The object of Mohr’s stares is Naura Hayden, who was a model before she became an actress. Mostly known for her work in commercials, Hayden has the acting chops of a model to go along with the looks. Too bad there is more to good acting than screaming, which are the high points of her performance.

The Angry Red Planet is one of the best known films that Ib Melchior directed, which probably speaks volumes about his career. Melchior is known as a low-budget filmmaker, many of which were released through American International Pictures, a cinematic haven for bad sci-fi. He makes his reputation, what there is of it, with this film. He would later re-visit Mars with the screenplay, co-written by John C. Higgins, for Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964).

While Halloween presents the opportunity to view a variety of films to get your horror fix, sadly The Angry Red Planet doesn’t quite get you there. Rather it seems to be ready fodder for the MST3K treatment. Try as it might, the film isn’t really all that scary, even though it wants us to think it is; no doubt hindered by a weak story and a small budget.

Be sure to check out other Horror films in our Horror Films Review Hub.

Stubs – Re-Animator

Re-Animator (1985) Starring Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale, Robert Sampson, Jeffrey Combs. Director: Stuart Gordon Written by Stuart Gordon, William J. Norris, Dennis Paoli. Based on the short story "Herbert West--The Re-Animator" by H. P. Lovecraft in Home Brew (Feb--Jul 1922) Produced by Brian Yuzna. Color. Run Time: 86 minutes. USA. Horror, Science Fiction

In the world of horror, it is sometimes easy to go over-the-top, whether planned or unintentional. In the case of Re-Animator, it appears it was planned.

The film is not for everyone with its ample amounts of blood and nudity, sometimes even mixing the two.

If you ever felt there were too many vampire movies, you were not alone. The idea to make Re-Animator came from the director wanting to make a Frankenstein film rather than a Dracula one. Gordon's horror film credits included a TV movie version of the popular Bleacher Bums, a play he had directed.

Originally Re-Animator was going to written for the stage, then as a half-hour TV pilot before being considered for a TV series. But writing 13 episodes gave way to Gordon, along with William J. Norris and Dennis Paoli, adapting H.P. Lovecraft’s serialized novella “Herbert West--Re-Animator" for the big screen with Brian Yuzna producing.

The production, which had a budget of $2 million, began production in Los Angeles on November 28, 1984, for a six-week shoot. This would be the bloodiest film makeup artist John Naulin had ever worked on. Rather than 2 gallons of blood, which he normally used in horror films, they used 24 gallons on Re-Animator.

So gruesome was the film that the producers feared they would receive an “X” rating if it was rated by the MPAA. But a film with an “Unrated” status has certain restrictions going against it. Television spots were denied in Chicago and the Los Angeles Times refused ads, to name a few. The film would eventually receive an “R” rating in 1986 about nine months after it was released. That version would originally be released on home video by Vestron Video.

The film opens at the Universität Zürich Institut Für Medizin in Sweden, though it sounds like people are actually speaking German. Police have been called to the school and, with encouragement from colleagues, end up breaking down the door to Dr. Hans Gruber’s laboratory. There they find his student, Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), standing over Gruber’s (Al Berry)_shaking body. The syringe in his hand is filled with a glowing green substance. While they watch, Gruber’s head explodes and Herbert is initially accused of killing him, but the student claims to have given him life.

Herbert West's (Jeffrey Combs) actions are misconstrued when he tries and
 fails to reanimate his mentor, Dr. Hans Gruber (Al Berry).

While you’re still thinking that over, the film moves to the Miskatonic Medical School in Arkham, Massachusetts, where medical student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) attempts to revive a patient with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). But try as he might he can’t bring her back and his colleagues insist the woman is dead and make him give up.

Dan takes the body to the hospital morgue and is introduced by Dean Halsey (Robert Sampson) to new transfer student, Herbert West. When Herbert meets Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale), he accuses the professor of plagiarizing Dr. Gruber’s work and calls Dr. Hill’s theory about the brainstem remaining alive for six minutes after death “outdated.”

Everything seems to going well for med students Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott)
and his fiancee Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton).

Meanwhile, Dan posts a notice seeking a roommate and returns home and has sex with his fiancée, Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton), the dean’s daughter. She worries about what will happen if her old-fashioned father finds out about her sex life with Dan and promises to marry him as soon as he graduates.

After she dresses and is on the way out, who should be at the door but Herbert with Dan’s ad for a roommate. After a quick tour of the house, which to Herbert’s liking includes a basement, Herbert offers Dan cash so that he can move in immediately. Megan finds Herbert rather creepy, but money talks and Dan lets Herbert move in.

The next day, in a rather small medical school class, the students watch Dr. Hill rather matter-of-factly remove a brain from a corpse. Everything he says is met with Herbert breaking his pencil, which irritates Hill to the point that he ends the class, but on the way out Herbert once again insults the professor, who admits to looking forward to failing him.

That evening, Dean Helsey has Dr. Hill over to his house to toast him for receiving a grant regarding a new medical invention, a surgical laser. While Megan had made the meal, she is about to leave with Dan for a study date. But Dr. Hill makes a suggestive toast about Megan, making his interest in her quite clear. After they leave, he warns the Dean about letting her date a student.

Back at his place, Megan resists Dan’s advances, instead expressing her dislike of Herbert. When Dan’s cat, Rufus, isn’t around, they search for him, but Megan goes into Herbert’s bedroom. In his mini-refrigerator, she discovers Rufus’s dead body. Herbert catches her, but Megan accuses him of killing Rufus. She calls in Dan, but Herbert claims to have found the animal dead. When Dan inquiries about the strange, glowing liquid in Herbert’s fridge, he’s told to mind his own business.

Dan's cat, Rufus, is found in a mini-fridge in Herbert's room.

Later, Dan is awakened by strange sounds, which lead him down to the basement. There he finds Herbert being attacked by Rufus, who has come back to life. Rufus attacks both men and Dan kills the creature by throwing it against the wall.

Even mangled, the dead cat is brought back to life.

Afterward, Herbert shares his re-animation theory and reveals his “re-agent” serum to Dan. He claims that life is really a chemical balance which his serum corrects. He asks Dan for his help, and to prove that it works, injects the mutilated cat, which twitches back to life. Megan arrives un-expectantly and is shocked to see what they have done.

Later, Dan explains Herbert’s discovery to Dean Halsey, but Halsey won’t listen. Instead, he threatens to take Dan’s student loans away and has Herbert expelled. But Dan sneaks Herbert into the morgue by pretending he’s a corpse. Once there in there, they search for a suitable corpse and inject it with the serum.

Megan follows her father when he comes looking for Herbert and Dan to the school. When he finds they’re in the morgue, he has someone watch Megan and goes down to take care of them.

Dan sneaks Herbert into the morgue to look for fresh prospects for his experiments.

Meanwhile, Dan and Herbert believe the serum has failed, but just then the corpse returns to zombie-like life and attacks them, you know the way the undead would do. The serum gives the corpse super strength (why wouldn’t it) and when the Dean arrives, the corpse breaks down the door and attacks him.

A reanimated corpse attacks and kills Dean Halsey (Robert Sampson).

Herbert uses a bone saw to kill the corpse, but they discover the dean has died. Herbert convinces Dan that the dean is now a “fresh” corpse and he injects the dean with the serum. Megan sneaks away and walks into the morgue as her father, again pleased with super strength, is choking both Dan and Herbert. Frothing at the mouth with blood, his colleagues assume the dean has gone insane and lock him up in a straitjacket. Dr. Hill asks Megan to sign a release allowing him to experiment on her father, which she reluctantly agrees to sign. Dr. Hill also makes a bit of a play for Megan, saying he’ll be there for her.

Later, Dan confesses to Megan that her father is actually dead and has been reanimated.

Meantime, Dr. Hill visits Herbert in his basement laboratory and reveals he knows the dean is dead. Dr. Hill bullies Herbert into sharing his research with him, even bragging what fame it will bring to himself. While Dr. Hill is looking through a microscope, Herbert attacks him with a shovel, knocking him to the ground and then beheading him. For unknown reasons, Herbert then injects Dr. Hill’s severed head and body with the serum. He places the doctor’s head on a tray and takes notes on the experiment. Dr. Hill’s head is alive and is somehow still controlling his headless body, which he wills to attack Herbert, slamming his head on the table and knocking him out.

Herbert is about to be attacked by the decapitated body of Dr. Hill (David Gale).

Dan and Megan visit her father and discover that Dr. Hill has lobotomized him with his laser beam. The subdued dean cowers in the corner. Meanwhile, Dan finds a file that Dr. Hill kept on Megan, containing pieces of her hair and indicating his obsession with her.

When Herbert regains consciousness, he discovers that not only are Dr. Hill’s head and body gone, but so is his serum and notes. When Dan returns home, Herbert confesses to Dr. Hill’s murder and re-animation.

Meanwhile, the two parts of Dr. Hill returns to his office and he has his body inject him with more serum, increasing his cognitive ability and to feed him fresh blood from his fridge. He then releases Dean Halsey and sends him to kidnap Megan.

Worried about Megan, Dan checks on her. After they share a tearful reconciliation, they are attacked by Dean Halsey, who beats up Dan and takes his daughter. Later, Herbert finds Dan and they go back to the morgue.

The zombie-like Halsey kidnaps Megan and strips her for the pleasure of  Dr. Hill's head.

Halsey takes his unconscious daughter to the morgue and lays her down next to Dr. Hill’s head. Halsey then strips off her clothes and she is strapped down by Dr. Hill’s body. His hands begin to molest her breasts. She regains consciousness and screams as Dr. Hill’s body picks up his head and holds it to her ear. He licks her face and, with the help of his hands, moves down her body with the intent on orally raping her.

Dr. Hill is abusing Megan when Dan and Herbert arrive to stop him.

That’s when Dan and Herbert arrive. While Herbert confronts Dr. Hill, Dan frees Megan and puts his shirt on her to cover her. But Dr. Hill isn’t finished; he has apparently injected the serum into the other corpses in the lab and performed lobotomies on them. On his command, they spring to life and attack the boys.

Dr. Hill has Herbert captured and begins to perform a laser lobotomy on him as well. Megan tries to reason with her father, and after he seems to recognize her, he turns his attack on Dr. Hill, crushing his detached head.

Dean Halsey kills Dr. Hill by crushing his head.

Meanwhile, Herbert injects Dr. Hill’s headless body with more serum, but instead of getting some sort of warped revenge, the corpse’s intestines spring from his body and wrap themselves around Herbert. Elsewhere, the corpses make a mess of the morgue and one ends up releasing a gas that everyone succumbs to.

Dan tries to save Megan in the ER but fails.

Before the couple can flee in the elevator, they are attacked by one of the reanimated corpses and Megan is choked. Dan runs to get a hatchet and chops off the creature’s hand, but the damage has already been done to Megan. Up in the ER, Dan tries to resuscitate her and performs CPR, but to no avail. Once again, his colleagues have to get him to stop. They leave him alone in the room. Dan leans over to kiss Megan goodbye before he remembers Herbert’s serum. As the lights go out, Dan professes his love for her before he injects the glowing liquid into her brainstem.

Desperate times call for desperate measures as Dan decides
to inject Megan with the re-animating serum.

Megan lets out a scream in the darkness.

I will be the first to admit that Re-Animator is not my kind of movie. There were several can’t-look sequences, most of them having to do with blood and brains. At times the movie was very predictable, as if I could tell what was going to happen before it did. But knowing what might not happen does not mean you’re always prepared for what does come.

Of course, most of the film is beyond unbelievable, but once you start down that slippery slope it is apparently hard to stop. There is no explanation for how a head cannot only live without a body but order that body to function independently.

I was not really familiar with any of the actors before I saw the film, but I can say Jeffrey Combs was nearly perfectly cast as the sleazy and creepy Herbert West. While you don’t like his character, he is hard not to look at.

Bruce Abbott is sort of like the straight man in a comedy duo; he doesn’t have as much to work with as the partner, but he still has to do his job so the other can do his. Dan Cain is strictly a good man led astray by a more cunning foe. Intrigued by Herbert’s discovery, he lets himself be dragged into situations he would normally have avoided.

While Barbara Crampton may have started acting in soaps, she apparently has no qualms about working in the nude. In her first film, Body Double (1984), her one big scene is her having sex. In this film, she appears completely naked several times and is the object of a rather sick sequence. Not only does her father strip her as a present for Dr. Hill, the late doctor’s decapitated head molests her. Besides the gallons of blood used, this is one of the film’s more over-the-top moments.

A film score is an important element to the experience and knowing that, Richard Band, the film’s composer, borrowed quite heavily from Bernard Herrmann’s score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), which he considers one of the best written for a horror film. While he wanted to give Herrmann an acknowledgment in the credits, it wasn’t there when he saw the credits and he didn’t have the money to have them redone. So don’t be surprised if it sounds like you’ve heard it before, even though it does seem to work here as well.

Composer Richard Band purposefully stole Bernard
Herrmann's score for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).

While the film was only a mild success at the box-office, Re-Animator has become a cult classic.

Entertainment Weekly, according to the blurb on the Blu-Ray box, considers it “one of the greatest horror movies ever made.” While I hate to disagree with the EW, I can’t say that’s my opinion.

The film would spawn two movie sequels: Bride of the Re-Animator (1990) directed by Brian Yuzna and starring Combs and Abbott, and Beyond Re-Animator (2003) directed by Yuzna and starring Combs. There is also another H.P. Lovecraft-based film, From Beyond (1986) directed by Gordon and starring Combs and Crampton. There is always the threat of a fourth Re-Animator, but Yuzna has not yet made good. Believe it or not, a musical adaptation of Re-Animator was made and opened on Broadway in 2011.

There are certain people who will definitely like this movie, but they probably would have already seen it by now. If you like your blood and brains served with an ample side of breasts, then this is the film for you to watch this Halloween or anytime you want to subject yourself.

While I’m happy that I’ve seen the film, I don’t think I’ll be re-watching it again anytime soon. Sometimes your curiosity can be resolved without wanting to go through it again.

Be sure to check out other Horror films in our Horror Films Review Hub.

Stubs - The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man (1933) Starring Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan, Henry Travers, Una O’Connor, Forrester Harvey. Directed by James Whale. Screenplay by R.C. Sherriff. Based on the novel “The Invisible Man” by H.G. Wells. Produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. Black and White.  USA Runtime: 71 minutes. Science Fiction, Horror

H.G. Wells was a prolific writer on a number of subjects: history, politics, social commentary, and textbooks and rules for war games. He is best remembered as one of the great science fiction writers from the late 1800s. During that time he published such books as The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), War of the Worlds (1898) and The Invisible Man (1897), the subject of our movie. While not the first book about an invisible man, this is the one best remembered.

In the 1930s, Wells decided to make his literary works available to the movies and one of the first films made from them was The Invisible Man (1933). But Universal wasn’t the first studio to show interest in the film. MGM, however, would pass on the property based on concerns on how to make it work as a film.

Universal, however, was assured by John P. Fulton in their Trick Department that it could be done using traveling mattes, a technique that requires mattes that change to mask the shapes of moving objects, such as human beings. In other cases, wires were used to show the actions of the invisible man. Universal saw this film as another in their line of horror films which began with Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) and The Mummy (1932). To that end, they originally cast Boris Karloff as The Invisible Man, but he walked after Universal refused to give him the raise he was due.

Several other actors were considered for the role, among them Chester Morris, Paul Lukas and Colin Clive, but for various reasons they turned down it down. James Whale, who had directed Frankenstein, was not the first choice for director, either. That went to Cyril Gardner; it was only after he pulled out did the studio give the film to Whale. And it was in turn Whale who brought in Claude Rains, a veteran stage actor to appear in his first talkie.

But even then the production didn’t go smoothly and almost didn’t happen. There were apparently problems with the script. Universal shut down the project in June 1932, but that was only temporary. When the film did go into production in June 1933 there were still problems. On August 15, 1933, a fire, started by a smudge pot kicked into some hay, burned an exterior set. But it was completed later that month and was released November 13, 1933.

During a thriving snow storm, Dr. Jack Griffin (Claude Rains) seeks refuge in a pub.

The film opens at night during a thriving snow storm. A lonely man trudges through the muck and wind, barely hanging on to the suitcase in this hands. He passes a sign, indicating the village of Iping is not far away.

In the Lion’s Head Pub, the usual gang is there, drinking, eating and playing darts when the door opens and the strange man walks in, his face covered in bandages. For a moment everything stops as the man trudges up to the bar and demands a room for the night. The proprietor, Mr. Hall (Forrester Harvey), notifies his wife (Una O’Connor) of the request. While she tries to turn him away, it’s not the season for them to have overnight guests, the man, Dr. Jack Griffin (Claude Rains), is insistent and she relents.

Mr. (Forrester Harvey) and Mrs. Hall (Una O'Connor) are reluctant at first to rent to the stranger a room.

Up in his room, Griffin demands privacy and food and Mrs. Hall goes to bring him dinner. But when she has to retrieve the mustard, she unknowingly catches him with the bandages partially removed. While she doesn’t see that, she does see all the bandages and runs down to the Pub, where the patrons are already gossiping about the guest.

Up in his room, Griffin tries desperately to find a cure to his invisibility.

Meanwhile, Dr. Cranley (Henry Travers) and his daughter, Flora (Gloria Stuart), discuss the disappearance of Griffin, her fiancée; she is distraught over his long absence. But Cranley’s other assistant, Dr. Kemp (William Harrigan), chooses the moment to tell Flora how he feels about her, only to be turned down cold.

With Griffin missing, Dr. Kemp (William Harrigan) lets Flora (Gloria Stuart) know how he feels about her.

It doesn’t take too long for the stranger to outstay his welcome. He’s behind on the rent, noisy and makes a mess of what is probably their best guest room. After he attacks Mrs. Hall when she tries to serve him lunch, she demands her husband kick him out. Griffin pleads with Mr. Hall for leniency, but the innkeeper is adamant. But when he starts to pack up Griffin’s belongings, he gets attacked and ends up being thrown down the stairs.

Cranley and Kemp search through Griffin’s room, looking for clues as to what he was working on. His laboratory is empty with the exception of some notes, which Cranley reads. He discovers that one of the chemicals Griffin was using was monocaine, a drug made up for the film. According to Cranley, the drug is particularly dangerous as it can cause the user to go mad.

When the police come to arrest Griffin, he escapes by stripping off his clothes.

When the police come to arrest Griffin, he strips off his clothes and escapes, stealing a bicycle from a villager (Walter Brennan). After his success, he shows up, so to speak, at Kemp’s house. Griffin wants to dominate the world and wants Kemp to be his visible partner. Griffin wants to start his reign of terror with "a few murders here and there." Griffin forces Kemp to drive back to the inn so he can retrieve his notebooks. On his way up to his room, Griffin passes the police inquiry already underway, with an official calling the Invisible Man a hoax. After passing the books down to Kemp, Griffin attacks and kills the official.

The Invisible Man lights a cigarette.

Later, when Griffin is asleep, Kemp calls Cranley and then the police. Flora insists on going along. At first, her presence seems to calm Griffin down, but when he realizes that Kemp has betrayed him, he insists on getting Flora away from danger. He then promises Kemp that he will kill him the next night at ten o’clock before escaping and going on a murderous spree. He causes the derailment of a train, killing a hundred, and then throws two volunteer searchers off a cliff.

Flora has a calming influence on Griffin, at least at first.

With little else to go on, the police offer a reward to anyone who can think of a way to catch the Invisible Man. The Chief of Detectives (Dudley Digges), who is in charge of the search, decides to use Kemp as bait, sure that Griffin will make good on his threat. Kemp is not happy about being used and insists the police disguise him in a police uniform and let him drive his car away from his house. But Griffin, who is hiding in the backseat, overpowers Kemp and ties him up in the front seat. He then sends the car down a steep hill and over a cliff. The car exploded on impact.

The Invisible Man hides out in a farmer's barn.

In the snow storm that follows, Griffin seeks shelter in a farmer's barn. The farmer hears him snore and sees the indention of his body in the hay moving as Griffin sleeps. After the farmer notifies the police, they surround the barn and set fire to it, hoping to force him outside. The plan works and the Chief of Detectives, seeing his footprints in the snow, opens fire, mortally wounding Griffin.

After being shot and wounded, Griffin lies dying in the snow.

At the hospital, Griffin lays dying. When Flora reaches his side, he admits to Flora that he had tampered with something that was meant to be left alone. When he dies, the drug’s effect wears off and his body gradually becomes visible and for the first time, we actually see Claude Rains.

On his death bed the drugs wear off and Griffin becomes visible again.

While The Invisible Man wasn’t as earth-shattering as Dracula or Frankenstein, it was Universal’s most successful horror film since Frankenstein and has earned its place in Universal’s horror repertoire. Like its predecessors, The Invisible Man would appear in several sequels: The Invisible Man Returns (1940) directed by Joe May and starring Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Vincent Price; The Invisible Woman (1940) directed by A. Edward Sutherland and starring Virginia Bruce and John Barrymore; The Invisible Agent (1942), directed by Edward L. Marin and starring Ilona Massey, Jon Hall and Peter Lorre; The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944), directed by Ford Beebe and starring John Hall and Alan Curtis; and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951), directed by Charles Lamont and starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. And like the other films, Universal is planning a modern redux, this one scheduled for release in 2018 starring Johnny Depp.

While it is my understanding that Wells had the final say on the screenplay, the film and the book do differ greatly. Not only is the book set in the late 1890s and the film in 1933, but Griffin in the novel is a mysterious loner figure. In the film, he has a fiancée and friends. Also different is that in the book, Griffin is already insane before he makes himself invisible. In the film, it is the drugs he uses that drive him over the edge. Finally, Kemp survives the novel but doesn’t make it to the end of the film alive.

For a film from 1933, the special effects hold up remarkably well. I’ve seen films from the 80s whose special effects have not aged as well. While some of them seem a little stiff, the scene where an invisible Griffin lights a cigarette and blows smoke is pretty impressive, given they didn’t have blue or green screens.

The acting, on the other hand, maybe hasn’t. The most over the top is Una O’Connor, who could overact with the best of them. Her screeching wails would define her performances in the two horror films she made for James Whale; this and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). A character actor, known for her comedic portrayals of wives, housekeepers, and servants. O’Connor would appear in such films as The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934); The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938); It All Came True (1940); The Sea Hawk (1940); The Strawberry Blonde (1941); Of Human Bondage (1946) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957).

Una O'Connor makes an impression as Mrs. Hall in The Invisible Man.

Claude Rains, who received top billing, did not really appear in this film but was cast as much for his voice than his presence. Rains was already a successful working actor on both sides of the Atlantic when he enlisted in the storied London Scottish Regiment in February 1916. The regiment is also known for other actor members, including Basil Rathbone, Ronald Colman, and Herbert Marshall. During World War I, Rains’ unit was bombarded by heavy artillery and poison gas. The chemicals would destroy most of the vision in his right eye and would paralyze his vocal chords. While his sight would never fully recover, his voice would, though it sounded huskier than before.

Rains wasn’t immune to the over-acting bug in The Invisible Man, though he never reached the same level as O’Connor. While The Invisible Man was his first film, Rains would go on to have a long and illustrious career. His filmography would include such films as The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); The Wolf Man (1941); Casablanca (1942), Notorious (1946), and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

Also of note is Gloria Stuart, who plays Griffin’s fiancée, Flora. Stuart might be known to modern audiences for her role as the 101-year-old Rose Dawson Calvert in Titanic (1997), but her long film career began in 1932 with Street of Women. In December of the same year, Stuart was declared to be one of fifteen new movie actresses "Most Likely to Succeed" along with Ginger Rogers, Mary Carlisle and Eleanor Holm by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers. While being declared a WAMPAS Baby Star wasn’t a guarantee of success, it didn’t hurt.

Gloria Stuart looking glamorous.

In The Invisible Man, Stuart isn’t called upon to do much more than look glamorous, which she easily does. She would leave Hollywood in the 1940s and become an artist for the next five decades. She would return in the 1970s for parts on Television movies. Her return to film would come in My Favorite Year (1982). Her last film was Wim Winders’ Land of Plenty (2004).

While not a perfect film, The Invisible Man is still an interesting movie to watch. While some of the acting may not be all you may want, the special effects certainly are. The film doesn’t stand up as well as some of Universal’s other horror classics, but it still worth watching.

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