This is certainly another case where the crazy name can't possibly live up to the film it's headlining, but as 1950s B-movies go this isn't too bad overall. Even the title card is super dramatic with exaggerated lighting bolt letters on the screen, desperately trying to sell the electrifying premise. But how to actually describe this? There's more than one fiend for a start, if you can describe them as such. I guess I'll just say it, since for better or worse this one sits under the dubious category of ... killer brain stories. Even within this decade of genre movies where scientific experiments often run amok, it's pretty silly. But that's okay too.
An invisible killer stalks the grounds outside an air force base on the US Canada border, where its victims are found strangled to death. Is it something to do with the new arrival of atomic power or are there more human forces at work? The local farmers all seem to be convinced that radioactive fallout is coming out of the nearby military installation and somehow causing this problem. They've got low quality milk to prove it. Yeah... suffice to say the science here isn't exactly the strongest element. I don't think nuclear fuel or fighter planes just expel radiation at random, or that it's actually something that would play havoc with dairy produce one minute and then instantly kill someone the next.
The base in question has devised a new type of Radar that can see further away when the power input is boosted. Power which is increased by... removing rods from the reactor? It's weird and archaic but I guess that's about what's to be expected. The reality of normal fission based energy just isn't exciting enough for these film makers, it's got to be more extreme. Later it's inferred that the energy being produced is feeding the eponymous monsters, but how? Is it travelling from the reactor and into the air? Well yes apparently this is actually the case, since nearby a scientist devising a way of using telepathy has been draining the station's energy for his own illicit experiments.
That's right this isn't just an atomic peril movie, it's a story about psychic forces. However after all this nuclear conspiracy paranoia, the townsfolk decide to that instead there must be an insane soldier running about in the woods. I guess a human strangler is more likely, and so suddenly they want to hunt him down instead of blaming the Radar base. They aren't exactly depicted as a rational bunch. But elsewhere as the body count being caused the invisible killer increases it's discovered that a retired scientist living locally, Professor Walgate, has been experimenting in ways that he can use his mind to manipulate objects around him.
He seems to have succeeded, and with a newly invented device he can use his mind to move small things like the pages of a book. However not only has he used this method to control his newly discovered telepathic powers, he's accidentally conjured up a creature of pure mental energy that is now on the loose. Typical. To make things worse the monster has also started multiplying (for some reason) and is feeding on the brains of the locals. Hence the broken spines... I guess. But when the monster itself is revealed... it's also a human brain? One that can move about invisible to the naked eye, and has two antennae sticking out of the front. Maybe it's best to switch your own brain off when considering this type of thing, you'll have more fun that way.
The invisibility effects are reasonable enough but the real attraction here is the big monster finale that actually delivers some great moments when the creature is finally revealed. The climatic siege is a lot of fun as the military men and the professor are held trapped by creatures. They just happen to become visible at the last minute so this can all take place, but of course holding off showing the monster until the third act is pretty standard fare. The most shocking revelation is that this isn't another man in a rubber suit or something laughable like the floating alien brain used in The Brain From Planet Arous. Instead the showdown has some neat stop motion, even though it's not really of a high standard.
There's also a lot of soldiers firing guns, as well as a surprising amount of monochrome gore once the monsters begin to get pushed back. This kind of thing is usually kind of tame, so it's surprising to see the brains leak so much goo when they're killed, complete with some rather juicy sound effects. It's often so ridiculous that it's impossible not to be amused, which makes the dry first half and all the stock footage of jet fighters more forgivable. The plot is messy, the stock characters are often flimsy and usually pretty dull (particularly the romantic subplots) and the central idea just isn't very well thought out. But it delivers just enough entertainment anyway.
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
THE MONOLITH MONSTERS (1957)
Onto something just as silly but also about as entertaining, this one is a story about the least threatening of all monsters... a bunch of rocks. Not rock monsters or people dressed up in costumes glittering with gems, actual towers of alien stone. This premise alone raises a lot of questions but it's all about the execution, which for the most part is pretty strong. Life from outer space is often depicted as human after all, so it's refreshing to see a take on the idea that goes with mineral instead of animal (or even vegetable). The 'monsters' might still have come to our planet from a meteor but it's the pieces of rock that crash to Earth rather than their contents that cause all the trouble.
Much like the Andromeda Strain this is a strange kind of life, one without intelligence or ego. In this case a kind of black glass or crystal, which seems to grow to gigantic size before shattering into smaller pieces that also begin to spread through the California desert. There's also a great ticking clock element as it's discovered that the crystals need water to increase their size, whether it's drawn from unsuspected locals or the unpredictable weather. And increase they do... in the direction of a local town where a dam may feed them even further. Some of the best moments come from the scientists trying to deduce what makes the mineral expand, and why so many people coming into contact with it have been found in a kind of petrified state.
It's not a particularly dark film but there are a few effective shock moments when the victims of the expanding crystals are found. There's also some drama to be found in a subplot about a small girl taking one of the fragments home from a school trip, even though a predictable child in peril outcome eventually comes along. The 'monoliths' themselves are pretty interesting as an example of b-movie creature design, and the special effects use a lot of neat miniatures to depict their growth. But it's oddly realistic, at least in terms of monster ideas, by portraying an alien without a humanoid shape. The human element (beyond one humorous bit with a weatherman) is dry and forgettable as ever, but the rest is generally just enough fun to keep it from feeling as though the plot itself is moving at a geologic rate.
3/5
