Deliriously campy sci-fi that stars venerable character actor Whit Bissell in his only top-billed role. He plays Prof. Frankenstein, a British doctor visiting the U.S., and who has pretty far-out theories on "reactivation" of human tissue.
When Bissell's theories are greeted with guffaws and derision by other doctors, he and his assistant (Robert Burton) steal the body of a teenage accident victim (Gary Conway). After a trip to a local cemetery for a few spare parts, and using "vital rays" of some sort, Conway is "reassembled" and stored in Bissell's basement. Excess body parts are fed to a convenient alligator Bissell keeps in his lab.
Bissell's fiancée (Phyllis Coates) stumbles onto the disfigured Conway (he's sleeping in a drawer in Bissell's basement lab), after which Bissell has Conway murder her and feed her to the alligator (not much romance in that relationship). Conway--who has a hankering to "go out among people"--then escapes and causes predictable mayhem and murder, prompting Bissell to declare that Conway will have "the police down on us like a pack of baying hounds!" After a trip to a local lover's lane to procure a new face for Conway (the head is brought home in a bird cage!), Bissell decides to "disassemble" Conway and pack him up for transport to England. Conway doesn't like the idea, so he--naturally--feeds Bissell to his own alligator, and when the police come, commits suicide by abruptly electrocuting himself on the lab's electrical panels. End of story.
Bissell hams it up so shamelessly that the other three main actors (Coates, Burton, and Conway) seem to fade into the background, but given the campiness of the movie, all are very good. There's ridiculous dialogue to spare (most of it from Bissell) and lots of action, so this film should keep you entertained if you don't think about it too much. The story is mostly lifted from 1957's "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (also with Bissell). The film is a lot less graphic and gruesome than today's films, but was probably considered pretty explicit in the late 1950s. Great entertainment for fans of Whit.
When Bissell's theories are greeted with guffaws and derision by other doctors, he and his assistant (Robert Burton) steal the body of a teenage accident victim (Gary Conway). After a trip to a local cemetery for a few spare parts, and using "vital rays" of some sort, Conway is "reassembled" and stored in Bissell's basement. Excess body parts are fed to a convenient alligator Bissell keeps in his lab.
Bissell's fiancée (Phyllis Coates) stumbles onto the disfigured Conway (he's sleeping in a drawer in Bissell's basement lab), after which Bissell has Conway murder her and feed her to the alligator (not much romance in that relationship). Conway--who has a hankering to "go out among people"--then escapes and causes predictable mayhem and murder, prompting Bissell to declare that Conway will have "the police down on us like a pack of baying hounds!" After a trip to a local lover's lane to procure a new face for Conway (the head is brought home in a bird cage!), Bissell decides to "disassemble" Conway and pack him up for transport to England. Conway doesn't like the idea, so he--naturally--feeds Bissell to his own alligator, and when the police come, commits suicide by abruptly electrocuting himself on the lab's electrical panels. End of story.
Bissell hams it up so shamelessly that the other three main actors (Coates, Burton, and Conway) seem to fade into the background, but given the campiness of the movie, all are very good. There's ridiculous dialogue to spare (most of it from Bissell) and lots of action, so this film should keep you entertained if you don't think about it too much. The story is mostly lifted from 1957's "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (also with Bissell). The film is a lot less graphic and gruesome than today's films, but was probably considered pretty explicit in the late 1950s. Great entertainment for fans of Whit.