... is the best way I can describe the flavor of this film, which is not nearly as bad as its current low rating would have you believe. In fact, if you like 50's and 60's Allied Artist horror on the cheap, I think you'll like this one. Remember Allied Artists was a poverty row outfit, and they could usually afford just one star. In this case it is Lon Chaney Jr. as armed robber Charles Benton, betrayed by two other bank robbers who turned state's evidence at the request of sleazy lawyer Paul Lowe, who wants a fall guy for the robbery and a chance at a smaller split for the 600K payroll heist for which he hired the three thieves in the first place. Benton realizes all of this, and the last thing he says before he is executed is that he is going to get the three who betrayed him.
Now the lawyer isn't nervous at all, but the two other robbers think maybe Benton took some of the money - which at the time of his death only he knew the location - and hired a hit man for them. What they are definitely not expecting is for a couple of scientists to pay off the morgue attendant at the prison to hand over Benton's body. The pair are experimenting with electricity as a cure for cancer and need a fresh human body for their next test. Well "It's Alive!" turns out to be instantaneous tragedy for this pair instead of temporary triumph as in the case of Victor Frankenstein. Benton is unexpectedly brought back to life with a molecular structure that can't be penetrated by any substance, vocal chords burned out so he can't speak, superhuman strength, and with a desire to pick up where he left off and kill the three guys who betrayed him. I'll let you watch and see how this all pans out.
The Dragnet comparison comes from the voice over of police Lt. Dick Chasen who is narrating the whole story. With Allied Artist horror you really don't expect much in the way of great acting or good art design, but more could have been done for the continuity and even the dialogue. For instance after Benton returns to life the narrator calls him a "Monster Made Man". Huh? What monster made him? I believe he meant to say "Man Made Monster". The narrator talks about how Benton wants to save killing crooked lawyer Paul for last, but then later after he kills the first of his fellow robbers he goes looking for the lawyer. In the jail house conversation Paul was trying to get the location of the hidden loot out of Benton who refuses to tell, but later Paul has somehow figured out how to get the loot but just can't open the strongbox it is in. Benton is established as a character who just wants to kill the three who betrayed him, yet mid-film he shows up in the middle of some suburb attacking and killing random people. Usually the best horror establishes the "monster" as someone for whom you have some sympathy and thus ambivalent feelings. Here Benton is pretty much just a mute killing machine after he is revived.
I'd recommend this one, just realize you are dealing with an outfit that didn't have much in the way of funding to begin with and try to meet it half-way.
Now the lawyer isn't nervous at all, but the two other robbers think maybe Benton took some of the money - which at the time of his death only he knew the location - and hired a hit man for them. What they are definitely not expecting is for a couple of scientists to pay off the morgue attendant at the prison to hand over Benton's body. The pair are experimenting with electricity as a cure for cancer and need a fresh human body for their next test. Well "It's Alive!" turns out to be instantaneous tragedy for this pair instead of temporary triumph as in the case of Victor Frankenstein. Benton is unexpectedly brought back to life with a molecular structure that can't be penetrated by any substance, vocal chords burned out so he can't speak, superhuman strength, and with a desire to pick up where he left off and kill the three guys who betrayed him. I'll let you watch and see how this all pans out.
The Dragnet comparison comes from the voice over of police Lt. Dick Chasen who is narrating the whole story. With Allied Artist horror you really don't expect much in the way of great acting or good art design, but more could have been done for the continuity and even the dialogue. For instance after Benton returns to life the narrator calls him a "Monster Made Man". Huh? What monster made him? I believe he meant to say "Man Made Monster". The narrator talks about how Benton wants to save killing crooked lawyer Paul for last, but then later after he kills the first of his fellow robbers he goes looking for the lawyer. In the jail house conversation Paul was trying to get the location of the hidden loot out of Benton who refuses to tell, but later Paul has somehow figured out how to get the loot but just can't open the strongbox it is in. Benton is established as a character who just wants to kill the three who betrayed him, yet mid-film he shows up in the middle of some suburb attacking and killing random people. Usually the best horror establishes the "monster" as someone for whom you have some sympathy and thus ambivalent feelings. Here Benton is pretty much just a mute killing machine after he is revived.
I'd recommend this one, just realize you are dealing with an outfit that didn't have much in the way of funding to begin with and try to meet it half-way.