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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Bad Movies  |  THE ATOMIC BRAIN/LOVE AFTER DEATH/INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD: Great DVD release! « previous next »
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Author Topic: THE ATOMIC BRAIN/LOVE AFTER DEATH/INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD: Great DVD release!  (Read 944 times)
Chris K.
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« on: September 11, 2003, 09:49:27 PM »

THE ATOMIC BRAIN Plot (on-screen title MONSTROSITY): A scientist plans to transplant the brain of an old woman into the body of a yong woman. Yet, he must experiment on other specimens to find out if it will work. So far, the scientist has brought a dead man back to life using a dog's brain. And, he transplants a cats brain into a Mexican woman's head. The cat, with the woman's brain, plans revenge.

LOVE AFTER DEATH (on-screen title UNSATISFIED LOVE): A man who is beleived to be dead comes back from the grave and get's involved with some sexual escapades. Then he sets about avenging himself on his wife and her secret lover.

THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD Plot: A scientist invents a diving bell that is being used to check the deepest depths of the ocean floor. But the bell is caught in an underground cavern that has a volcano that's about to go off!

MONSTROSITY, or known under it's syndicated television title THE ATOMIC BRAIN, is an enjoyable little B-movie. Director Joseph Mascelli, mostly known as a cinematographer and also said to have written the A.S.C. cinematographers manuel for the photographer's union (yet he was never allowed in the union at all), does what he can with the material despite the budget, and the script has some fairly interesting ideas. Yet once again, the acting leaves a bit to be desired and it takes quite a while to get somewhere. As a B-movie, it delivers the unintentional laughs and it's quite entertaining. But if only the execution was effective, it would have been better.

UNSATISFIED LOVE, or known under it's U.S. re-release title LOVE AFTER DEATH, is an unusual Argentina produced film. Even so, for a low budget film made in Argentina it sure as hell isn't very interesting. Basically, it's a film with a low end plot and some cheap nudity on hand. Trying to make a whole lot of sense out of the film is one thing, but sitting through it is another. It's just an unbelievable mess. The film's presmise was interesting: a man who is thought to be dead rises from the grave and avenges himself. And the handheld black-and-white camerawork was pretty good as well. But then, add some junk about how he was a dud in bed when he was alive, some semi-erotic sexcapades, very little dialouge (yet the film really needed more) and you got yourself one dull flick.
Not only that, but the U.S. dubbing is pretty damn awful as every little piece of dialouge and sound effect is badly out of synch you will wonder if you have just gone insane! And to make matters worse, the U.S. distributor apparently released two versions of the film. The UNSATISFIED LOVE version is the one that was very little seen. It seems that the U.S. distributor made some changes, particularly in the music soundtrack as it uses stock library scores that can be heard in some of the Andy Milligan and Bill Rebane flicks! And it also looks like their was some additional scenes added in during the part in which the main character rises from the grave. The U.S. re-release version LOVE AFTER DEATH was the one that was most comonly seen as it contained inserts of porn actress Jennifer Welles. While I am glad that Something Weird Video was able to locate the UNSATISFIED LOVE version for the DVD, I would really like to have seen the LOVE AFTER DEATH version as well so as I can compare the two. However, UNSATISFIED LOVEis  all good for a laugh. If you want a good Argentina flick, I suggest Emilio Veyera's THE DEADLY ORGAN (1967; U.S. Re-Issue Title: FEAST OF FLESH). But if you really want to see a bad Argentina flick, UNSATISFIED LOVE is right up your alley.

THE INCREDIBLY PETRIFIED WORLD makes up for the disappointment of UNSATISFIED LOVE. My take on Jerry Warren is so-so: I do hate his foreign imports that he ruined, but then I did like his earlier features (i.e., MAN BEAST). And here, THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD is not a foreign import re-edited, but a film made by Jerry Warren with a great deal of imagination. The story is interesting, the camerawork is nicely done, and the acting is good. The script is typical of the 50's sci-fi genre, but that shouldn't bother much. Warren does show that for a small budget, he was able to deliver some imaginative moments. That and who can resist John Carradine doing his usual Shakespearian acting. Add that some small stock footage of a volcano exploding from ONE MILLION B.C. (1948), and listen to the music in the main title sequence as it would be used by producer/distributor Henry G. Saperstein to replace Akira Ifukube's score for his release of the Toho monster flick WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966)!

MONSTROSITY is presented in a crisp and clear 35mm print. While the black-and-white image is clear, their are some small jump cuts and messy reel changes that obviously shows that the film was probably shown more than in a week release back in 1963. Also, the beginning narration is cut short. This was due to a jump cut that was removed on Something Weird Video's behalf. The sound, however, is not so good as their is alot of hiss and pops present. Some of the dialouge is hard to hear at times, so be sure to crank up the volume a couple of times. Even so, one has to remember that the sound is taken from the 35mm print optical soundtrack and not from a seperate magnetic track.

UNSATISFIED LOVE's transfer is taken from a less-than stunning 35mm print. The image quality is so-so: the black-and-white image is very soft, only a few sequences are sharp. The soundtrack is not bad, very little pop's and hisses. It's better than the MONSTROSITY soundtrack.

Yet the transfer for THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD really shines. Why you might ask? Well, brace yourselves because this might come as a shock to some of you Jerry Warren-haters out there. The film has been digitally remastered from the original 35mm camera negative! That's right, a Jerry Warren film has been restored from the original negative! And guess what, the transfer looks stunning! The black-and-white image is crisp and clear; some grain is saturated on the film but it's not very distracting. The picture quality on this title is so clear that it puts all those tattered 35mm and 16mm versions that have been released on cheap VHS to shame. And to top it off, THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD is presented in it's original matted widescreen aspect ratio. However, I'm not very sure what the ratio is. It could be 1.85:1, or it could be 1.66:1 with a 16x9 widescreen enhancement (unfortunately, the DVD box doesn't list the film's aspect ratio). Seeing the film in it's original widescreen aspect ratio makes the composition of the frame very accurate towards Warren's orginal intentions. Most of the full frame transfers were dull and made the framing composition look out-of-whack. Even a few shadows of the boom mike on the full frame versions showed that it was intended to be matted. The sound is also clear as well. With the widescreen presentation and restored image, this might change a few people's perspectives on some of Jerry Warren's earlier films. And it will be a revelation to those who have seen crappy VHS releases of this B-movie.

Original theatrical trailers for MONSTROSITY and THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD are included. Watch THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD full frame trailer and see what I mean when I say the film's original widescreen matted aspect ratio works! The alternate opening title sequence "THE ATOMIC BRAIN" is also presented and it contains the full beginning narration which Something Weird Video should have used to fix the semi-cut narration on the 35mm print of MONSTROSITY.

Also included is B-movie trailers for the films: BACK FROM THE DEAD, CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE, FROZEN ALIVE,THE HANDS OR ORLAC, MONSTER A-GO GO, and TERRIFIED. Add some comic book cover art gallery accompanied by the music of 'The Dead Elvi', and it's all great fun indeed.

This is a great triple feature from Something Weird Video and I hope that they will deliver another one sometime soon. It's worth the purchase, I assure you.
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