Fiend Without a Face (1958 film)

Fiends attack in Fiend Without a Face (1958 film)...

Summary

"New horrors! Mad science spawns evil fiends - taking form before your horrified eyes!" Invisible atomic monsters attack a U.S. Armed Forces base and the local residents.

Details

• Release Date: 1958
• Country/Language: UK, English
• Genres/Technical: Science Fiction, Horror, black-and-white
• Setting: 1950s Canada
• Runtime: 1 hr 14 min
• Starring: Marshall Thompson, Terry Kilburn, Kynaston Reeves
• Director: Arthur Crabtree
• Writer: Herbert J. Leder (screenplay), Amelia Reynolds Long (original story "The Thought Monster")
• Producer/Production Co: Producers Associates, Amalgamated Productions
• View Trailer: (link)
• TVTropes: (link)
• IMDB Page: (link)

Ratings

MPAA Ratings

• Rated: approved (equivalent to a PG for Violence)

The film was rated "X" in the UK during the on its release for its gruesome 1950s special effects, but these probably won't be particularly strong by today's standards.

Tentacle Ratings

A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:

• S____ (One Tentacle: Debateably Lovecraftian; has almost no direct connection to Lovecraft's work)

Not very "Lovecraftian", but similar in tone to the early entries of the Quatermass franchise, and includes some freakish and gruesome monsters which drive people mad with horror on sight.

Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.

Reviews

Review Links:

• Scott Ashlin at 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting (-4/5 stars) (link) - "Hundreds of crawling, leaping, cerebrophagous, evil, atomic brains, brought to life via poorly-executed stop-motion animation-- who could ask for anything more?"
• Richard Scheib at The Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Review (2/5 Stars) (link) - "The climax is a moment where the film reaches a kitsch lunacy."
• Chris Wood at British Horror Films (link) - "With a bit more thought, a British setting and more scares, Fiend Without A Face could have been okay, but as it is it's just an excuse to watch stop-motion animated brains get the crap blown out of them."

Synopsis (SPOILERS)

 Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)

Radiation experiments near a Canadian atomic reactor boost the psychic powers of a researcher until he is able to psychically project an invisible, living, intelligent being, the titular "Fiend Without a Face". The researcher does not realize until it is too late that the creature is not under his control, but is instead killing people, sucking out their brains, and reproducing. Soon, the fiends are taking over the reactor, overloading it with radiation and becoming visible as creeping and leaping stop-motion-animated brains-with-spinal-cords-and-eyes. Upon becoming visible, they are relatively easily dispatched by American servicemen with gunfire and a reactor meltdown and explosion.

Notes

Associated Mythos Elements

• race: the "fiends" - disembodied brain-monsters created as psychic projections boosted by atomic radiation