I think it's interesting that we talk about Alien because I was getting a lot of facehugger vibes from the brains in Fiend Without a Face.
Yeah, I mean, like the special effects are they're just so striking and like creative and gross.
I think just like the squishy brain aspect is like so fun and gory. It's very cool.
Hello and welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast.
We are your hosts, Matt Levine and Vincent Hannum. And we are talking about all of our favorite monster movies, The Good, The Bad and The Downright Campy and asking if they stand the test of time.
Traditional Kaiju, creature features, space invaders and the supernatural and everything in between. All strange beasts are welcome here.
Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach Linder and the Zach Pack, powered by Coldwell Banker Realty, your source for real estate, home rehab, fixing and flipping for investor clients and residential buyers.
Reach out to the Zach Pack today for real estate services. Follow the Zach Pack on social media and contact the Zach Pack for investment opportunities. Link in the bio.
The brain, it's gone. That's not all. The entire spinal cord is missing. It's incredible.
It's as if some mental vampire would work. Does it come from another country or another world? This terrifying menace that G2 must destroy before it's too late.
The image is fading, sir. There it goes again. Same trouble.
How can they stop this invisible force whose only warning is a weird blood-chilling sound?
Only two people still alive can help this agent find the answers. The girl who could be a spy and the scientist who could be the destroyer of the entire human race.
We're facing a new form of life that nobody understands. I believe it feeds on the radiation from your atomic blasts and that it's evil.
You've got to stop them. There's only one way. Shut down your atomic plant. If I can get through, I can blow up the control room.
Thanks for hanging out, friends. We're excited for another episode of Camp Kaiju. Please rate and review wherever you listen. You can also send us listener comments at campkaiju.gmail.com, our Facebook page, or our Instagram page, which is at camp underscore kaiju.
If you'd like to be a featured voice on the show, please leave a voicemail at 612-470-2612, telling us about your favorite monster movies and monster movie memories.
Finally, please check out our website, campkaijupodcast.com, for more reviews and special content.
Merch can also be found, some sweet swag, as they say, at campkaiju.threadless.com. You can also become a patron at patreon.com slash campkaiju for discounts, priority comments, and access to any live events.
So yeah, thank you to all of our patrons out there. Vincent, do we have like an updated patron list?
Hey, we just have the A-Team here. You know, week in, week out, Jason, Chris, Sean, our anonymous patron, and Peggy, you all keep Camp Kaiju running, and that's not an exaggeration.
So to share with a little behind the scenes with you all, you know, there is some overhead to producing a podcast.
You know, we have a premium Zoom subscription, which allows for unlimited recording and unlimited guests like Naomi and Max, and I hope to get Frank Olson back on the show.
So we gotta, we gotta pay the, yeah, we gotta pay the big bucks for Zoom to get our friends on the show.
And then there is a post-production software that I run the audio through, and that cleans it up, right?
So it takes out a lot of the snap, crackle, and pops that you might hear otherwise.
Older episodes of Camp Kaiju, you can tell. I wasn't working with any of that technology.
Still great episodes, Matt. We're still having a lot of fun talking about 50-foot men and all kinds of strange beasts, but these days I'm feeling really good about where Camp Kaiju is at because of our patrons.
So if you're not a Patreon and if you're on the fence and you listen to the show every time it comes out, just, you know, five bucks is all it takes to help us out even more and help grow the show because you're a part of that.
That's my little pitch. I guess I'm going to be quiet now. And Matt, how are you doing?
I'm doing all right. I'm kind of happy that summer is turning into fall weather and there are some good movies coming out soon. So yeah, can't complain.
I say that it's turning into fall weather, but it's still in like the 90s here in Minnesota. So summer is sticking around for a little bit, but still changes in the air.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I busted out my hoodies this week because like in the mornings, it's still chilly.
I think I'm from Florida, so I have pretty thin blood, but I think so. I think it's changing getting into the spirit of the season.
Yeah, feeling a little more brisk. Yeah. Yeah. October, of course, is my favorite month. Horror movies all month. So I'm just counting down the days till we get there.
All month. Matt, I have to tell you something. So at school today, for those of you who don't know, I am a teacher at a high school in Minneapolis. And this year we have teachers have the opportunity to host a club during the school day, which is so great.
So convenient. I have started a film club with a science fiction angle. And today I had my first club. I was very excited.
I was nerding out with all these a lot of freshmen, actually, who I hadn't met. And I showed them a trip to the moon and I showed them Edison's 1910 Frankenstein.
I want to start at the beginning, the beginning of film. And I'm going to I'm not going to try to make this too long winded, but I have a 14 year old freshman who is already like, have you taken college film classes already?
Because he raised his hand and he said, isn't there a movie like an eight hour movie? And I knew where he was going with this about the Empire State Building.
Indeed, indeed there is. I know I was like, wow, that's impressive. Yeah, I don't know.
You know, I it would be cool if you showed that in your sci fi club, but I don't know if that really counts as science fiction.
Sadly, it'd be a loose, loose definition of the genre. For those of you don't know, Andy Warhol made an eight hour film.
It's literally just the Empire State Building. We talked about it on our Flesh for Frankenstein episode. And then I mentioned a trip to the moon and the same kid raised his hand and he said, isn't there anti colonial themes in that?
I went, yeah, yeah, yes, you could read that. How old are you kid? And then the last thing he blew my mind with, because next week I'm going to get into the 1920s German Expressionism and the effects of World War One on horror films.
And I didn't even mention that in the class. Same 14 year old says. Are we going to get into the into the influence of the Great War, not just World War One on film?
And I said, all right, you know, class is over. What who are owners? Who is this kid? Such a nerd. Why do you know this kind of stuff at your age?
That's amazing. He's a young film fan after my own heart. He sounds so cool. I feel like he's going to be a guest on Camp Kaiju someday. Oh, man. Yeah, seriously.
I mean, also, that film club sounds amazing. I'm a little bit jealous. I feel like I'm going to pose as a student sometime soon and try to weasel my way into your club.
You know, it's pretty cool. I'm not complaining. It's like a little bit of the week I can carve out to just like forget about my real classes for for an hour. Yeah.
Man, that's awesome. Are you going to show Metropolis next week? No, I'm going to for the silent films. I kept him short to those ones I mentioned before.
Next week, though, I am going to hit him with I'm going to play Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, the universal ones. So.
Yeah, amazing. I you know, somebody asked me recently what my favorite monster movie is. I feel like we've talked about this on the podcast before, of course, but I don't know if I've ever if we've ever like directly just kind of answered that question.
But for me, I think it's Bride of Frankenstein, so I'm very happy to hear that. Yeah. And you know, I thought about just playing bride, but I thought, you know,
the first Frankenstein is as good in its own way and together they're a perfect pair like bride picks up right after the events of the first one.
They're both short enough. Just play them both. I love that. Yeah, it's like a perfect introduction to, you know, 1930s Hollywood horror cinema. That's great.
Yeah, I mean, folks, if you haven't listened to our Frankenstein episode from a couple of years back, go listen to that one. It's a live event that Matt and I recorded.
So we get a great Q&A back and forth with a live audience. It's a lot of fun. Indeed. Maybe there will be some more live events in the future. I hope so. Sure hope so. We shall see. Yeah. Well.
Tonight, we're we're talking about a very different movie, perhaps not part of the classic canon, but but a great, you know, a notable movie in its own right.
Fiend Without a Face from 1958. We won't get too far ahead of ourselves right now, but you know, it's not the level of Frankenstein or Bride of Frankenstein, but it is a classic, gory B movie.
And I'm very excited to talk about it. Yeah, this was your pick. I'm so excited. Before we get to that. Let's do cover some nuts and bolts, which you already did with, you know, plugging our great ways to communicate with us to share your thoughts.
I want to just say real quick, you know, I feel like an unintentional theme of season four of Camp Kaiju has been the Universal Monsters. We featured the mummy last month with Naomi.
Next month, we're going to talk about the Wolfman.
And I just saw in the in the monster movie news that Creature from the Black Lagoon, a long gestating remake from Universal has James Wan attached to direct it.
Now, Matt, you and I know that directors get attached to projects all the time. Doesn't mean anything until production starts. Nonetheless.
Pretty cool news.
Yeah, I'm excited. I, you know, I don't quite know how I feel about James Wan yet. I like some of his movies don't like some of them. I feel like, you know, I won't go too far into that. I think he could bring kind of like a new sort of like fun can be suspenseful vibe to the creature of the Black Lagoon remake.
And I'm excited to hear more about it. How it comes to fruition. I sure hope so. Just even if it's terrible, I'm not I'm not going to hold anything sacrosanct like remake it. Why the hell not? Let's yeah, let's just see what happens.
Yeah, I don't know.
Totally. If it brings more love to the original also that's that can only be a great thing, you know, if like younger people like hear about the remake and they watch the original. That's great. I totally support that. Regardless of how good or bad the new one is. So right.
Yeah, looking forward to it. Yeah.
Some new and upcoming releases.
You have a couple on. No, sorry.
This week in Monster Movie history.
Yeah, there wasn't a lot that I you actually added one on here that's more interesting than the other ones I put on here. But from from the past in September, we have the movie Tusk from September 2014 from 10 years ago.
I never actually saw that. But the plot sounds really crazy. And I would like to see it someday.
I I don't think it's very good from what I've heard. Not a huge Kevin Smith fan, but you know, yeah, read the plot line if you if you're bored or like you're just kind of trying to kill some time. Read about the movie Tusk. It sounds really insane.
You know, it's funny real quick.
Our patron, our patron, Sean, actually reached out to me requesting that movie Tusk. Whoa, the show.
I said, yeah, I'll put it on the list. But I haven't seen it yet either. But also, yeah, it sounds it sounds insane and in a really gory, memorable way. At least I hope so.
Yeah, it kind of sounds like body horror meets like absurd comedy. So yeah, you know, maybe we will bring it to the pot someday. I'd be cool.
There are a couple of the ones from September Horror History, like a vampire movie called Nadia from 1994 that I want to see. You never seen that one.
Devil Doll from 1964, which I have seen and which is remotely scary, but it's kind of a fun watch. So if you're in the mood for old campy British horror, which we'll be talking about tonight, Devil Doll is a good example.
What's the Todd Browning film from the 30s?
Isn't that Devil Doll?
That's not this one. I'm not familiar with a Todd Browning movie by that name, but it's certainly possible.
Okay. Hey, I mean, it's a great title. So yeah, I mean, you know, it's it's a killer ventriloquist dummy movie, as you might imagine from the title. So not the most original storyline, but good title for sure.
Yeah, so sorry. The Devil Doll from 1936 directed by Todd Browning with Lionel Barrymore.
Oh, I was not even aware.
Yeah, an escaped convict uses seems like a little doll to kill people. That's not tonight's movie. Maybe we'll do it. We'll do a Devil Doll double bill.
Wow, that just rolls off the tongue. Double doll, double bill. Can't wait.
The story to that movie sounds more interesting than the actual Devil Doll that I put on here on the list. But anyway, well, that's a conversation for another time, perhaps.
Yeah.
The one that you added is a classic, a silent cinema classic from September from Horror History.
Well, I just saw that Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Lon Chaney 1923 picture was released this month in 1923.
Not only is it celebrating its 101st anniversary, but that is the movie generally credited as Universal Studios is first monster movie.
So with that rich legacy, we're just celebrating a century already of universal monsters.
Yeah, yeah, a little more than a century if that came out in 1923. So yeah, yeah.
I watched that a long time ago, I think in high school. That's definitely due for a rewatch. Most of those Lon Chaney silent movies I haven't seen in way too long.
Yeah. Well, maybe Mr. Peter Laurie will expand upon Hunchback at some point.
I'm guessing he probably will. Yeah, he'll be back. Yeah. As he does, he'll reappear when you least expect it.
He's not happy about it, but we appreciate everything he does for us.
Yes, indeed. Whether he's forced to or not, he's a movie authority for sure.
A sensational statement by the prefect of police today.
It was admitted that Paul of on former bank president convicted of looting his own bank and killing a watchman escaped from prison four months ago.
Thank you a thousand times, Monsieur. You'll never know how happy it makes me to leave one of my dolls in your beautiful home.
There's something in this house. This is an authentic little replica itself.
Isn't there?
Whatever you are in God's name, listen and have mercy.
A wooden doll strangely terrifyingly human plaything of the devil capable of such evil that only a cage can restrain its diabolical desires.
It walks. It talks in Berlin. Nineteen forty eight. Find me.
It sees. It kills on bloodshilling command by thought control.
You go. She said you were ugly.
But somehow he's put a man's life into that doll.
Somehow the malevolent mystery of the devil doll must be solved before more lives are lost to the monstrous power that manipulates.
Look into it. So deep and rich and red and warm.
He's calling me. Please make it stop.
But there are no obvious answers, no mechanical tricks, nothing but sheer horror that grows and grows and explodes into violent murderous action.
You will learn the dummy sinister secret only at the very end of this most unusual suspense thriller.
But for maximum shock, shock, see it from the beginning. Devil doll.
There are some new and upcoming releases that I'm very excited about.
I'll just mention the one that I'm most looking forward to.
The substance opened September 20th. Demi Moore is in that movie.
This kind of premiered at a couple of film festivals recently. Can and Venice, I'm pretty sure it made sort of a big splash.
It's definitely like a grotesque body horror movie, but also kind of a satire of Hollywood and like, you know, expectations of eternal youth and beauty and things like that.
So I'm really excited. The substance comes out next week. Definitely looking forward to seeing that one.
Very cool. I haven't heard much about that, but I love that we can we can get the word out on our humble little podcast.
Yeah, indeed. And I think it'll start with a limited release.
So it might be in a city near you later than September 20th, but it'll come out soon in any case.
The one movie I want to just highlight from that list coincidentally also comes from Sean, our patron.
It's called The Red. It is about a killer zombie kangaroo in the outback of Australia.
I am intrigued. Totally. Yep. You had me at you know, we have killer crocs, piranhas, sharks, anacondas, bees, spiders.
I don't know of any kangaroo killer kangaroo movies. Right. Yeah.
Which, you know, I mean, they're supposed to be very ferocious and like territorial creatures. So it's about time we have a killer kangaroo movie.
Yeah. So The Red opens in Australia on Halloween TBD on a U.S. release.
But we will be keeping our eyes out for that. Yeah. Cool.
I feel like they're they could have done like a really bad punny title for that, like kangaroo hack or something like that.
But, you know, that's a real jack. That's what I was going for. Yeah. Yeah. But nobody remembers that movie.
So it's probably the best that they didn't do that. But we do remember it because when I ask you to think of a kangaroo movie, it's probably the only one that comes to mind.
Yeah, true. This is really a tangent, but it also makes me think of this Australian movie called Wake and Fright.
It's a great horror movie. It's really depressing.
And there is some stock footage of like a kangaroo hunt.
So you do see kangaroos killed in the movie, which is very tough to watch. But Wake and Fright is the other kangaroo movie that I think of as like as different from kangaroo Jack as it could possibly be.
But very, very good. Oh, man. I love our little tangents. That's great.
Me too. Unexpected paths that we take on on Camp Kaiju. It's great.
Kangaroo Jack. OK. But The Red. Yes, that's on our radar.
OK, Matt, what's coming up on Camp Kaiju? Yeah, coming up, you chose the next one that we're going to talk about, which is Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes from 2001.
You know, I feel like with Planet of the Apes, most people think probably of like the more recent series, which have great CGI and stuff like that.
Or maybe they think of like the original series of Charlton Heston. I feel like the Tim Burton one is kind of like lost in the middle. And I'm really excited to rewatch it.
Totally. And and and here's the thing. Like, I adore this whole franchise.
This is the sore thumb in the bunch. And I say that also saying to listeners, watch it.
We're going to have a good time. There's going to be a lot of laughs. It's a very campy movie.
I promise you, it might be so bad, it's good. Maybe. Good timing.
Yeah, I'm a little dubious about that. I remember thinking it was just straight up bad when I saw it, but that was when it came out 23 years ago.
So who knows? Yeah, who knows? And, you know, like even though it did only come out 23 years ago, which actually is sort of a long time now, like it's it's a product of a different time.
You know, like sort of pre not pre CGI, but like before all of Tim Burton's movies, you see all the time.
So, yeah, it'll be kind of an anomaly. Fun to pick apart in that way.
And it stars Mark Wahlberg. Who doesn't love a Mark Wahlberg motion picture?
Kind of forgot he was in that. I feel like we need to talk about the happening at some point on Camp Kaiju, too.
But I agree further down the road, perhaps. All right.
We'll we'll see in two weeks for that. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
But as I said tonight, we're talking about Fiend Without a Face from 1958.
Pretty, you know, again, not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but a pretty fun movie.
And I feel like it came out at an interesting time in 1958 when like constraints about gore were starting to like lighten up a little bit.
But still, this movie kind of raised a stir.
It was a little bit controversial when it came out for its, you know, then sort of unexpected levels of gore and blood and and just grossness.
So it'll be fun to talk about. Yeah. What's your personal history with this movie?
Just you mentioned it. Oh, last I think was last Halloween. You for the Web site came up with 30 movies for Halloween and you released a a new little snippet review of a movie each day of the month.
It was incredible. Turned me on to a lot of movies like Fiend Without a Face that I hadn't heard of before.
I picked up the Criterion DVD last year and then finally watched it just a few weeks ago.
So that's my that's my history. Nice. Yeah, I'm glad I turned you on to this one.
It's I mean, I heard the title a long time ago, which is an awesome title.
And I was like, that movie has to be great. Like, it can't not be great.
So I saw it maybe like 10 years ago. And the main thing I remembered was the ending, which we'll talk about in a little bit here.
So, yeah, that's all I'll say for now. I had seen it a long time ago. Fun to revisit it for sure.
Well, let's talk about the cast and crew of Fiend Without a Face a little bit.
Maybe not a ton of like huge names in this movie, but still a lot of talented folks, obviously.
First and foremost, it was directed by Arthur Crabtree, who is a cinematographer in England since the early 1930s.
He eventually became a director as well. Even one of his former cast members admitted that he was a better cinematographer than director.
And he only became a director because the studio he worked for, Gainsborough, which was one of the big studios in England at the time,
desperately needed directors and just kind of promoted like, you know, so many of its crew members,
whether they were screenwriters or cinematographers or editors or whatever they were.
And that's how Arthur Crabtree became a director.
There will be a little bit more info about him and his role in Fiend Without a Face a little bit later on when we talk about the production of the movie.
But, yeah, Arthur Crabtree, at least in name, the director of Fiend Without a Face.
OK, cool. I did have some things to add, but I'll wait. I'll wait.
OK. The film is written by Herbert J. Letter, TV producer.
He wrote and directed an intriguing 1967 horror movie called IT.
IT with a capital, no, with an exclamation point.
I probably should have written what the plot is of IT because I thought it sounded really cool, but now I don't remember it.
So maybe I'll look it up real quick. It's from 1967.
Who said it? Oh, it was some.
There's a quote I picked up. I do not know where I got it from. Listeners helped me out.
It was it was something like no nothing good ever came from a character named IT.
So if you think about any movie, it came from outer space.
Stephen King's IT. It conquered the world. Yeah, it follows.
There's just it is a is a monster, whatever it is.
Yeah, it's it's a menacing pronoun, I guess you could say. Yeah.
And in this case, it's from 1967 is about a mad museum curator who brings the golem of Prague to life.
So, yeah, intriguing. Yet another tangent. Sorry.
We're we're going off the rails a little bit, but it sounds cool. Totally. OK.
The cinematography and Fiend Without a Face is by Lionel Baynes, who shot a good British movie called Passport Pimlico.
That was the most well-known title that I could see in his filmography.
It's a very good comedy from the 40s, I think.
He also shot TV shows like The Saint and The Avengers.
So there's a little bit of esteem to Lionel Baynes. His name music is by Buxton or which is just a cool name.
I don't know. I couldn't find any other info about him, but I feel like we had to mention that it was produced by John Croydon and Richard Gordon of Amalgamated Productions.
I also love the name Amalgamated Productions, which is like the most stock name for a film company you could possibly have.
Croydon also has a little bit of esteem to his name.
He was a producer at Ealing Studios and the Rank organization, which were two of England's biggest film studios.
He produced Dead of Night, which is a good horror anthology from 46, I think.
And then Richard Gordon is a British man or was a British man, but he moved to New York City when he was very young.
He set up his first company at the age of 23, which primarily distributed foreign films in the United States.
Richard's brother Alex was also a producer later on for American International, which is Roger Corman's production company or was Corman's production company.
Alex Gordon for American International was the first to review the script for Fiend Without a Face.
He decided to pass on it and send it to his brother.
And hence, that's how Amalgamated Productions made this film.
Then the distribution rights were picked up by MGM for worldwide distribution because it did have some quite the success in England.
And actually, it was just a programmer like the B movie on a double bill with a Boris Karloff film called The Haunted Strangler.
But Fiend ended up being the moneymaker.
So what a double bill, man.
I wish they still did double features like just go watch two like hour and 20 minute like horror movies.
That's awesome.
I know.
I assume anyway, I wasn't alive in 1958, but I assume it was awesome.
You know, not everything was great in the 50s, but the double bills were great.
Yeah, that's the I'm only talking about the double features right now.
That's the part specifically that sounds pretty cool.
Movie culture peak.
Yeah, yeah.
Stop motion animation effects were by Florence von Nordhoff and K.L.
Ruppel. These were German special effects artists.
Yeah, and they did the special effects work in Germany while the film was being shot in England.
We'll talk about that a little bit more maybe later as well.
Moving on to the cast of the film, we have Marshall Thompson as Major Jeff Cummings.
Marshall Thompson kind of looks like any actor from the 50s who would play an American military man.
Like, just think about who that would be and you probably can picture him in your mind already.
He was a classmate of Marilyn Monroe, then Norma Jean Baker back in high school, which I thought was kind of interesting.
Thompson was actually in some pretty interesting movies.
He was in The Clock, the Vincent Minnelli movie with Judy Garland, which is really amazing.
I love that movie.
And he was also in the same year as Fiend Without a Face.
He was in a movie called It, the Terror from Beyond Space, continuing our It theme of the night.
There you go. There you go. Another subgenre to explore.
Yeah, It movies.
Moving on, we have Panastin Reeves as Professor Walgate.
He was a longtime British actor, starred in The Lodger, Hitchcock's.
Was that his first movie feature?
It wasn't his first. It might be the first to that, like, fully survives.
Like he made. Oh, actually, The Pleasure Garden fully survives also.
And I think that was before The Lodger, but it's one of his early ones for sure.
And maybe his most well-known early one then.
Yeah, I believe so. Yeah.
OK. So anyways, The Lodger, various TV specials, The Private Lives of Sherlock Holmes.
And rounding out the cast, Kim Parker as Barbara Grisel.
She's the sister and the love, the sister and the love interest.
That's not true. She's the sister of one character who gets killed.
And then she is the love interest of our main character, Jeff, played by Marshall Thompson.
I couldn't find too much info about Kim Parker, but she is the only major female character in the movie.
So I felt like we should mention her.
And there are a lot of other actors that play kind of like supporting military guys and just townspeople,
but couldn't find much info about them either.
Yeah. So moving on to the production backstory and release of Fiend Without a Face,
unless you have anything to add, I didn't mean to cut you off there.
No, I have nothing. I mean, you could tell this was I mean, I don't.
Is it fair to say it's an independent picture? Yes.
Independent, low, low budget. It's set in England or sorry, it's shot in England.
It's set in Canada in the Midwest provinces there.
So the cast is just like a bunch of local yokels who are in this small town,
contrasted with the army base running a nuclear plant within their community.
So there's a lot of tension there and a source and ultimately the source of our monsters, these brains,
these invisible brains which feed off the radiation from the atomic plant.
There's more to it than that, like telepathy and like psychokinetic projections.
Yeah. No, I'm glad you mentioned the plot outline because we'll we'll definitely be talking about that a little bit.
I think you summed it up pretty well. There's an American Air Force base in Manitoba.
It's an atomic base and there are these mysterious killings.
The townspeople are distrustful of the American military, so they think that it's the killings are the result of the Air Force base.
But it turns out to be the killings turn out to be the result of scientific experiments.
Who would have thought by a physicist who is doing experiments and kind of manifesting his thoughts into like tactile beings basically.
So that's the plot in a nutshell. And Vincent, kind of like you alluded to, like, you know, we have the American soldiers,
we have French Canadians and just other Canadians that live here in the town.
A lot of the cast is British, so it definitely reflects kind of like the multinational nature of the production.
You know, kind of backing up a little bit. We'll talk about the production backstory of the film.
It's based on a 1930 short story called The Thought Monster, which is another great title that was written by Amelia Reynolds Long.
She was a she wrote a lot of sci fi horror kind of supernatural tales back in the 20s and 30s.
So this was a little bit of an older story. It was published in Weird Tales magazine in 1930.
Fast forward in 1958, her agent, Forrest Ackerman, pitched it to American International Pictures.
Like I mentioned before, they passed and it wound up in the hands of Richard Gordon.
So, yeah, we mentioned before that the film was written by Herbert Letter or Leader.
He was originally set to direct the film, but he was an American and he couldn't get a British work permit so he could not direct it.
And hence Arthur Crabtree took over directing duties. He was not very enthused about it, though.
This is kind of what I alluded to before. Crabtree was not especially excited to work on this movie.
He showed up on the first day of shooting. He looked at the script and he said it was not the movie that he signed on to do.
He thought that monster movies were beneath him. So he just frequently didn't show up to work.
He didn't come to set a lot of the time. He did not show a lot of investment in scene without a face.
Arthur Crabtree didn't. So, you know, like the lead actor, Marshall Thompson, who plays Major Cummings, did a lot of the directing himself.
He admitted that in the later interview. Like, yeah, I just kind of directed most of the movie when Crabtree didn't show up.
I think that kind of explains some of the maybe like simple visual style and like, you know, lack of like panache to some of the scenes and feed without a face a little bit.
But yeah, I came across that as well in my own research and I thought, oh, a lot of things make sense now.
Yeah, yeah, it's too bad. I mean, you know, we obviously we love can be ridiculous horror movies.
So for the director to be like, oh, this is beneath me. It's just kind of unfortunate.
But but the movie that we do have is still pretty fun in a lot of ways. So great. More on that later.
Yeah. The budget was initially fifty thousand pounds, but the complex special effects increased that to eighty thousand pounds.
Actually, it ended up having a higher budget because of those special effects than The Haunted Strangler, the Karloff film it was featured with.
So that's interesting. Yeah. The film was made in England, as we said, set in Manitoba.
The producers thought that would appeal to more international audiences.
And the film does rely on quite a bit of stock U.S. Air Force footage. There's some piloting scenes, some action shots with planes in the air that, you know, it's not a criticism.
I don't think it's it detracts in any way. But you're just like, oh, there's some army footage. Cool.
It's usually very obvious, like the film stock changes and just like the look of the of the film changes.
So it's very, very clear when they are. And you know what? It's on par for 1950s sci fi movies. Yeah. Dealing with atomic air force.
I mean, honestly, if this movie didn't have the the memorable monsters at the end.
It's so cookie cutter. It's so I've seen this movie so many times. Yeah, for sure.
I mean, the ending makes the movie. Now, you know, we'll we'll talk about this more later.
But there's some stuff that I like earlier on as well. But you're right. I mean, it's like a total lackluster, predictable sci fi movie from the 50s.
Not that's necessarily a bad thing. Yeah, I love these movies. Right.
So that in and of itself is not a criticism from me. I'll get more specific later on. Cool.
That sounds good. I feel like we're like minded on that. Yeah. OK.
As we mentioned before, the brain creatures were brought to life through the stop motion animation of von Nordhoff and Ripple, who did the special effects work in Munich.
The producer, Richard Gordon, said that when those two animators came into it,
Gordon said we had a finished screenplay and they pretty much had to stick to it, meaning the animators.
They were working on their effects continuously while we were shooting.
And then most of the special effects scenes were finished after the principal shoot was over. It did take rather longer than we expected.
And the picture went way over schedule in the post production because of the special effects.
So I think it's kind of cool to get that behind the scenes information.
Again, the special effects totally make this movie. So time well spent, I think. Absolutely worth it.
That's why we're talking about this movie today. Yeah. Yeah. And the title also.
Honestly, it's one of the best titles I've ever heard. And I'm so mad I never came up with it for anything.
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So the movie had its premiere at the Rialto theater.
Is that in L.A.? I don't know where. New York, actually. Oh, in New York. OK, great.
Yeah. Huh. It's U.S. premiere. Was that the Rialto? OK. Thank you.
And anyways, the producers came up with a marketing stunt whereby a quote living and breathing fiend was placed behind steel barred glass and a sidewalk exhibit.
It made menacing sounds and occasionally moved its spinal cord, helped draw crowds, which grew so large that traffic had to be shut down.
But the film wasn't a very big hit with MGM only making a little more than one hundred thousand dollars on it.
OK, that's interesting. So not as big a hit here as it was in the UK. Yeah.
I think the controversy in England kind of helped to drum up some more box office because it didn't do all that great in the U.S.
I think that also might have to do with its kind of inflated budget, though.
But I could be wrong about that because MGM just distributed it. They didn't produce it.
So in any case, I don't think it did super well. Like it was a moneymaker, but it wasn't like a huge hit in the United States.
Mm hmm. But five months after it premiered in the United States, it did premiere in the UK.
It was distributed by Eros Films in England, premiered at the Ritz Theatre in London's West End.
The British Board of Film Censors demanded numerous cuts and gave it an X rating for its gory special effects.
Newspaper critics were all up in arms about how gory and bloody it was.
It was even debated in Parliament with politicians wondering how something so bloody could have been released and kind of like bemoaning how, you know, inappropriate movies have gotten over the years.
So, you know, I think like we if you watch the ending of the movie nowadays, it's campy. It's ridiculous.
Like, sure, there's a lot of blood, but it's like not realistic in any way.
So it just kind of in retrospect, it's kind of fascinating how big of a stir this made in England when it came out.
Yeah. And how wildly tastes change because the hype was so much with the blood and the gore that I was a little underwhelmed by what I ultimately saw.
But that's just because like I've seen the Evil Dead and it's just, you know, yeah, times change. But that's that's fascinating.
Yeah. And I do think the year this this movie came out is pretty interesting, too, like 1958.
You know, in my opinion, 1960 is the year that modern horror began.
You have Psycho, of course, in the United States. You have Peeping Tom in England.
You have movies like G-Goku in Japan. Eyes Without a Face in France. All of those came out in 1960.
So I think like that was the year that like, you know, like psychological horror and like, you know, like more significant gore and violence started to like creep into movies a little bit.
But Feen Without a Face two years earlier is kind of starting to lean in that direction, I think, you know, although it's a very campy, ridiculous sort of vibe, which those other movies don't really have.
Right. But maybe it nudged the door open so those films could kick it down.
Exactly. Yeah, I think so.
Yeah. Well, despite the outrage over the gore, many reviews were tepidly positive.
It's now considered a cult classic and influential, an influential B movie with critics like Michael Atkinson and Bruce Cawin relishing the scares it gave them when they saw it as kids.
And I read a bit from the Criterion Channel's website that called it a high watermark for British genre filmmaking.
Yeah, which kind of surprises me a little bit. But I, you know, just like I like this movie, but like high watermark is kind of like putting it very kindly, I think, you know, but but certainly.
Yeah, I mean, like it's I guess I kind of alluded to this before. It's like pointing the way towards better movies, more serious movies, even if it's a little bit absurd in its own right at times, I think.
Yeah, yeah. The Criterion Channel, you know, it has a it has a there's a there's a je ne sais quoi about it. Right. Yeah. And I get I get suckered into it.
I'm like, wow, it must like this the movie I'm about to watch really must be something different. And I feel like I'm a little befuddled.
Honestly, why this movie is in the collection and not a dozen other movies like this that are done better.
Yeah. I mean, I think there are a lot of reasons for that. Partially, like maybe just kind of like home video distribution and like what they can get the rights to and stuff like that. But but I, you know, maybe a sneak preview of our breakdown at the end.
I'm I I feel like maybe I like this a little bit more than you did, because I I do think it has personality. It has like, you know, even some of the earlier scenes that are like our campion are ridiculous.
Like they do have some kind of like visual panache. I don't know. We'll talk about this more. Yeah. Yeah. I can I can see why in like kind of and also the Criterion collection sometimes like tries to go for like campy horror and like stuff to kind of like, you know, not be too highbrow, which I appreciate.
But right. Yeah. Yeah. That's you know, that could be its whole other its own podcast. Yeah.
Indeed. Yeah. Probably time for our sponsor break. So this is a reminder that Camp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach Linder and the Zach Pack, powered by Coldwell Banker Realty, your source for real estate, home rehab, fixing and flipping for investor clients and residential buyers.
Reach out to the Zach Pack today for real estate services. Follow the Zach Pack on social media and contact the Zach Pack for investment opportunities. Link in the bio. Vincent, do we have any new messages in Mena's mailbox?
We have a big one from a listener named Kaiju Nick who emailed us. Nick, you're our hero. You actually somebody out there listened and emailed us at CampKaiju.gmail.com.
We get a lot of comments obviously elsewhere, but the inbox, the email was getting a little little dusty in there. So Kaiju Nick commented on our Godzilla vs. Megalon episode.
And I'm just going to read the whole thing. Kaiju Nick says, I enjoyed your Godzilla vs. Megalon review very much.
I was, however, surprised there was no mention of the most famous combat move in all Kaiju history. I had to write into Mena's mailbox to address this unfortunate oversight.
Before we talk about the sweet finishing moves, though, can we take a moment to admire Jet Jaguar's awesome size transformation effect, just like Apache Chief from Super Friends? Amazing.
Kaiju Nick continues. Now onto this classic Kaiju battle. As the tide of battle finally turns to favor our heroes, Jet Jaguar, like an agile Falcon, knocks Gigan out of the air, smashing him right into a bridge.
Oof. Jet Jaguar then heaves Gigan's limp carcass into the air for Godzilla to blast him with the old atomic breath. Gigan flees. He's out of the fight.
His friend Megalon is like lying there going like, what? Well, your time is now, Megalon. Here is the historic moment, the moment of pure awesome.
Jet Jaguar stands the giant bug up while Godzilla prepares himself. A clap of the hands, a running start, a double leg drop kick sliding on the tail.
Wow. All that momentum, all that destruction right into Megalon's chest. How?
Camp Kaiju, the move was so awesome that once was not enough. Jet Jaguar stands him up again and Godzilla executes the devastating double leg drop kick a second time. This Camp Kaiju is a high point in the Showa era, one of the most famous moves in Kaiju history.
TNT's Monster Vision would play this clip between commercial breaks over and over, burning it into our consciousness. How could you forget to discuss this historic moment in your review Camp Kaiju? How?
And that's the end of Nick's email.
I love it. It's a good point. I remember that move. It is, it's a classic for sure.
I almost feel like Kaiju Nick describes it better in his email than it actually comes off in the movie, you know? Like it's so exciting in the email. It's great.
Guys, and I'm reading it with, I'm reading it at like 40% right now because my baby is sleeping in the next room. But there are so many exclamation points in that email.
It was wonderful, Nick. Thank you for sharing. You're right. It was an unfortunate oversight on Camp Kaiju's part, but it is, we agree with you and thank you for bringing it to our attention.
That's an awesome email. I love that.
I'm going to hang that on my wall. That's so good.
On my office wall.
Okay, well, we'll read more next time, folks. Send us your thoughts, questions, and comments.
Instagram, YouTube, a lot of YouTubers out there.
Keep it coming. Emails. Give us a call on the Kaiju hotline. Ring a ding, baby. We will not answer.
But, oh, actually, Naomi left us a voicemail on the Kaiju hotline. So thank you, Naomi, for your message. We love that.
Oh, yeah. Have you gotten any crank calls on that hotline yet?
Unfortunately not.
See, people aren't even taking advantage of this. Like, yeah, we're, we're, it's low hanging fruit, folks.
Right. Well, if nobody else is going to, I'm going to, but I'm going to like use an accent so you don't know it's me.
So, but also it'll be like the only other voicemail that you'll have in there. So you probably will know it's me, but we'll see.
Okay.
Maybe I'll be so good you still won't recognize me. But yeah, no, I'm excited to hopefully get some more emails and comments on Facebook and Instagram.
Please, everybody, reach out. Let us know what you think specifically about Fiend Without a Face. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
Yeah. Yeah.
Thoughts, right? Because this movie is all about thought monsters. Yeah.
Thought monsters.
Hey, Vincent, Matt, and all the Camp Kaiju listeners. It's Naomi here. Your friend who does trivia.
And I'm standing in front of one of the most iconic landmarks in Tokyo, Japan, right here in the heart of Shinjuku.
That's the Godzilla statue at Toho Cinemas, fitting tribute to the king of monsters himself.
This is the place where the legacy of Godzilla really comes to life for the people of Japan.
Toho Studios is just a few miles from here. And as we all know, gave birth to Godzilla.
And the franchise has become a global phenomenon, capturing the imagination of moviegoers for generations.
Standing here, you can really feel the history and impact of Godzilla, not just in Japan, but all around the world.
So whether you're a lifelong fan of Kaiju films or just getting into the genre, this spot is absolutely a must visit if you're ever in Tokyo.
Make sure to stop by and pay your respects to Godzilla and maybe even catch a quick at Toho.
Thanks for joining me on this little Kaiju pilgrimage. Until next time, see you guys later.
That's so cool. She was there. That's awesome.
Yeah, I know, right? It's just like so cool. I have so much to say and like, you know, it's just I'm just jealous. That's really cool.
Me too. I mean, Tokyo in general, Japan in general is on my bucket list of travel that I want to do at some point in my life.
And when I go, Toho Studios is going to be at the top of the list.
It's certainly for Godzilla, but they have made so many classic movies over the years.
It's like a destination for cinephiles everywhere.
Yeah, totally. OK, I don't want to get on a tangent.
But thank you, Naomi, for calling into the Kaiju hotline. We will have Naomi on our show next time for Planet of the Apes.
She will continue our trivia series. So everyone, catch that episode.
And before I forget, I have to I have Matt, we have to reveal the answer to our trivia that challenged the world when Naomi was was on the show for the mummy.
She pitched the question to our listeners, who composed the score, the memorable score for the mummy?
Well, the answer is Jerry Goldsmith, as mentioned earlier in that episode, Jerry Goldsmith was the composer of the mummy, as well as many other popular genre films.
Alien, for instance, comes to mind right away. Gremlins as well, which will be featuring on the show Camp Kaiju in December.
Just got to say, do we have a winner for the trivia that challenged the world?
Joe M. Joe M. You are our lucky winner.
Did you guess correctly? No. Your answer was Brian Tyler.
But you know what? It pays to play. And Joe M. just for participating, we're going to send you a little bit of merchandise from the Camp Kaiju Threadless store.
So, Joe M. what you can do is email campkaiju at gmail.com. That way you and I can just chat privately.
I can get your contact information and send you a little something special for participating. And we can't thank you enough.
Everyone listening, you can look forward to playing the next round of the trivia that challenged the world with Planet of the Apes.
Naomi will be back to pitch a new question. So, hey, submit an answer. You never know what you're going to win here on Camp Kaiju.
And we look forward to reading all your comments.
Before Karloff and Legosi stalked the screens, the movies were no less monstrous.
These frightful figures lurked in the expressionistic shadows and danced in the macabre moonlight.
They laughed, they cried, they fooled the sensibilities of honest, decent folk.
In the age of silent pictures, these gruesome ghouls nonetheless cried out,
with a savage humanity that took the breath of all who witnessed their devilish delights.
For in the silence, no one can hear you scream.
Screams
Wah!
Who?
Who is there?
Is that you, Pierre?
Matthew?
Vincent?
Oh, I am so woozy.
What is the time?
How long have I been out?
Hmm.
The last thing I remember was attempting to carve a smile onto my face when I…
I must have blacked out.
Well, where do we go from here?
I turn to the agreement of my indentured servitude on Camp Kaiju in which I am to review monster
movies from the silent era of motion pictures.
Only upon completion of this devilish bargain will I be free to return to my eternal rest
in the great beyond.
So here it goes, ahem, ahem, ahem.
I am Peter Lorre.
You may know me from such films as Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much and
in Roger Corman's The Comedy of Terrors.
This week on Silent But Deadly I will tell you about The Golem, how he came into the
world.
This is from 1920.
This movie was made in Germany following the First World War and is an excellent example
of early German expressionism.
It was directed by Paul Wegener and is the second film of a trilogy, however, it is the
only surviving of the series, the other two being lost during the Second World War.
The Golem is a retelling of a medieval Jewish folk tale in which a man-made monster known
as The Golem is sculpted from clay by a rabbi to exact vengeance on those who have banished
the Jewish community from the city of Prague.
The movie, hmm, the movie was a massive success in both Germany and the United States, ushering
in the German expressionist movie along with other films like The Cabinet of Dr. Eligari.
The Golem's director of photography, Karl Freund, would eventually make a name for himself
at Universal Studios and shoot the classics Dracula and direct The Mummy only a decade
later.
Next time on Silent But Deadly I will continue the theme of German expressionism that influenced
so many filmmakers in the horror genre.
We will discuss perhaps the most famous of them all, that, that, that cabinet of Dr.
Eligari, and maybe, just maybe, I will once again find my inner peace.
Oh, oh, what is, what is this?
Is this, this light from above?
Is it, is it my salvation?
Ladies and gentlemen, a bright light has appeared upon my little recording booth in which I
record these, these, these segments and, and oh my, oh my goodness, a, a, a door, a, a
trap door in the ceiling has opened up.
Ladies and gentlemen, wish me luck as I make my escape from this hellish device known as,
as, as a podcast.
Oh, um, ahem, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.
It conquered the world.
The most terrifying monster the mind of man can conceive.
Spreading panic, making of men, murderers, making of women, terrified slaves.
It conquered the world.
See two blood freezing horror pictures.
It conquered the world and the she creature.
Yes, it came from outer space to fill the world with terror, to bring you unforgettable
suspense.
What was it?
Where did it come from?
Who were the all powerful creatures it brought from outer space?
And what did they want on earth?
You can learn the amazing answer only when you see the most thrilling picture in years.
It came from outer space in the astonishing realism of three dimension with objects coming
right out of the screen.
So real they almost touch it.
Yes, that is it.
It everyone is afraid of it.
Look at the egg in its face.
That's what killed the old man.
Bombs can't kill it.
Fire can't burn it.
Water can't drown it.
So you have come back.
What part of me could have wanted you back?
Only one man can control it and he is man.
I am your master.
Lower your arms.
I am your master.
God, please don't.
Kill him.
This is it.
See it.
All right.
Should we talk about the themes in this movie?
There aren't a ton of them, but I feel like there is one thing that's good to bring up.
So this is a 1950 sci-fi movie.
Of course, atomic radiation is going to make an appearance.
That's like the sort of catch-all explanation that gives the professor in this movie the
extra mental ability to manifest his thoughts into beings.
And at first these beings are invisible, but eventually there's just so much atomic radiation
that suddenly these brain spinal cord monsters are visible.
And it's all thanks to atomic radiation.
But I thought it was kind of interesting.
This was in Bruce Cowan's review, A Fiend Without a Face.
You know, like the government and the military is like not really the bad guy here.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
And it's not even really atomic radiation itself that's the bad guy or the bad, the
negative force.
So I just want to read this quote from Bruce Cowan.
I think it's a good point.
He says, The problem isn't atomic power or the bomb.
This isn't a movie like them or the day the earth stood still.
The problem is nuclear energy in the wrong hands.
The old loner scientist who diverts the power for his own uses and creates monsters he can't
control.
Like Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Frankenstein, he goes too far and he suffers for it.
But if everyone cooperates, we can live safely around nuclear power, much as the cows are
said to have gotten used to the jets that roar over the farm.
This is in reference to A Part of Fiend Without a Face where all these American jets are flying
over this cow farm.
So yeah, basically that's the end of the quote.
But I think it's kind of a good point that like, you know, it's not the military that's
to blame if like all these, if everybody just trusts the government, everything will be
okay is kind of like the implicit theme a little bit.
So it's actually like a very different theme than a lot of these subversive 1950s sci-fi
movies that are very much about the horrors of like nuclear devastation.
I think yeah, absolutely.
That's what I picked up on.
It's because because 50s sci-fi movies, the in the 50s, we trusted the government and
all the military personnel are depicted as heroes.
And that's very par for the course.
And yet in this movie, with the townspeople, they're very distrustful of the military personnel,
of the government in their backyard, much like, you know, the the history with Godzilla,
you know, they are fearing this fallout that's affecting their cattle, that's affecting their
crops.
And before they know what the monsters really are, they think it's fallout radiation sickness
that's killing people.
So I found that a an ambitious, noble thread in this movie, even if it's not executed to
like the level of Godzilla.
But but it is there.
I do want to commend it for that.
Yeah, definitely.
It's it's commendably original, but also like a little bit less kind of like critical than
I would like it to be.
You know what I mean?
Like, yeah, that's it.
Yeah, like the military is okay.
Governments are all right if like you just trust in them, basically, which is a theme
I don't I don't personally agree with.
So you know, I tend to prefer the kind of like darker, more cynical themes that we do
see in Godzilla and them and movies like that.
But you're right that it is at least like out of the ordinary for a sci fi movie at
this time.
Mm hmm.
I think talk about the like that not just atomic anxiety, but this movie is specifically
comments on the Cold War itself.
Including the Soviets, like, as you said, you know, there's nothing wrong with atomic
power.
It's just who's using it.
Right.
And and if we're using it, America and Canada and Britain are using it.
It's good.
If the Soviets are using it, it's going to be bad.
So it's very much like that kind of Cold War antagonism.
We're at, you know, like Godzilla and like so many of the Godzilla movies are just like,
you know, like nuclear power equals bad.
And that's, you know, like that's a little more accurate, I would say.
I don't know if you can really trust any government to like do the right thing with them or whatever.
But so, yeah, it's just an interesting kind of dichotomy there, I think.
Yeah.
What do you think?
Should we jump into our individual breakdowns and maybe talk about the form and aesthetic
a little bit in there?
Yeah, I think that's good.
OK, cool.
Yeah, because there's not a ton to talk about aesthetically here, but there are some like
individual moments that are kind of fun.
I love everything with the monsters.
I think the invisible effects are effective.
I don't think they do quite as much with those as maybe someone more like maybe maybe like
if Sam Raimi directed this, I don't know, it might be a little more fun using the invisible
effects.
As it stands, it's pretty basic.
Be that as it may, it's cool.
You don't get too many invisible monsters in movies.
So that's great.
And then the reveal and those special effects, the way the brains are portrayed using the
stop motion animation, it's crude, the animation.
But in that, it's unsettling.
It's like a really weird, jerky, unsettling kind of animation blended with the live action
that I was put off by that in a good way.
I was like, oh, this is gross.
Indeed.
Indeed it is.
It's yeah.
Yeah.
Mental vampires is a cool phrase that's used.
And this was, I think, the most interesting part of the movie to me, honestly, when Jeff,
our American square jawed hero in his leather bomber jacket, he gets locked in a crypt in
a tomb with a casket, a coffin that's open, which is very gothic, which is very Dracula.
And all of a sudden, I'm seeing this really wonderful blending of two genres, the 50s
sci fi army genre with a gothic vampire story.
I was like, whoa, the imagery there is so good.
I want more of this.
I love that scene, too, especially there's like a close up of like the candle flickering
out because there's no more oxygen in the crypt.
You know, it's a very, very effective moment for sure.
Yeah.
For sure.
Yeah, I definitely have all the same good stuff.
I mean, the brain monsters are just like gross and slimy.
Like the sound effects are ridiculous.
It sounds like somebody just like making like squelching noises into a microphone, but it
somehow works.
I agree with you that the crudeness adds to it and makes it very effective, especially
there's a late scene where Jeff and Barbara are like on one side of like a wooden kind
of like partition, but they're like looking through the cracks and like they see these
brains like flying at them.
And it's a really effective use of like, like rear projection.
Like obviously the animation and the actors were not, you know, recorded or shot at the
same time or whatever.
But it's like interweaved very well at that moment.
I thought that scene was really, really good.
So I like that.
I think like, you know, there is some decent black and white cinematography throughout the
movie.
Like some of it looks a little bit shoddy and rushed, but then some other stuff is pretty
striking.
Like when the professor is like flashing back and telling us how the monsters were created,
it's kind of like a thunder and lightning almost Frankenstein origin story.
Just like kind of adding to like the Gothic element that you talked about.
Really love that scene.
I liked a moment where one of the characters, his name is Gibbons.
He suddenly like bursts into this town hall meeting and he's he looks horrific.
He's like driven insane by these brain monsters and he's lit from below and kind of like this
like very bizarre shot.
It's like maybe the only part of the movie that is close to scary.
I don't know if it's actually scary, but it's really unexpected and pretty frightening.
So I actually feel like there are quite a few moments like that that are like, wow,
this is like there was more care put into this than I thought there would be.
And then of course, there are other shots where it's like the shadows are like overtaking
the shot and it's like lit very poorly and like so, you know, you get the good and the
bad here for sure.
But but I like a lot of the visual style.
I just think the underlying concept is really, really cool.
Like this professor who wants to turn his thoughts into like tangible beings.
It's very David Cronenberg Ian.
I think like it's kind of like a curse at a Scanners, which is a movie that I love a
lot.
And, you know, like again, this is kind of like first steps to these more kind of like
surreal, bizarre later horror movies that will come about.
But but it's just such a good concept.
And I think like that sustained my interest throughout the entire movie up until like
the kind of like gory, violent climax.
Yeah, that's that's there's other stuff that I liked, but that's what I'll say in the good
category for now.
And I'll save some of it for the can be category a little bit later on.
OK.
What did you not like about Fiend Without a Face?
Oh, man, we're we're we're opposites tonight.
I I what I didn't like was the like the lack of direction in this film.
And what I mean is it seemed to me and knowing Arthur Crabtree's thoughts about his assignment,
it makes sense now.
I don't see the director knowing really how to take advantage of the genre he's filming.
I feel like there are a lot of rushed beats and moments that could have and should have
been more suspenseful than they were.
I didn't find the most of it particularly thrilling.
The last 10 minutes is a smorgasbord of awesomeness.
That's just that's what the movie is, but I didn't get that in the other two thirds.
For example, there's a really great set piece where Gibbons is leading a posse into the
woods to find who they who the townspeople think is a lunatic and escaped and they have
their guns and stuff.
And it's a really great moment.
Where Gibbons' friend is calling out for Gibbons and Gibbons never answers.
We've seen this in other movies.
The lack of answer leads us to intone that, oh, Gibbons is killed.
He was killed off screen.
And it's like really tragic because his friend is just calling Gibbons Gibbons Gibbons.
But I didn't feel like Crabtree let us sit in that for too long.
Like I just felt like it was still rushed.
I was like, I know what you're going for.
Just let us live in that uncomfortable space a little bit longer, my man.
And it would be really haunting.
So really nitpicky.
But I've seen so many of these movies, Matt.
Yeah, I know.
I know how I would direct it.
I just, you know, it missed the mark for me and a lot of and a lot of potential set pieces.
Yeah, that's definitely understandable.
I mean, even like the very beginning of the movie when like the Jacques character just
suddenly dies and then the opening credits start.
And it's like, you could have had like a really amazing opening to this movie, but it suddenly
is just like a guy keels over and somebody screams and that's the beginning of the movie.
So I hear you.
You're definitely right about that.
And you're yeah, I mean, like this movie sort of didn't seem to have a director, you know,
like Crabtree didn't seem to care about it.
And then just like people were filling in when they had to.
So it's not surprising, like you said, that there's like not really like a directorial
vision.
And it's a shame.
It's unfortunate.
It could have been even like, you know, a lot better than it was.
But you know, I for some reason, I just was OK with the camp factor this time and kind
of yeah, we I'm we do have different takes this time, but I kind of like that.
It rarely happens.
So it's cool when it does.
Yeah, yeah.
What about you?
Well, yeah, I mean, like the dialogue and the performances are definitely ridiculous,
cheesy, can be, you know, like it's fun to watch the background actors in this movie
because they don't ever really know what they should be doing.
Like, and that's probably speaks to the lack of a director.
But you know, like if you don't look at the people speaking in the shot and you like look
at everybody else and they're just like they have these ridiculous looks on their faces.
They're like staring off screen.
They're like standing uncomfortably close to somebody else.
It's just like they're doing whatever they want, basically.
And it's it's really funny.
It's entertaining and campy.
But like, you know, it makes the movie not scary at all.
And it's clearly not very well made.
But it's like I just started not paying attention to like the main character in the scene and
like looking at everybody else.
It's very entertaining.
I recommend that if you watch this movie at some point.
Oh, yeah.
And like, I don't know if that really fits in the bad category.
But I just find this movie really entertaining.
And like, yeah, I don't have a lot in the bad category, to be honest.
All right.
That's fair.
My campy, if I may, is related to the actors.
This is I have a lot of this was in my bad.
But I'm like, you know, it's campy because it's bad.
But I was laughing at the movie.
I shouldn't have been.
I don't think Crabtree and gang wanted me to laugh.
But the character of Jeff, our hero.
He's such a moron, man.
He he's like.
As soon as he sees the one female in this movie, that's all he thinks about.
The world is falling apart.
Brain monsters are killing people.
And every time he's in the room with Barbara, yeah, he's just making out.
He's just he's looking at her the whole time.
He's like saying really lame pickup lines all the time.
He's flirting with her so obviously.
I'm like, bro, you have no game.
I think you do because you were in the leather jacket.
But like.
It was ridiculous.
And then there's the whole setup.
It played like a sitcom where he goes to visit Barbara at her house and he knocks on the
door and then the door the doors open.
Well, I might as well just walk in.
He walks into the living room.
Barbara's showering meantime, and you know what's going to happen.
You're seeing this train wreck and sure enough, Barbara walks in wearing a towel and Jeff
is like, oh, oh, sorry, sorry, didn't didn't see you there.
Yeah, tonally, the movie shifted into a 50s sitcom at that moment, and I couldn't I couldn't
take it seriously anymore.
You're yeah, that I probably should have included that in the bad category because that is the
worst thing about the movie.
Probably like you're right that that scene where she comes out of the shower is terrible.
But like just about as bad, I think, is like at the very end when like, you know, everything
is resolved and like Jeff and Barbara are like kissing and like hugging and like and
then like all the other characters like the professor and these military men, they like
go out the door one by one and they all say some like lewd, inappropriate thing to Jeff
before they leave.
Like one of them is like, oh, let us know when you get a hand on the situation.
Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
And like meanwhile, Barbara's just standing there like smiling, like, you know, the romantic
union of course has happened as needs to happen in like almost every movie of this time.
But like, yeah, it's it's it doesn't make any sense.
It's pretty cringy for sure.
It does not date very well.
Her brother had just died in the beginning of this movie.
Yeah.
And Jeff is giving her a ride home and he can't help himself because he's a fifties
man and this is a woman, damn it.
And he starts flirting with her.
He's like, yeah, any any plans for dinner or something like that?
Like what?
This is not based in reality.
Jeff, you're you're being so rude right now.
I mean, she seems okay with it.
She reciprocates, which of course is totally unrealistic as well.
Like it's just any time there is a single available man and a single available woman
in a movie from this time.
I mean, not literally any time, but like a movie like this, you know, it's just going
to happen inevitably, even if it makes no sense.
But it's very campy.
So yeah, I found it very humorous.
Unintentionally.
So it is.
Yeah, it is ridiculous and can't be for sure.
And like they made a big deal out of like her and the towel.
It's actually on the background right behind you right now, even though like that's only
like 20 seconds of the movie.
But they really played up that aspect of it.
Yeah.
I mean, there's so much that's campy in this movie.
Like I think it's in that scene when like they're all the Gibbons friend is looking
for Gibbons in the woods and the friend calls out, where the heck are you?
And I just thought that was such a quaint, precocious like thing to yell when you're
terrified in the woods.
I thought that was really funny.
I love that the professor like seems to really love the word fiends.
Like when he's like telling the flashback, he uses that word at every possible instance
that he could.
Like, it's of course, totally ridiculous and unrealistic.
He's just been waiting for an excuse to use the word fiend over and over and over again.
So I found that really funny.
And then the last thing I'll mention, like this isn't really actually like a campy part
of the movie, but I watched it with subtitles on because I was trying to like not be too
loud late at night.
And the subtitles are really, really funny.
Like mysterious squelching is one that appears over and over again.
Fiends thudding is another one that was really good.
So you know, if you want a little added amusement, watch the movie with the captions on.
You will not regret it.
It's funny.
I did actually.
So I actually know what you're talking about.
I was just more entertained by that than than you, I guess.
Like, it doesn't really like reflect on the movie itself, but it still was a fun time.
You know, no, I'm with you on all those points.
Yeah, very, very campy movie for sure.
As often as the case here on Camp Kaji.
All right, I think it's time for a rating.
Is it not Vincent?
Let's do it.
All right.
As usual, we have our four ratings here on Camp Kaji.
Number one, it's a timeless classic.
It definitely stands the test of time.
Number two, there may be some antiquated moments, but overall, it's great.
It stands the test of time.
Number three, it may be historically significant or just fun, but it does not stand the test
of time.
And our lowest rating, it is not worth revisiting and definitely does not stand the test of
time.
What do you think?
I'll go first and give you the last word.
All right.
Sounds good.
OK.
So despite my criticism, I do think that the last third of this movie is nothing I've ever
seen before.
And that alone makes it stand the test of time.
There is a reason to check this movie out.
There is a reason we are talking about it.
And the camp factor is enough to keep you entertained.
I was never bored by this movie as uninspired as it may have been at parts.
It's never really boring.
So I think there are antiquated moments, but it does, in fact, stand the test of time.
Nice.
We I'm going to give it the same rating despite our sort of slightly different responses.
I totally agree with everything you said there.
It's not boring.
It's less than 80 minutes, which is great.
More movies should be less than 80 minutes, I think.
Yeah, it's like the ending is fantastic.
The concept is really good.
But, you know, if like a director had actually directed this movie and cared about it, then
it could have been something really amazing.
But as it is, it's like a campy, ridiculous, entertaining kind of blast from the past.
And I think it does stand the test of time in some ways, not in every way, of course,
but worth watching for sure.
So that's it on Fiend Without a Face.
Thank you for hanging out, friends.
Please rate and review wherever you listen.
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Campkaijou is recorded in Minneapolis, St. Paul with Mignas mailbox music by Ben Cook
Feltz.
Thanks, friends.
And until next time, stay campy.
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