Fiend Without A Face (1958)

You may have seen Fiend Without A Face on late-night TV. This wanders along innocuously for the first hour like a low-budget 50s mad science movie (exactly what it is), and you might also find yourself wondering why the locations claim to be American but look suspiciously like southern England.

Whatever you do, don’t drift off to sleep. It goes completely nuts in the last half-hour, as flying brains with attached spinal cords lay siege to a house containing our heroes. It’s surprisingly gory and must have influenced George Romero.

English director Arthur Crabtree never made anything else this crazy. He did start his career as a cinematographer, and this movie benefits as it looks like all the money is on the screen. Star Marshall Thompson went on to star in the ’60s TV series Daktari.

The DVD is released by Criterion, so it’s more expensive than normal DVDs but is beautifully presented and well worth it, with some very obscure publicity material and a commentary track.
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