Fiend Without a Face
                                                                     
Director: Arthur Crabtree
Year: 1958
Rating: 6.0
How times have changed. When this was released in England in 1958, people were horrified at how disgusting it was or as one critic put it "revolting". Parliament actually took it up as to how the censors allowed this to get through even with an X rating. Brits faced down the Nazis and the bombings, but this was too much. It still has some of that power but at the same time brings on a giggle or two. It was produced by Amalgamated as part of a double feature with The Haunted Strangler. That would have been a very fun double feature in the dark with your girlfriend tightly holding on to you and the occasional scream floating through the theater. It takes a lot more to make people scream in the theater now.



It takes place in a small Canadian town (shot in England) in which people are so trusting that women leave the doors open when they take a shower. The output of cow's milk is the main worry. But the US has set up an airbase nearby that is being used for surveillance of Russia. They are using nuclear power to give their radars enough power to reach Russia. As is usually the case, the locals are not fond of the military, especially in this case as they are Americans. Suddenly a few people are found dead with their face stuck in a terrified expression. We get to witness the killings. Something attacks people from the back but they are invisible to the eye. Major Cummings (Marshall Thompson) is the liaison with the town's folk. The one he mainly wants to contact though is Barbara (Kim Parker), the woman who left her door open and greets him in a towel. Hot stuff in 1958.



An autopsy shows that the victims have two punctures in the back of their neck and are missing their brains and their spinal columns. Whatever is killing people continues their invisible act till near the end when the radiation at the base is increased and like a gorged bug, they can be seen. The final fifteen minutes of the film is rather wonderful as these creatures are revealed to be all brains with a spinal column and tentacles. On the inside they are all gooey like a newly baked raspberry current bun. There are dozens of them and they are hungry and slither along the ground and jump through the air (using stop motion). It actually gets a little tense. It takes the film a while to get there but is worth the wait.