... which was probably the best film about bad filmmaking ever made.
This is not as good as Ed Wood's 'masterpiece' Plan 9 from Outer Space, as this is just another inept film by Wood. Lugosi has a full lead as a mad scientist with his 'Igor' Tor Johnson. As Dr. Eric Vornoff Lugosi conducts bizarre and unethical experiments in an attempt to create a race of atomic supermen. Lugosi's performance as the deranged scientist is one of the film's highlights, capturing his signature charisma and adding a layer of campy charm to the proceedings. Lugosi is quite good in it, considering his age ,his health and his extenuating circumstances.
Now for the special effects. The victims are strapped to a table with a upside down salad bowl in sort of stainless steel on their head with three big sparks plugs on it, whatever it is. The monster is a giant rubber octopus but the mechanism does not work so the victims must move the tentacles themselves to create movement. And yet this is the only film by Wood to have made a profit (!) Surely it did not need much to cover its cost. The course of the troubled production and Lugosi's place in it is rather interesting if you take the time to dig into the matter.
This is not as good as Ed Wood's 'masterpiece' Plan 9 from Outer Space, as this is just another inept film by Wood. Lugosi has a full lead as a mad scientist with his 'Igor' Tor Johnson. As Dr. Eric Vornoff Lugosi conducts bizarre and unethical experiments in an attempt to create a race of atomic supermen. Lugosi's performance as the deranged scientist is one of the film's highlights, capturing his signature charisma and adding a layer of campy charm to the proceedings. Lugosi is quite good in it, considering his age ,his health and his extenuating circumstances.
Now for the special effects. The victims are strapped to a table with a upside down salad bowl in sort of stainless steel on their head with three big sparks plugs on it, whatever it is. The monster is a giant rubber octopus but the mechanism does not work so the victims must move the tentacles themselves to create movement. And yet this is the only film by Wood to have made a profit (!) Surely it did not need much to cover its cost. The course of the troubled production and Lugosi's place in it is rather interesting if you take the time to dig into the matter.