Icons of Horror Collection: Sam Katzman (The Giant Claw / Creature with the Atom Brain / Zombies of Mora Tau / The Werewolf)
by Fred F. Sears, Edward L. Cahn
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Edgar Barrier, Jeff Morrow, Louis Merrill, Mara Corday, Morris AnkrumDirector: Edward L. Cahn, Fred F. Sears
Brand: Sony
Writer: Bernard Gordon
Writer: Curt Siodmak
Writer: George H. Plympton
Writer: James B. Gordon
Writer: Paul Gangelin
Writer: Robert E. Kent
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 144 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-10-16
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Icons of Horror Collection: Sam Katzman (The Giant Claw / Creature with the Atom Brain / Zombies of Mora Tau / The Werewolf)
Movie Review: Deliriously loopy - the best bang for your cheese $$$'s!
Summary: 5 Stars
So, just who the heck is Sam Katzman, anyway? Most boomers will remember these flicks from late-night "Creature Features" or Saturday afternoons with Sir Graves Ghastly, but never associated them together, much less with a specific producer. But Katzman was an old hand by the time these were made. He was the man who got Johnny Weismuller out of the leopard skin and into the safari gear as "Jungle Jim". He's generally credited for coining the term "beatnik". He did the "East Side Kids" movies, including two with Bela Lugosi. He was also the producer for two early Ray Harryhausen flicks, "It Came From Beneath the Sea" (with the lovable six-armed octopus) and "Earth vs the Flying Saucers". He even did a couple of Elvis pics: "Harum Scarum" and "Kissin' Cousins".
These four are from 1955-1957. "Creature with the Atom Brain" (1955) has an ex-Nazi (wow, were these guys into *every*thing!) creating atomic-powered zombies, complete with glowing serum in their veins. These middle-aged creeps stalk their victims to help a typical crime lord take over the city. They're hard to spot, except for the flip-top skulls. Story by Curt Siodmak, who sure came a long way downhill from his brilliant "I Walked with a Zombie".
The following year (and 10 movies later!), "The Werewolf" jumps out. No full moon needed here - he's a radioactive werewolf! (See a trend?) Poor guy gets in an auto wreck and some helpful docs fix him up with an experimental serum. You can guess the rest.....
"Zombies of Mora Tau" is certainly original - these zombies are amphibious! They're the remains of a ship's crew, guarding a treasure of diamonds in the underwater wreck. These dudes are the original "Terminators" - shooting, stabbing, or whapping them in the skull with a board: makes no difference, they keep a'comin'.
And maybe the most (in)famous of all: "The Giant Claw", whose monster was so over-the-top ludicrous that it couldn't be featured on the film's poster. A giant, anti-matter, butt-ugly space buzzard from another galaxy! Play the "Giant Claw" drinking game at your own risk: every time someone says "flying battleship", it's down the hatch. May be extremely hazardous to your physical AND mental health.
Most people of a "certain age" will remember one or more of these from their heyday on TV. In spite of three different directors and (at least) four writers, all have a goofiness factor that only Ed Wood comes close to. Earnest, fast-paced, and always entertaining, these are great reminders of the time when Hollywood was cranking out flicks at a frantic pace and wasn't totally dependant on mega-bucks blockbusters. The sets are usually claustrophobic, 75% of the film seems to take place at night or in pitch-black settings (except for "Claw"), and the "plots" are beyond unbelievable. In short - sit back and enjoy!
More Icons of Horror Collection: Sam Katzman (The Giant Claw / Creature with the Atom Brain / Zombies of Mora Tau / The Werewolf) reviews:
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Summary of Icons of Horror Collection: Sam Katzman (The Giant Claw / Creature with the Atom Brain / Zombies of Mora Tau / The Werewolf)
ICONS OF HORROR COLLECTION:SAM KATZMA - DVD MovieThe four Sam Katzman films included in his Icons of Horror Collection stand as testaments to the American atomic age, reflecting public terror and awe towards 1950s technology and the accomplishments made in science and medicine. Sam Katzman, an incredibly prolific B-movie producer whose expertise in horror and sci-fi resulted in collaborations with Ray Harryhausen (Jason and The Argonauts), originally masterminded several wonderful thrillers, classic archetypal examples for later films on similar topics. In this DVD set, two of the four films are painfully slow paced, but contain horror scenes that vibrantly combine horror, sci-fi and film noir. Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) catalogues a researching team's attempts to confiscate a diamond stash lodged on an abandoned ship in a harbor guarded by the living dead. Some foggy shots of zombified sailors, eternally guarding the gems as a curse for stealing them, provide chills if even for a few moments. The Giant Claw (1957) introduces the viewer to the age of alien invasions and military paranoia. Opening with a great shot of an Earth diorama orbiting in space, the film chronicles Mitchell MacAfee (Jeff Morrow), an electronics engineer who reports from his aircraft shadows of a large bird dive-bombing his plane. Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday) stands by at home base, continually ready for action. When one does manage to see this elusive shadow, the viewer can almost make out the giant avian claw that looks like a chicken foot. The two films that really make the collection are Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) and The Werewolf (1956), which reinvent the Frankenstein story to chronicle humans-turned-monster in the name of science. In Creature, Dr. Steigg (Gregory Gaye) has reanimated dead men with atomic energy by injecting their brains with radioactive material that exponentially increases their strength to kill normal humans. Great sequences show Dr. Chet Walker (Richard Denning), the heroic scientist hired by police, using a Geiger counter at crime scenes. Live-dead men with stitched up heads wandering stiffly around as a monster mafia, giving hearty doses of humor to this fantastic film. Likewise, The Werewolf features awesome footage of star, Duncan Marsh (Steven Ritch), turning into a wolf while managing to keep his well-tailored suit clean as he runs through the forest. During most of the film, Marsh is fleeing a well-intentioned Sheriff Haines (Don Megowan), and two villains, Dr. Emery Forrest (S. John Launer) and Dr. Morgan Chambers (George Lynn), who accidentally turn him into a wolf when experimenting with radioactive injections that would protect humans from radiation. All four films have the look and feel of the epic Universal movies like The Wolf Man, and The Mummy, and give historical context to buffs researching 1950s monster films. ?Trinie Dalton
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