Starring Richard Denning, Angela Stevens, S. John Launer, Michael Granger, Gregory Gaye
Directed by Edward L. Cahn
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A gangster plots revenge on those that put him in exile with the aid of a scientist who can reanimate the dead, but the local head of the police lab is soon on to them.
We have here a fun sci-fi thriller from Columbia, one of their very first in this era, with some notable personalities in the cast and Cahn staging things entertainingly on what had to be a low budget. Denning, carrying a pipe in his mouth to crime scenes, is charming and a noble protagonist. His scenes with Launer, playing his captain and superior, are wonderful as the two actors have a great rapport with each other and have a convincing on-screen friendship, making the tragic climax to come for one of them even more heartfelt. Stevens unfortunately doesn't have much to do except play the neglected but devoted wife to Denning, and you have to cringe a bit when the men "dismiss" her, although she picks up enough to unknowingly expose their schemes to gangster Granger later on. Although the zombies in the film don't have distinctive makeups, Cahn does a fine job of staging their attacks, intercutting long shots of the men involved with creepy closeups of the creatures' faces. Cahn should also be credited with integrating the large amount of stock footage in the film so it feels brief and doesn't take you out of the story.
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