Growing up in the 1970s, I had a
healthy skepticism about the awesome power of science. I lived in a city in
Texas that was, at the time, developing the B-1 stealth bomber at the nearby
air force base. It’s common knowledge now, but obviously, no one knew anything
about it at the time. They just had all of the elementary schools practice
“disaster drills.” Yeah.
So, thanks to The Cold War and my
fear of a Nuclear Holocaust, watching old monster movies from the fifties with
mad scientists made perfect sense. Here’s what happens when you fully fund a
guy for his research without doing your due diligence. Pretty soon, they are
teleporting their own head onto insects and unleashing giant insects on an
unsuspecting public. And for what, I ask you?
Science is still scary to people.
Instead of irradiated mutants, we’re concerned about genetically-modified
organisms. Science keeps trying (at least, in our fevered imaginations) to
improve upon nature, and in doing so, usually bungs it up so badly that
dinosaurs get loose in San Diego, or people come back to life as whackjob
zombies, or any number of Worst Case Scenarios.
I tend to watch mad science movies
with my disbelief mostly already suspended. It’s because these films tend to trend
science fiction-y to begin with, and years of bad Star Trek one-offs
and worse Doctor Who one-ons have taught me to just swallow
the Kool-Aid and go along with it; after all the trip is not nearly as
important as the destination. Also, these stories frequently deal with the
personal consequences of Mad Science’s actions, rather than public ones. In
attempting to control something beyond their grasp, these tortured geniuses
lose control over their lives, their bodies, their sanity. Thus the moral of
these stories is always something along the lines of “Dare to Dream, but for
God’s Sake, Quit Toying With Things Man Was Not Meant to Know.”
5. Altered States (1981)
William Hurt plays a scientist who
is convinced that our place in consciousness is subjective and capricious. He
goes from studying schizophrenia to chasing down native hallucinogens and
combines everything into a sensory deprivation tank, and, well, guess what? It
works. It works a little too well.
There’s some really creepy imagery,
circa early 1980s and a clearly-alcoholic but still on the rails Ken Russell in
the director’s chair. In fact, this is the most watchable Ken Russell movie out
there. Everything else was downhill from this one. Newcomer (at the time)
William Hurt does a great job of being fascinated by his own work and put off
by everyone and everything around him, including his family.
Dick Smith was brought in to help
with the make-up sequences, and as usual, his work is so subtle you don’t even
realize you’re looking at it. There’s some wicked, interesting ideas in Altered
States that helps elevate the film past its uneven screenplay and
pacing problems. When the crazy stuff finally starts breaking out, the film
gets very interesting and more than somewhat disturbing.
4. The Invisible Man (1933)
Ah, the Invisible Man...one of the
early Universal monsters who is frequently (if not ironically) overlooked
because he’s not monstrous enough, I suppose. The movie, varying more than
somewhat from the H.G. Wells story of the same name, contends that the process
of invisibility is what makes Griffin insane. Wells was still alive at the time
and thought the ending was rot, but we’ve had a cackling, insane Invisible Man
ever since, and that is a frightening concept because we all know what we would
do if we could turn invisible.
That’s how the movie gets you.
There’s freedom in invisibility, but also the urge to stop behaving like a
civilized person. Who wouldn’t, right? It’s a weird thing to consider, and
also, fairly easy to address, so I don’t know quite how “amok” an invisible man
could run.
However, Griffin is one of the great
movie mad scientists, and this early sci-fi thriller still has some creepy bits
to it, including some still impressive special effects for the time. The
Invisible Man makes a good “intro to mad science” movie to spring on
people who don’t like a lot of grossness and goo in their horror
movies. You’ll be able to appreciate it even though it’s not
particularly scary.
3. The Brood (1979)
You had to know that director David
Cronenberg was going to make the list. Well, this is the first of two movies in
the Top 5, because Cronenberg is a creepy guy and his movies are almost all
about the corruption of the body and the loss of control over same. Big theme
in Cronenberg’s work, and here he bends it into a terrifying allegory about his
own divorce.
I know, it sounds like a car crash,
but it’s a spectacular, if somewhat freakish, car crash. Oliver Reed plays a
psychologist who runs a clinic for mentally disturbed people and his methods
involve changing their bodies to help heal their minds. Our hero’s ex-wife is
one of the good doctor’s patients, and they are using their five-year old
daughter like a hockey puck between them. As dad starts investigating Dr.
Raglan’s practice, he leaves his daughter with his mother. And that’s when the
creepy killer monster kid shows up and kills the grandmother.
Things go downhill from there very
quickly. Everyone doubles down on their position, which only cranks up the
tension, and when you find out what the creepy killer monster child really is,
you’re going to freak out. It’s messed up. So very messed up. But that’s
Cronenberg, man. None of his scientists and doctors ever come to a good end. He
loves change, but for Cronenberg, it’s a violent, hostile process that always
leaves scars.
2. The Fly (1987)
The gory and gruesome remake of the
1958 sci-fi classic The Fly may have well been the zenith of
David Cronenberg’s obsession with the human body and the loss of control of
said body. It’s certainly one of his best, most watchable films, and yet, it
pulls no punches in the script or in the horrific visual effects.
Seth Brundle, played with his usual
quirky flair by Jeff Goldblum, is working on teleportation. He’s almost got it
licked, except that the computer isn’t so good with living tissue. Geena Davis
is the science reporter covering the story—and quickly enough, the scientist,
too—as they knock boots and send stuff across the room with the telepods.
Of course, Brundle gets impatient
for results and teleports himself. And it would have worked perfectly, too,
except for the pesky fly that gets into the pod with him at the last moment.
Soon thereafter, the changes start to occur.
The original 1958 movie was based on
a short story by George Langelaan, and the screenplay is pretty faithful. The
scientist gets a fly head and a fly hand. That’s it, that’s all, nothing else.
A quintessential 1950’s idea and somewhat iconic image, a symbol for B-Movie
schlock. Cronenberg makes the fly DNA more invasive, more sinister. Brundle’s
speech about “insect politics” and his concluding statement are horrible to
comprehend, especially from Geena Davis’ point of view, as she is now carrying
Brundle’s unborn child. Truly disturbing implications abound throughout this effective
and influential film.
1. Re-Animator (1985)
Herbert West really has the best of
intentions: he wants to conquer brain death—the time at which the brain,
without oxygen, expires. In the movie, this is a six to twelve minute window of
time. Plenty of time, in fact, for West to shoot up a fresh corpse with his
bioluminescent green goo and turn them into mindless, thrashing super zombies.
That’s the basic premise of Re-Animator,
a film that is as faithful to the H.P. Lovecraft story of the same name as Conan
the Barbarian resembles the collected works of Robert E. Howard. That
both movies are cheerfully irreverent towards their literary roots doesn’t make
them any less enjoyable, however. Re-Animator single-handedly jump
started the new movement to get more Lovecraft movies made. That the director
and producers were still the only people doing it for years afterward is beside
the point.
West’s failing as a scientist is his
inability to back up and see the moral and ethical implications of his
experiments. He also refuses to back off of his initial successes with the
formula. Sure, the subjects come back from the dead mindless, but hey, you
can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, am I right?
Good Lord, what a movie. Some people find this movie
hilarious, and I think it’s funny in a darkly unintentional way. The actors and
director are on record as saying they weren’t trying to be funny, but some
things just developed organically throughout the course of the movie, such as
the wonderful scene involving a freshly hewn-off head and a letter holder. This
film introduced us to Jeffrey Combs and his quirky delivery and squirrelly
intensity certainly helped the Wham-O-bouncing-ball tone of the film. One of my
favorite mad scientists of all time.
This is one small part of a much larger series of articles, the entirety of which are listed below. Enjoy!
My Top Five Horror-Comedy Movies
My Top 5 Monsters on the Loose Movies
My Top 5 When Animals Attack Movies
My Top 5 Mummy Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Frankenstein Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Creatures from the Deep Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Killer Doll Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Horror Anthology movies
My Top 5 Favorite Dracula Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Lovecraftian Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Haunted House Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Movie Maniac Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Killer/Creepy Kid Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Devils and Demons Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Ghost Story Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Monster From Space Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Zombie Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Vampire Movies
My Top 5 Favorite Werewolf Movies
