From the super secret radio lair of Granny Creech and The Radio Reaper…
The other day I called up my brother Ambrose and asked him if he wanted to go into town to the grocery store with me. He did. I picked him up and we rode into Pumpkin Hollow to the General Store. We shopped for the month’s groceries and departed. We used the time together to catch up on all the latest gossip and to see how each other’s families were doing. I dropped him off and headed home. When I arrived, I noticed a large manilla envelope on my porch, leaning up against my front door. I took it in and then unloaded my many sacks of groceries. When I finished that task, I opened the envelope. It was from The Radio Reaper with a note that said, “Here are some interesting spots to go with the spots you ran a few weeks ago. I hope you enjoy them.”
I took out the record. “Ah, yes,” I thought, “the second feature to an interesting double bill. We finally get to hear the radio spots for Creature With the Atom Brain. Released in 1955 as the companion feature to It Came From Beneath the Sea, Creature is a delightfully atmospheric detective murder-mystery with science fiction elements thrown in. The opening scene showing someone or…something…walking toward the camera with a heavy back light while a beating heart is heard instantly grabs your attention. Later, when the mysterious figure bends iron window bars and breaks into a mansion, it attacks the man inside. Bullets can’t stop it and we see, quite graphically via shadows on the wall, the man picked up overhead by the powerful intruder and getting his spine snapped. And I don’t mean slightly snapped, I mean the poor guy gets folded in two…backwards…with a loud crack! Yeowch! My teeth hurt every time I watch that scene.
As the movie unfolds it turns out that a former mobster has returned to his hometown to seek vengeance on those who betrayed him. Helping him is a German scientist who has developed ways to reanimate the dead by installing artificial, atomic powered brains in the bodies. The mobster is able to control the super-strong zombies (bodies he has stolen from the city morgue) via radio messages to their brains. It takes Richard Denning, the police, and the military to finally learn the secret and put an end to his reign of terror.
The movie concludes with some effective close-ups of the zombies fighting the police and military personnel prior to their deactivation. All ends well and the city is safe once again.
The movie has a charming 1950s feel about it, from the way the story is presented to its stereotypical characters. It is a surprisingly good movie. The radio spots presented here don’t really tell much about the movie, relying instead on mysterious sound effects and undefined hype. Only one 60-second spot gives a clue about what the movie is really about. The movie deserves better. What was Columbia Pictures’ marketing department thinking?
So, give a listen to these 15, 30, and 60 second spots and see what you think. A special “Thank you” goes out to The Radio Reaper for providing this set of spine-crunching audio. (ZC Note: Yup, RR has his own category now too, with a gazillion radio spots waiting to air. Keep watching the skies and listening to the airwaves for more in the Radio Reaper’s Radio Spot Reliquary.)
Do you have any radio spots you would like to share? Contact Granny (Gary Fox) at [email protected].