Greg Luce unleashes a 50's classic we all remember as kids on a beautiful 35mm print which is flawless.
Lon Chaney, Jr. stars as Charles "Butcher" Benton, a man jailed for a $600,000 robbery and framed by his two accomplices as well as his attorney, Paul Lowe (Ross Elliot).
Benton is executed but his body is sold to a doctor conducting experiments on curing cancer. Prof. Bradshaw (Robert Shayne) inadvertently brings Benton back to life but this time as a man who is impervious to bullets or anything else.
Benton kills the Prof. and his assistant before escaping the lab and setting off to even the score with Loew, Joe Marcelli (Ken Terrell) and Squeamy Ellis (Marvin Press).
We are treated to many close ups of Chaney's eyes as Benton slowly heads to LA. A policeman named Dick Chasen (that name always makes me laugh a bit) played by Casey Adams is assigned to the case and starts his investigation by questioning Benton's ex-girlfriend Eva Martin (Marian Carr).
One by one Benton kills his enemies until only Lowe is left and the police use him as bait, but they soon find that they cannot kill Benton by ordinary means. The scene where Chaney is shot with a Bazooka is still an all time classic.
The film is a great unheralded gem of 50's sci-fi and has always been one of my all time favorites. Jack Pollexfen directed from a story by two women who contributed a lot to the world of 50's sci-fi, but are rarely talked about. I am speaking of Vy Russell who wrote the original screenplay and Sue Dwiggins who also wrote this.
Sinister Cinema should be commended for bringing this to DVD in such beautiful quality. Any 50's horror film fan should have this in their collection.
The rest of the cast includes Joe Flynn, Stuart Randall, Marjorie Stapp, Peggy Maley, Reita Green and Robert Foulk.
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