There are many words one could use to describe the 1960 movie “Seddok, l'erede di Satana” (Atom Age Vampire). There’s “long”, “confusing”, “Italian”. The most apt, however, would be “tedious”.

Distraught that her sailor boyfriend Pierre (Sergio Fantoni) has left her because she refuses to quit her job, stripper Jeanette Moreneau (Susanne Loret) accidentally runs her car off the road, and winds up in the hospital, permanently scarred along the left side of her face. Just as Jeanette is about to give in to despair and end her wretched life, a woman, Monique (Franca Parisi) enters the room and gives her hope. Monique is assistant to Prof. Alberto Levin (Alberto Lupo) who’s been working on a formula called Derma 28 which has the ability to regenerate damaged tissue and if his work is a success, he’ll be able to cure Jeanette.

The operation is a success, at first, but soon the scars begin to come back and Prof. Levin must act quickly if he‘s to reverse the damage. This is where the movie begins to move away from standard cheese to absurdity. Derma 28 was extracted from a previously unsuccessful formula called Derma 25. This formula didn’t heal tissue, it created monsters, a condition which turned out to be reversible with radiation. Fearing the effects of using Derma 25 on Jeanette, Levin decides instead to transplant the gland from which Derma 25 was developed directly from someone else to Jeanette, hoping to make the procedure stick and cure her for good. His first victim is Monique who insists Levin cure Jeanette but never see her again (there’s a bit of rivalry here. Monique is in love with Levin, Levin is in love with Jeanette, and although Jeanette is grateful, she doesn’t share his feelings). So to eliminate the competition, Levin kills Monique, steals her gland--I don’t think it was ever clarified WHICH gland--and gives Jeanette another treatment.

Unfortunately, it’s only a temporary fix and Jeanette will need more glands. Not having the stones himself to commit murder--except for Monique--Levin gives himself a dose of Derma 25, turns himself into a monster capable of committing murder, then, afterward, turns himself back with radiation treatments. All the while Jeanette is trying to get away from Levin and return to Pierre, who’s been searching for her ever since she disappeared from the hospital after Monique came for her.

Naturally, there are more murders, the procedure is a success, and eventually Levin begins to transform without the help of Derma 25. He’s killed. The end. Thank God.

This movie somehow made it onto my 50 Horror Classics DVD set from Mill Creek Entertainment and I’d like to know just what kind of movies did this thing beat out to be considered a horror classic? It’s not the least bit original, it’s not even bad in that goofy way that makes bad movies good; it’s just bad. The acting is horrible--both the Italian actors, and the ones providing the English dubbing--the movie is badly edited, the dialogue is atrocious. And at 87 minutes, it went on way too long.

Writers Alberto Bevilacqua and Gino De Santis and director Anton Giulio Majano spent too much time trying to fill in the Pierre subplot, showing him drowning his sorrows at the club where Jeanette used to work, and an equally monotonous amount of time showing Levin proclaiming to Jeanette “You MUST love me, I can’t tell you what I’ve done to save you, but if you only knew...” that after a while, you really don’t even care how the thing ends anymore, as long as it does. And soon.

Whatever it was meant to be, ATOM AGE VAMPIRE achieves “horror classic” status in only the broadest terms imaginable. It is a horror movie in that there’s a monster involved, so it counts. And it’s now 47 years old, which, if it were a car, would qualify as classic, I suppose. Unfortunately, true horror fans are going to need a little more than that.

The “vampire” isn’t even a vampire, in any sense of the word. He doesn’t kill in order to sustain his life, he does it so his girlfriend’s not ugly. That’s not a vampire. ATOM AGE JEKYLL AND HYDE would have been more fitting.


other Horror Classics
Carnival of Souls: http://www.epinions.com/content_403446140548



Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older