Although this wacked out horror classic saw a 1960 release in Italy, it didn’t see US distribution until 1963 on the bottom half of a double bill with the spaghetti space opus Battle of the Worlds. Shorn of at least 15 minutes when it arrived here, Atom Age Vampire underwent a name change from its original title, Seddok – L’Erede di Satana (or Seddok – Heir of Satan). Moving at a frenetic pace, laced with overwrought scenes of hyperbolic dialogue, we follow a stripper (Susanne Loret) distraught that her sailor beau (Sergio Fantoni) is having doubts about their impending marriage. Trying to reach him before his ship leaves, she has a car accident, disfiguring her. Nuclear researcher, Dr. Levin (Alberto Lupo) sends his assistant (Monique Riviere) to lure her from the hospital to use her as guinea pig for his cell-regenerating wonder drug, Derma 28. It works, but repeated injections are needed, and Levin is fresh out! To make matters worse, he’s fallen in love with Loret. He injects himself with an earlier version of the drug that turns him into a monster, all the better to kill street women for their glands. Will Loret’s lover, Fantoni – having second thoughts and just returned – be able to find and rescue her from this fiend? Along with the concurrent The Awful Dr. Orloff (directed by Jess Franco), this is an entertaining knock-off of Franju’s Eyes Without a Face. And – surprise – it wasn’t the last!
Chris D. discusses Atom Age Vampire and the lure of the mad surgeon on the New Beverly blog.
