The first Missed the Bloody Cut horror selection of this 2026, here are some more horror movies that did not meet my strict criteria (a rating of 7.0 or higher). . . but are still entertaining films (horror fanatics may enjoy) that do not deserve to be shrugged off like a slow walking group of mindless creatures – and that are definitely worth a watch (just maybe not several re-watches).
Hans Rudy Hofner: “We found. . . a child’s butterfly collection. . . but some of zees butterflies. . . were not too friendly. . .”
You know you’re in trouble when Ferris Bueller’s oblivious father (played by Lyman Ward) is calling the shots in a scientific exploration of Saturn’s moon Titan. All kidding aside, that is actually what happens in this low budget Alien knock off titled Creature (1985) – originally planned to be called The Titan Find, co-written and directed by William Malone.
After a horrible space crash, two competing companies rush to investigate the supposed find that the destroyed ship had discovered on Titan. . . David Perkins (Ward) and his stubborn Captain, Mike Davidson (Stan Ivar – coming off the role of John Carter in Little House on the Prairie and its tv movie sequels) lead an expedition to the distant moon with Beth Sladen (Wendy Schaal), Susan Delambre (Marie Laurin), Jon Fennel (Robert Jaffe), Dr. Wendy H. Oliver (Annette McCarthy), and their incommunicative security officer Melanie Bryce (Diana Louise Salinger).
As these things do, they crash land and get stranded on the lightning heavy moon, but not before noticing that the rival company seems to have already arrived. Exploring the other ship while looking for help, it looks more dead than a party full of zombies. With the original expedition having opened a sealed container releasing some sort of killer creature, it looks like the whole other crew is dead. . . that is until the sole survivor, quirky sandwich eater Hans Rudy Hofner (Klaus Kinski – A Bullet for the General; Schizoid), pops onto their ship when they return.
Soon, their crew are either dying or disappearing at a quick pace, and whatever the creature was that they released is clearly quite hungry after being dormant for centuries. Do the remaining members have a chance against this mysterious beast? If so, does the guy who used to live on a prairie or the man who played an easily duped father have a better shot at getting the upper hand? Or should we instead side with the taciturn security guard or the unknown but seemingly perverted German to be better bets?
Actually looking half decent for only having a budget of around seven hundred and fifty thousand, this one sadly pales in comparison to a movie like Ridley Scott’s Alien, mostly due to its lack of a strained atmosphere, never able to build the tension to reach a horrific crescendo. On top of the above reference to the sci-fi classic, this one also pulls from The Thing from Another World (1951), which was then remade into The Thing (1982). Using the same method attempted in this original picture to stop the creature, there are also other elements that pop up that will be immediately recognizable to fans of these films – I guess borrowing from better features isn’t a half bad idea.
Though Creature never achieved the magic Alien did, it impressively earned a successful eight million at the box office, making it quite the success. Building a cult status over time despite its low budget and mostly negative reviews, one could argue that it is still alive and well today some forty odd years later. Another worthy note found Aliens director James Cameron seeing this one in theatres and hiring many of the special effects artists that worked on it to help him make the 1986 sequel to Alien. So, see this movie that avoided being a bomb, it’s shockingly something. . . what that something is, I’ll leave up to you to decide.
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Reporter #1: “Doctor, how did anybody break through those bars in there?”
Dr. Chet Walker: “Maybe he ate all his vitamins.”
Talk about a ‘creature’ friendly double feature, but this time let’s flash back thirty years earlier to explore Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), a story written by The Wolf Man scribe Curt Siodmak and directed by Edward L. Cahn.
A very different creature from the above feature (which was crafty, wily, and quite highly evolved), this one covers a wholly different thing. . . with vengeful former American crime boss Frank Buchanan (Michael Granger) teaming up with a disgraced former German scientist, Dr. Wilhelm Steigg (Gregory Gaye), to bring the dead back to a zombie-ish form of life using radiation to kill those who have wronged him.
Thankfully Dr. Chet Walker (Richard Denning) seems to be the only bright guy in town, as he puts the atomic connection together with Buchanan and his new German ally. With bullets, grenades, or any other weapon seemingly having no effect on these atom brains, the only recourse looks to be finding Buchanan’s source of radiation.
As the death count quickly rises, will Chet be able to put an end to this bizarre rising of the already dead? If so, will he be able to keep his young family safe? Or, might this new atomic threat be more than he can handle?
Bouncing back and forth between wordy scientific dialogue that slows things down and the few entertaining killer rampages of the atom creatures, Creature with the Atom Brain is never able to build up its momentum, it instead meandering around much like the dead monsters that are out for the kill.
What is noteworthy is just how edgy Chet’s relationship with his wife Joyce (Angela Stevens) is for a movie made in the mid 1950s. . . for not only is there one scene where he is looking for more than a little hanky panky when he is awoken by her to report a pressing emergency, but he also gives her a good single spank at one point.
Though arguably its most iconic aspect is actually the original spooky movie posters – which were never given credit to a specific artist (which often sadly happened because the studio didn’t want to distract from drawing people into the theatre). See the image to the right for a prime example of an original American one sheet.
One of the many atomic themed horror movies to come out during the Atomic Age in the 1950s, Creature with the Atom Brain really looks like the B movie it truly is. Though it has a cool enough premise, some stunning cinematography, a few wildly impressive deaths, and was also one of the first films to use squibs for gunshot wound effects, it certainly leaves an impact, but not always a good one. So, don’t simply be an inanimate corpse, make sure to lumber off to see this quirky B movie before it’s too late.