- Directed by: Boris Petroff
- Written by: Jane Mann, John D.F. Black
- Stars: John Carradine, Myron Healey, Allison Hayes
- Run Time: 1 Hours, 13 Minutes
- Watch It: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X17lV-4DY20
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A mad scientist obsessed with glands experiments with the patients in his isolated phychiatric institute and laboratory. And despite the title, everything happens on Earth. It’s not awful, but it’s pretty basic and forgettable. Neither of us were very impressed.
Spoilery Synopsis
After the credits, Dr. Wright and Grace come to visit Dr. Charles Conway. The huge servant, Lobo, lets them in and looks creepy. Conway runs a sanitarium, and he’s accepted Grace as a new patient. Conway hears about Grace’s father and gets nervous, but Dr. Wright says he’s arranged for her to be discovered as a suicide; no one’s going to come looking for her.
Conway’s been experimenting on people and suspended animation. He’s got Jedrow in the basement who’s not much better than a zombie. Jedrow has a sister who’s been trying to find him, which is a problem.
Lobo catches a man skulking around outside and drags him inside to Conway. He’s Mark Hueston, and Conway knows that he’s a wanted killer. Conway makes a deal with him. He won’t turn Mark Houston in if Houston works for him.
Time passes, and Danny and Natalie argue about breakfast. They’re patients, and they’ve been here for months. Danny’s aggressive, but Dr. Sharon sedates him.
Conway has the secret of life, death, and growth; it’s all done through glands. Lobo was a tiny man when he arrived here, but now he’s a huge man. He’s developed a new, artificial gland that will prolong life. Mark thinks the doctor is crazy but has no choice but to stay.
Mark makes friends with Grace. Conway tells Natalie that she’s got a “special treatment” coming up. Dr. Sharon and Lobo drug her and send her to Conway’s lab while the others are distracted by Conway’s organ music. In the surgery, Conway implants the gland inside Natalie and sews her back up.
Meanwhile, Mark searches Natalie’s room, since he suspects something is wrong. He goes to Grace’s room and wants to take her away from all this.
Eight hours later, Conway goes in to check on Natalie, who should have awakened by now. Turns out, she’s aged tremendously in those hours; it didn’t work at all. He then warns Grace to stay away from Mark, who’s a troublemaker. This makes Sharon jealous, and she wants to make Grace their next subject.
Mark starts snooping around in the basement and finds Jedrow, who still just sits there. He brings Grace down to see him, but by that point, Jedrow is gone. They do find Natalie, who’s a decrepit mess now. Meanwhile, Lobo has hauled Jedrow out back in a coffin and is digging a hole to bury him. Mark sees him doing it. He goes to Danny and warns him about what the doctor is up to. They hatch a plan for them to meet at 2 am and the two of them with Grace will escape.
There’s lots of running up and down the stairs as the doctor checks to make sure his trio of patients are sleeping. The three of them meet in the lobby at 2, but the doctor catches them. Sharon, Lobo, and the doctor all have guns so they have little choice but to go back upstairs. They take Grace for a gland implant. The two guys are left with Lobo, and they take advantage of his slow wits to escape. Danny gets shot as Mark confronts Conway.
Mark reveals himself as an undercover policeman, here to stop Conway, but Conway escapes in the dark. Jedrow gets out of the grave and stabs Conway. Lobo then kills Jedrow. The police arrive in time to arrest Sharon and Lobo. The police also find a room full of animal-men in the basement that we had no idea about before this. “What if they do live forever?” asks one of the cops.
Mark and Grace laugh at their good luck. He offers to take her home, and they kiss.
Brian’s Commentary
This was completed in only six days. Wow. It’s not especially good, but it doesn’t feel rushed.
It’s a very standard mad-scientist film with a very standard plot. There’s nothing supernatural or “unearthly” about anything here.
It’s not very good.
Kevin’s Commentary
I can see how it could have been done in six days if the cast and crew was on top of things. There aren’t many very complicated scenes or special effects.
It was kind of tame with not much originality to offer. It’s not bad, but I’d put it low on the classics scale. I didn’t hate it, but I’d rate it a mid that I’d never need to see again.
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