Monstrosity is a 1963 horror film directed by Joseph V. Mascelli. It is perhaps better known under its alternate TV release title, The Atomic Brain.
Plot summary
An elderly woman uses her vast fortune to convince an eccentric yet brilliant scientist to transplant her brain into a new, youthful body. The bodies are provided by three immigrant young women who are hired to be servants. The old woman then chooses which of the girls she finds to be the most beautiful, and sets about replacing the young woman's brain with her own.
Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academic Peter Dendle called it a "deservedly infamous" horror film that includes the earliest explanation that brain decay explicitly leads to zombies' diminished intelligence. In Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For, academic and author Arnold T. Blumberg wrote that the "Mystery Science Theater 3000 version is the only watchable one."
''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' episode
Under the name The Atomic Brain, the film was shown in episode #518 of Mystery Science Theater 3000, first airing on December 4, 1993. It was accompanied by a short, "What About Juvenile Delinquency?" The episode is not considered to be among the series' high points. It did not make the top 100 in the poll of MST3K Season 11 Kickstarter backers; similarly, writer Jim Vorel, in his ranking of all 191 MST3K episodes, put the episode at #151, claiming, "The film is a slice of dull B&W averageness... feels interchangeable with any of the MANY other “mad scientist” episodes." The Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of the film was released by Rhino Home Video as part of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 3 DVD box set. The collection also included the MST3K versions of The Sidehackers and The Unearthlyplus a disc of six MST3K shorts. The four-disc collection was later re-issued by Shout Factory in September 2016.
Legacy
A 4K restoration of Monstrosity was released on BD-R and DVD-R in 2017 following a successful 2015/2016 Kickstarter campaign by Ben Solovey. It featured an audio commentary by Tom Weaver and Dr. Robert J. Kiss. The film was adapted into a musical in 2010.
