FANTASIA OBSCURA: A Mad Scientist and Some Frosty Villains Equal Few Chills in This ’60s Horror
There are some fantasy, science fiction, and horror films that not every fan has caught. Not every film ever made has been seen by the audience that lives for such fare. Some of these deserve another look, because sometimes not every film should remain obscure.
Sometimes, the whole plan crashes in flames when you lose your head…
The Frozen Dead (1966)
Distributed by: Warner-Seven Arts
Directed by: Herbert J. Leder
Remember when we thought Nazis belonged strictly to the past?
Among other things about which to get nostalgic for the 1960s was the belief that we were finished with fascism, and that there was no chance of that coming back anytime soon. Sure, there was Adolf Eichmann and George Lincoln Rockwell, but these were stuck to the fringe, with not a chance in hell anyone would openly say anything nice about them, let alone vote for them…
Ah, good times…
And remember how the only Nazis that were coming for us were in movies like this one…?
We open in the middle of a badly shot effort to pretend that day is night where we see seven men being exercised like dogs, their bodies as they stumble suggesting that their brains have atrophied. They are led along and whipped to move by their handler, Karl Essen (Alan Tilvern), who after finishing his duty reports to his boss, Dr. Norberg (Dana Andrews).
The scientist and his assistant can barely tolerate each other, as we find out during their discussions as they prepare another subject for their project. Which, we discover, involves reviving elite Nazi soldiers that were placed in suspended animation and surreptitiously shipped to England as the war ended, hoping to revive them to bring back the Third Reich.
It’s a period of exposition that extends further when Norberg’s patrons, former General Lubeck (Karel Stepanek) and Dr. Tripitz (Basil Henson) show up to see how the work’s going:
The old manor out in the English countryside gets a little more crowded when Herr Doktor’s niece, Jean (Anna Palk), shows up for a surprise return visit home from America. And she’s not alone, as she brings with her a friend from college, Elsa (Kathleen Breck), although the way these two interact with each other and trade a few coded phrases, you have to imagine they shared more than just a class or two, ifyouknowwhatImean…
Elsa’s visit is great for Dr. Norberg and Karl. The doctor shared results with his Furher boss, that up to now every “elite” they’ve revived had a horrible case of freezer burn of the brain, leaving the subjects without higher thought process, as we saw at the beginning. He states that the next phase of the project involves securing the head of an ape that he can keep alive after he removes it from the body, to observe the brain to better know how to revive it.
Karl’s inspired too, as an assistant with great initiative if not a lot of smarts, who sees an opportunity to bring Elsa in on the project as a subject.
Needless to say, for Elsa, it’s not so great for her …
And it’s at this point the film kind of loses its own head. There’s still the effort to revive the Frozen Master Race which draws in Dr. Ted Roberts (Philip Gilbert), an American who sees Nazi activity and is actually really cool with it…
Must. Resist. Obvious. Comment…
But the plan seems to fall apart as soon as Elsa becomes a lab subject. As Jean gets mental images from down in the lab, the mindless Nazis react like wolves smelling something threatening. Soon, the film seems to have lost all interest of following the original scenario, showing as much passion for this plot as Kraftwerk displays in performance.
The film instead becomes a tour of 1960s fringe science as Elsa’s head takes over, exerting itself on the manor and its inhabitants, as well as the movie. We abandon the whole look at cryonics as we allude to Vladimir Demikhov, play with telekinesis via cybernetic remote linking, and get deeper into telepathic projection. The strength of Elsa’s connection to Jean, allowing Elsa to warn Jean of attempts on her life, adds credence to the assumption of their relationship status, in addition to taking us further astray from the opening premise.
It’s a messy film, one that started out trying to be version of The Madmen of Mandoras, thought better of it, but couldn’t come up with a good Plan B. Poorly acted, written, and directed, the producers went deeper into chaos by messing up distribution as well, releasing black-and-white prints to theaters but offering a color version of the film for TV distribution. This just added to the general haphazard air that surrounds this film, one that promises frozen Nazis but fails to justify watching this movie for any reason.
If you really feel the need to see Nazis on ice, there’s always Dead Snow. And if you’re not picky about what temperature your Nazis come in, there’s too many choices IRL, sadly…
NEXT TIME: An existential threat to our country, depicted back when it could remain fictional…
