The Frozen Dead

 A couple of days ago my friend Tim Lucas (film critic, writer, former editor of Video Watchdog magazine) posted a photo on Facebook from The Frozen Dead (1966). I’ve been aware of this movie for some time now and always meant to watch it but somehow never got around to it. Which is surprising because subject matter-wise it’s right up my alley. So, I thought I’d do myself a favor and finally seek this one out.

The Frozen Dead stars Dana Andrews as a Nazi mad scientist named Dr. Norberg, speaking with a German inflection no less! I’ve always liked Dana Andrews, so that was a plus for me right off the bat. The plot is suitably ridiculous for this type of film: Norberg is attempting to revive a squadron of Nazi soldiers that have been frozen since WWII, and in the process, has been carrying out wild experiments, which include a wall of severed arms kept “alive.”

He maintains a hidden room full of botched experiments—soldiers that were faultily resurrected as brain-dead zombies. The doctor’s niece unexpectedly arrives for a visit with a friend named Elsa (Kathleen Breck). Their stay doesn't go as well as expected, however, as one of the resurrected soldiers murders Elsa on their first night at the mansion.

(Gotta love that the frozen soldiers are held by clamps on their HEADS, like frozen chunks of beef.)

Not one to let an opportunity go to waste, Norberg uses this as an excuse to perform an experiment he'd always wanted to try. He keeps Elsa’s severed head alive in a box, with a plastic dome mounted over the top of her skull where the brain is now exposed. Her skin is also inexplicably blue.

While I appreciate the mad science shenanigans in this one, it’s unfortunately nowhere near as interesting as it could have been. The setup is great, but the film falls short in the execution; large portions of this one are just plain boring. The film also lifts heavily from the much better film The Brain that Wouldn’t Die (1962). Just as in that film, this one has a female head kept alive through science, a failed experiment locked away (the monster in Brain, the zombie soldiers in this one), and the head develops telepathic powers in each. Elsa begs for them to "Bury me," and in Brain we hear the woman (Jan, played by Virginia Leith) beg, "Let me die." By the way, The Brain that Wouldn't Die in turn borrowed material from the German film The Head (1959), which brings us back full circle with the Germanic influence.

The Frozen Dead was directed by Herbert J. Leder, who also directed It! starring Roddy McDowall. In fact, this film played on a double bill with It!. Leder had also previously written the screenplay for Fiend Without a Face.

Despite the pacing issues, The Frozen Dead is still worth a watch with plenty of outlandish elements, including zombies, frozen Nazi soldiers, gruesome experiments, a dungeon laboratory, severed body parts, and a head kept alive. Plus, it's got some memorable visuals. If you're a sucker for mad science films like me, then check it out!

Update and Brains, Brains, Brains!

So good news! The powers that be over at SHOUT! FACTORY got wind of my recent posts and released their claim on my hosted version of  THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. Woo hoo!

This is excellent news, and I'll be posting the entire episode here on the blog shortly.

Thank you to Shout Factory for the assistance with this matter!

Speaking of Shout Factory, I mentioned in the first post about this topic that they had released an impressive blu-ray edition of THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. They did a new HD transfer, cleaned it up, and packed it with extras. Including new footage previously missing. There is also a nude scene alternate cut, not sure if it is on this release or not though. The Shout Factory version includes:

• NEW High Definition (1080p) Transfer From The Negative Restored To Its Uncut Version
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 Episode - The Brain That Wouldn't Die (Standard Definition)
• NEW Audio Commentary With Film Historian And Author Steve Haberman And Writer Tony Sasso
• Alternate Scene From The International Cut
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery

Who would honestly have ever thought this film would get that kind of treatment? THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE on Blu-ray? Gotta love it!!

BTW - For more information than you'd ever want to know about this film check out THE PROJECTION BOOTH podcast Episode 144 THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. Host Mike White takes an amazingly in-depth look at this film, one of my favorite episodes of that podcast, actually.

Shout! Factory Shenanigans and YouTube

UPDATE: Since the time of this initial posting SHOUT! Factory has reviewed and released claim on the video in question. See my post here for full details.



This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post about SHOUT! FACTORY and THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE. This has been a hot topic here and on facebook, where I posted the article. Lots of people are angry and disappointed that SHOUT! FACTORY would continue pushing such a flimsy narrative as the fact they “own” this public domain film. That begs the question, why are they doing this?

It is very simple. Money. If you go to YouTube and type in “The Brain that Wouldn’t Die” you are presented with multiple pages of videos of that film – some feature the entire film, some just clips from it, some reviews. YouTube offers 22 videos per page – and there are hundreds of videos that can be “claimed” by a copyright holder. Some have views in the thousands (even hundreds of thousands).

Even if the monetary amount from any one video isn’t that much, multiply that by hundreds of videos and you see it quickly adds up. My fellow horror movie host Karlos Borloff in the DC area was mentioning this morning that he is having a similar issue, once again from our good friends at SHOUT! FACTORY. BUT it is with a totally different film – ATOM AGE VAMPIRE.

Who knows how many public domain films SHOUT! FACTORY is claiming “ownership” of on YouTube and monetizing.

The truth of the matter is that the blame for this lies with YouTube themselves, for allowing this to continue. They have a system in place where a person can claim to own a video and not have to show any proof. If it is questioned they merely continue to say they own it, and YouTube takes them on their word.

When I disputed the claim from SHOUT! FACTORY, here is the response I got back from YouTube:

Hi drgangrene,

After reviewing your dispute, Shout! Factory, LLC has decided that their copyright claim is still valid.

Video title: Dr. Gangrene's Creature Feature - The Brain that Wouldn't Die
Includes: Audiovisual content
Claimed by: Shout! Factory, LLC

SHOUT! FACTORY decided their claim is still valid!
Well of course they did! They’re not going to arbitrarily give up their easy money! How about you look at it yourselves YouTube, and make a determination, make them show proof of ownership – which doesn’t exist! -  before allowing them to make money off other people’s work!

It’s my hope that if enough people continue to expose YouTube’s shameful copyright system - as well as the shady practices of companies such as SHOUT! FACTORY - that something will eventually be done about this.

In the meantime here are the host bits – without the movie – for my hosting of THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE, for your enjoyment… at least until Shout! Factory decides to claim ownership of it, too.

The Brain that Wouldn't Die Fiasco

 * UPDATE - Since the time of this posting SHOUT! Factory has reviewed and released their claim. See the full update here.


I've been posting episodes of my CREATURE FEATURE TV series on YouTube lately, and last week decided to post the THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE episode. That one originally aired April 8, 2006 on Nashville's CW58 - almost 10 years ago to the day I type this. It was one we spent a little more time on than usual with set design, lighting, and skits. It turned out really well, and I looked forward to sharing it.

However, within fifteen minutes of posting this video on YouTube I received eight copyright claims against it. This will sound familiar to anyone who has dealt with YouTube lately. It is common practice for people to try and claim copyright on well-known public domain films such as THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. They are bogus claims and are usually dropped once a dispute is placed. That wasn't the case this time, however.


For those not familiar with the process, the way it works is you post a video and if there are copyright claims against the video you receive email notification from YouTube informing you who is making the claim and against what element of your video (video, music, etc). From that point on the claimant is granted immediate rights to your video, meaning they can monetize it and make money off your video, block it in certain parts of the world, or even force it down immediately and give you a copyright strike.


Your only option at that point, if you feel the claim is unjustified, is to file a dispute. I did this, as seven of the claims were against music and clearly bogus claims from non-existent companies. One of the claims, however, was for the video itself, and came from SHOUT! FACTORY.

Now Shout! Factory is a well known video distribution company. They make great products, and I love their work. Their claim to own THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, however, is complete and utter horseshit.


______________________________________________________________________________


THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE is a 1962 b-horror film directed by Joseph Green, written and produced by Rex Carlton. it's a wonderfully trashy mad-science flick about a doctor who keeps his wife's severed head alive in a tray while searching for a replacement body in the local strip clubs.


It is also clearly in the public domain.



On September 29th, 1988 Rex Carlton Productions filed for copyright renewal of this film - the case # is PA#399511. They cited 1959 as the year of production and October 31, 1962 as date of publication.  Their copyright was NOT renewed, meaning the film was now in the public domain.


Skip forward to August 26th, 1993. A company named BEST BRAINS INC. filed for copyright of this film, case # PA668-012. it was for Mystery Science Theater 3000 #513, THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. Copyright was granted, but it extended ONLY TO NEW MATERIAL - i.e. host bits of MST and their running commentary.

This is important to remember because MST is now distributed by, you guessed it, SHOUT! FACTORY, the company that is claiming on YouTube to own the entire film THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. They do not. I disputed this and within 24 hours was told that Shout! Factory reviewed my claim and decided they still own it. End of story.

Now my only recourse at this point is to file a formal appeal, but, here's the thing. It goes straight back to the claimant - Shout! Factory in this case - who simply says yes or no to owning it once again. There is no review process by YouTube, the claimant does not have to show proof of ownership, nothing. YouTube simply takes them on their word and upholds their case. I would at this point receive a copyright strike against my channel, meaning I lose rights to monetize any of the videos on my channel for 6 months. Any channel that receives three strikes is permanently removed!


So at this point there is nothing to do. I could just leave the video up and let Shout! Factory make money off my video, but it is the principal of the matter. they don't own this film. IT IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. They know fully well they don't own it. I did not use any elements from the Mystery Science Theater version of this film. I've never even seen the MST episode. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a fan of their show, never have been. I respect what they've accomplished, but I'm not a fan. My material is 100% my own. The movie footage I used was from a copyright free copy of the movie.

ALPHA VIDEO version

of The Brain that Wouldn't Die

SO, SHOUT! FACTORY, if you see this post, please respond. You can reach me through email drgangrene at hotmail.com. If you really think you own this film, then I would love to know on what basis...


You distributed the impressive 2015 blu-ray edition of the film, and certainly own that cleaned-up edition - and you distribute the 1993 MST version, and clearly own that as well. But neither of those make you copyright owner of this movie. It is 100% in the public domain. The Rex Carlton Production company - who shot the film - couldn't renew copyright on it, and neither can you.




I am going to find another place to post this entire episode for folks to enjoy. In the meantime, I'll post just my host bits on YouTube, unless Shout! Factory decides to block that too.


Here is a link to the film on archive.org for those wishing to see the movie in its entirety:
https://archive.org/details/TheBrainThatWouldntDie_300


Note it's filed under PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Villainess in movies

The League of Tana Tea drinkers proposed an idea for another round robin post – Villainess in movies. Now for those of you newer to this blog, I'll take a quick moment to explain the LOTTD. It is an affiliation of bloggers whose mission is: to acknowledge, foster, and support thoughtful, articulate, and creative blogs built on an appreciation of the horror and sci-horror genres. In other words we're horror bloggers, and every so often a group theme is pitched about which the majority of us choose to blog about. This month the topic is, as I mentioned, Villainess in Movies.

I thought this was a pretty interesting idea and pondered about how I wanted to approach this topic. I pitched several ideas around in my noodle - best villainess, favorite villainess, current villainess – before finally settling on VILLAINESS IN PUBLIC DOMAIN FILMS.

As a TV horror host public domain films are a topic I know quite well. They are films that, for a variety of reasons, lost (or never had) their copyright status, thus making them free fare for folks looking for material. They are most often low budget films, and honestly quite often really bad movies, too. BUT I have come to not only appreciate but even embrace many of these films, and there are some classic female villains in them, too. Tonight I’m going to focus on a Trio of Villainess that I particularly like in PD films:

Jan in the Pan, Jan Compton
THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE (1962)
played by Virginia Leith.  

 
If you’ve never seen The Brain that Wouldn’t Die you’ve missed one of the great sleaze classics of all time. A doctor and his fiancé are in a horrific car crash. She is killed and the doctor brings her severed head back to his laboratory where he KEEPS HER SEVERED HEAD ALIVE THROUGH SCIENCE! That’s right, he hooks her to a series of machinery that keeps her alive while he, the generous guy that he is, searches for a replacement body. Problem is he’s looking at bodies that are occupied, i.e. alive, and plans to murder the occupants of said bodies to graft his wife’s head onto... AND where else

would he look for these bodies, naturally, but the local strip joints? That’s right, this guy’s all heart!While it may seem that Jan is nothing more than a victim this isn’t the case. She slowly evolves throughout the movie. She is at first confused, then aghast, and ultimately angry at her predicament. Her husband has perverted science for his own mad desires. She slowly gains psychic powers, and communicates telepathically with a creature the doctor keeps locked in a closet. You see, this doctor had been conducting Frankenstein-style experiments, and he keeps one of his failed experiments locked up. Jan communicates with it and leads it in revolt – the creature, under her control, murders the doctor while the lab goes up in flames, Jan laughing hysterically all the while.

Jan isn’t a villain in the classic sense – she’s a tortured creature, much like the Frankenstein’s monster, and the image of her severed head on the lab table is an iconic image in science fiction cinema.


Janice Starlin
THE WASP WOMAN (1959)
played by Susan Cabot.




An aging owner of a cosmetics company is desperate to look young again. She employs scientists to help search for a formula to reverse aging. They are able to manufacture such a formula using enzymes extracted from the royal jelly of a queen wasp. Janice demands SHE be the test subject for this formula or she’ll withdraw all funding. The formula seems to be working but too slowly for her liking, so she begins injecting herself with larger doses of the serum, unbeknownst to the scientist. This, however, causes an unforeseen reaction – in true B-movie fashion, Janice changes into a human/wasp hybrid and feeds on human beings!

This movie was directed by Roger Corman. It is his take/ripe-off of The Fly. The thing I like most about it is that there is an honest to goodness monster in it. Half woman, half wasp – all cheese!




Tania Frankenstein
LADY FRANKENSTEIN (1971)
played by Rosalba Neri



Dr. Frankenstein (Joseph Cotton) succeeds in bringing his creation to life, but is killed by the monster, which escapes into the countryside. His Daughter Tania takes up his work where he left off, with the help of his lab assistant Marshall. Marshall and Tania are lovers, but he’s old, and this won’t do for Tania. Much like the Doc in Brain that Wouldn’t Die, she uses science to service her loins. She transplants her lover’s brain into the hottest bod she can find - the studly body of a retarded servant named Thomas. All goes well until the original monster arrives looking for revenge, and the two creatures battle – and of COURSE there’s an angry mob thrown in as well.

 This movie works for one reason – the performance of Rosalba Neri. She is terrific as the lustful, ambitious Tania, who is eager to follow in her father’s footsteps and prove a woman can be every bit the scientist as a man. The most villainistic of the three candidates on my list, Tania uses her womanly whiles to feed her ambition.

The Horrors, The Horrors!!

Funny little cut-in we did for The Brain That Wouldn't Die Last Year... The real monster in that movie...