Ahhh, the bad movies continue. This Italian horror film was created in 1960, and the title is very misleading. There is no real connection to the atom bomb, atom age, or vampires. In fact, it was more of a zombie/werewolf movie then anything else.
Our story opens up with the lovely Jeanette (Susanne Loret), an exotic dancer, pleading with her boyfriend Pierre (Sergio Fantoni) to not leave her. Well, he must. He's a sailor and his ship is sailing. Plus, he told her to quit her job, and she's still shaking her money-maker.
Upset, Jeanette manages to drive her car off a cliff, where it bursts into flames. Three months later, and still no word from Pierre, she's depressed and has badages over her face. Poor, poor Jeanette.
She takes the bandages off, and I nearly screamed. Not because she was horribly disfigured, but because she wasn't! She still had her long blonde hair and only a small mass of scars down her left cheek and neck. For a woman caught in a burning vehical, she got off easy.
She is visited by a mysterious brunette who offers her a chance to be beautiful again. Jeanette, in typical "I'll never be beautiful again, why should I live if I can't be pretty" fashion, throws a temper tantram and huffs. The woman says, "I was never here, I never visited you. But, we will be waiting."
The next scene is of the mysterious woman, and we find out she is Monique (Franca Parisi), the assistant to a George Clooney handsome scientist named Professor Alberto Levin (Alberto Lupo - there's a stretch on the name). He has created two formulas; D-25 and D-28. The first one, D-25, turns their rabbits into horrid monsters (though, we never see this), and only radiation can cure them. D-28, on the other hand, is supposed to be a cure without radiation or the monster side effect.
Monique, in her love for Alberto, uses D-25 on herself to force him to test D-28 on a human. It works and they decide to use it on Jeanette when she arrives.
The day that Jeanette arrives at Alberto's home, Pierre returns. They miss each other and do not know that the other is still around. Jeanette thinks Pierre abandoned her because of the accident, and Pierre (who never heard of the accident since he was at sea), thinks that Jeanette ran away from the hospital.
Alberto uses all of D-28 to cure Jeanette and falls head over heals for her. Monique is not amused. Nor is she amused by Jeanette's gratitude kiss with the good Alberto. While Jeanette does not love the professor, she doesn't seem to push him away when he makes advances on her.
Monique, alone with the realization that she's losing her beloved Alberto, cries to Sascha (Roberto Bertea) the mute manservant/gardener. I got the impression that Sascha liked Monique, which made a very interesting twist to the story. If he did, he hardly shows it later on.
Anyway, the experiment has a side effect. The scars come back! Dun Dun Duuuuun!
Alberto pleads with Monique to help him cure his beloved Jeanette. Monique tells him that she will, but only if he promises to never see her again. He promises, but he doesn't mean it. Monique realizes how truly unhinged he is when he starts suggesting using body parts from other women to cure Jeanette.
Monique runs to her room with the intent to pack. Alberto follows her and tells her that he loves only her, that Jeanette is just an obsession. Monique falls for his sweet words.
Dumb Monique. She's dead by morning. Sascha "tells" Jeanette by crying, moaning, pantaminig his grief and psychic connection. I have no idea how Monique died, but it was ruled a natural death.
We then learn that the professor started his research after a trip to Hiroshima. He was fascinated by the way some people mutated and wanted to cure them.
That night, a woman is killed by a wild beast. Or, we're led to believe it's a wild beast. Anyway, Alberto gets the idea to use D-25 on himself and become a monster to get more blood/body parts to cure Jeanette (who has no idea that the scars keep coming back). The D-25 and the radiation treatments afterwards make him a very grumpy man, which scares poor Jeanette.
Jeanette somehow finds out that Pierre's ship is in the harbor. She tries to mail him a letter, but Sascha takes it to the professor and not the post office. I have no idea why. The doctor stole Sascha's lady love, why not make the professor suffer? This is when I start thinking that Sascha wasn't in love with Monique after all.
Alberto the monster looks like the love child between a zombie and the wolf man. His dialog for capturing girls is funny.
"Hey, little girl, come here!"
"What is it mister."
"Come here, and I'll give you anythign you want."
"How about a game? Hide and go seek. EEEEK!"
Jeanette does manage to escape once and sees Pierre. Alberto and Sascha attack him and drag her home. Pierre goes to the police, who apparently suspect Alberto anyway. They go to the house, Pierre pretends to be an officer, and they really get no information.
The police try to follow Alberto, but he escapes them in a crowded movie theater and tries to kill another girl. This one is smart and has a guard dog.
He goes home and tells Jeanette that they are running away together. She protests and he turns into a monster before her eyes. Her screams attract Pierre (who just happens to be walking by the house). Pierre and Alberto fight, but Alberto wins and drags Jeanette to the green house.
The police arrive and open fire into the green house. Boy, are they lucky they only hit Alberto and not Sascha, who is standing next to the monster, or Jeanette, who is luckily fainted by this point in time. She faints alot, by the way.
Sascha, scared for his life or deciding to get revenge on the monster for his beloved Monique, kills Alberto. He does get a bit weepy when teh monster fades and the dead professor is revealed. There goes his Christmas bonus.
Alls well that ends well. The forever cured and lovely Jeanette and Pierre are reunited, the murders stop, and the police are happy. No word on Sascha, though. He's led away by the police, whimpering over his sudden unemployment.
Steffilicious Community Member 
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