Atom Age Vampire, Nubile Blonde Beset By Beast

Susanne Loret! We know very little about her as her career as an actress was so brief (1959-63). What a dame, though. She had that Veronica Lake hair thing going (the peekaboo style). One wonders if Veronica Lake inspired this film as that hairstyle is key to the plot. See, Ms. Loret's peekaboo hairdo will serve to hide a horribly scarred face in this film. Hence 1960's "Atom Age Vampire" (directed by Anton Giulio Majano). This Italian film can boast of very little, other than the sultry Ms. Loret screaming and looking quite the hapless damsel in need of quick rescuing.

Jeanette (Loret), she's a stripper...er...exotic dancer. Her navy beau, Pierre (Sergio Fantoni), dumps her because he doesn't want to date a str...exotic dancer. Big mistake...she's a babe and he'd be a legend on his ship if he continued to date her. Depressed and crying, she drives off a cliff and survives...but her face is disfigured. She won't see anyone at the hospital because of her now burned and scarred face. But wait...there's hope. Professor Levin (Alberto Lupo) has invented a serum that can restore her lovely face...Derma 28! Derma 28? Well, the professor hopes it won't have the side effects Derma 25 had...you'll see. He sends his lovely assistant Monique (Franca Parisi) to fetch her at the hospital.

Monique convinces Jeanette to come to Levin's house/lab where the good professor can restore her face. Yep...Jeanette is forced not to reveal where she has gone. Monique is a babe and is in love with Levin. Too bad for Monique that Jeanette is a mega-babe and now Levin loves the disfigured stripper. He cures her face...kind of. Derma 28 works...or does it? Yep, the scars and burns return unless Levin can find the glands of nubile young women. To do this, Levin turns into a monster and kills young women and slices out their glands...thus keeping Jeanette's face scar-free. As it is apparent that Monique will never be as beautiful as our blonde stripper...er exotic dancer...well, Monique's fate will be quite sad. Uh oh again, Jeanette is repulsed by the weird Levin and wants her navy beau back. This makes the professor/monster reckless and violent and now Jeanette will be put in mortal danger, and may not be able to keep her Veronica Lake looks.

Alas poor Monique...so beautiful, but in films like this, unless you are the most beautiful...you die horribly. Will Professor Levin convince Jeanette to love him, or will the navy guy show up and rescue the dancer damsel? How many nubile babes will be harmed in the making of Derma 28? Is this how Oil of Olay got started? This is a fun one. Though the scares are minor, the mysterious Ms. Loret is stunning and screams well...and a lot. For some nice 1960 Italian horror, see "Atom Age Vampire."