The Bloody Brood (1959)

This movie is about a group of beatniks that like to sit around partying and pondering things while playing the bongos.  That alone is annoying, but harmless.  The problem comes in when Nico, who is sort of the head beatnik, convinces one of the members of the group to help him kill a random person for kicks.  They pick a delivery boy who shows up at the wrong time and feed him a hamburger laced with glass.  This causes him a very painful death and sets the boy’s older brother looking for the people that killed him.  With the older brother poking around the beatniks Nico knows he will need to kill him as well.  Luckily for him Nico is only pretending to be a beatnik and is actually a mobster that is there to sell drugs, so he has some connections.  But things don’t go so well for Nico and soon the brother and the cops corner him.  

This movie ended up being much better than I had anticipated it being.  The story is interesting and engaging.  I was never bored by the movie, which keeps the action coming at the audience and never slows down.  Not only that but the story is realistic and the characters totally believable.  This is a must if a movie like The Bloody Brood is going to work.  And while it might not seem it to a modern audience this would have been a very gritty little drama back in the 50s.  As a whole the cast is all right, but nothing special.  Of course the big exception is Peter Falk, who plays the villain Nico.  I found his character to be genuinely scary and intimidating.  Even here as a young actor in an early film role his talent can be seen. 

There isn’t any effects work to speak of in The Bloody Brood.  The movie is in black and white and looks pretty damn sharp.  Whoever was handling the lighting and camera really knew what they were doing.  Other than that there isn’t much else to be said about the technical odds and ends. 

If you are looking for a cheesy monster movie then The Bloody Brood isn’t for you.  But on the other hand if you are looking for a nifty little crime drama then I highly recommend it.  There is a lot more to this movie than an early performance from Peter Falk and more people should check it out.  This is available from the fine folks at Mill Creek Entertainment on a couple of budget DVD releases.  For more information about this and their other titles go to www.millcreekent.com/

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2008 John Shatzer