Okay, it's actually William Bagdad playing John Carradine's Igor like servant, but he looks just like Lugosi did in both "Son of Frankenstein" and "Ghost of Frankenstein". That's just one silly element of this delightfully goofy sci-fi/horror movie that there are far too many Elvira/mystery science fever wisecracks to fit the film's over-length. Wendell Corey, who brought out the heat of both Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford in the early 1950's, tops his bland acting style there with a performance that covers 1% of human emotions. All eyes will be on Tura Satana, an exotic dancer and "actress", best known for "Faster Pussycat Kill Kill" who plays the cat eyed villainess who enjoys murder just as others enjoy a champagne cocktail, that is after she applies them with lit cigarette mascara. In close-ups with her excessive make-up, she actually resembles a young Divine!

Carradine is a hoot as a mad scientist in a lab that makes Lugosi's in "Bride of the Monster" look like something out of "Quincy". He's supposedly creating zombies out of the corpses that Satana provides him with, giving what little plot there is. Satana has two stereotypical henchmen (Rafael Campos and Vincent Barbi) who basically stand around in threatening poses until Satana orders them to get rid of her victims. while the film has many funny moments of a ridiculous nature, there are many moments that really go nowhere and make the film painfully slow with x. The art direction is rather ugly, and the special effects are poor. This is a type of film that is easier to watch on TV than in the cinema, because you can put it on pause, take a long hike to wake up and return to in order to complete. How did I get through this? A 20 minute nap half way through.

As I watched this film, I couldn't help but think that leading man Wendell Corey looked intoxicated throughout the movie--acting listless and somewhat slurred in speech. So, I did a search on the net and read up on Corey's life--discovering that the same year he made this film he also died from cirrhosis of the liver as a result of alcoholism. What a sad end to what had been a good career. Corey had been mostly a supporting actor in the late 40s and into the 50s--steady and effective in his films. Here, though, he was blundering through his lines in a grade-z sci-fi yarn. Oddly, despite getting top billing, he's not in the film that much--perhaps he died before it was completed.

John Carradine is also in the film, but that isn't nearly as sad as Corey, as Carradine made a career out of appearing in bad films, so this seems to be right up his alley! It is truly an awful film--with practically no budget, ketchup for blood and acting that seems amateur at best. You know it's a bad film when Carradine is probably the BEST actor among them.

Here is the plot: American scientists have been working on creating "astro-zombies". In essence, robots that follow mental commands over great distances--so that humans on Earth can control these droids in space. The problem is, a mad scientist (Carradine) has gone missing and many mutilated bodies begin appearing. Could it be Carradine or the Commies or both?!

One of the few strengths about the film is the head "baddie". This woman should probably have gotten a fashion makeover, but I still loved her style--no debating--just shooting people. And, when she shoots them, she shoots them again and again--pumping bullets into the lifeless bodies just to be 100% sure they are dead. For once, we seem to have an intelligent villain--too bad she's starring in such an unintelligent film!! And, too bad that she conveniently forgets to do this at the very end--when she SHOULD have unloaded a full clip into her victim! The biggest deficit (and there are many) is that the film is so dull. Cheap does not mean that it must be dull. Even bad films such as PLAN 9 or TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE are fun to watch because of their ineptness and because they try so hard to be entertaining. This one, sadly, isn't bad enough to be good for a laugh.

Not surprisingly, the film is from Ted Mikels--one of the best bad film makers that ever lived. Clearly, he was the rival of the likes of Larry Buchanan, Ed Wood and Al Adamson. If you don't believe me, understand that "The Astro-Zombies" is among his BEST films!!

Mad scientist Dr. De Marco (a typically zesty slice of pure ham by the ubiquitous John Carradine) creates a deadly robot zombie that escapes from his lab and embarks on a murderous rampage. Meanwhile, both the CIA and an international spy ring are closing in on De Marco.

Boy, does this awesomely atrocious clunker possess all the right wrong stuff to rate highly as a real four-star stinkeroonie: We've got haphazard (mis)direction by Ted V. Mikels (who also co-wrote the inane script with Wayne Rogers of TV's "M.A.S.H." fame),an absurd and convoluted story that meanders along at a plodding pace, cheesy bits of gore (the blood looks like red paint!),a gloriously ludicrous premise that's played ridiculously straight, hokey (far from) special effects, and clumsily staged action scenes. Moreover, this film further benefits from a colorful array of enjoyably wacky characters: The super sexy Tura Satana as the lovely, but lethal Satana, Rafael Campo as her excitable partner Juan, Wendell Corey as cranky CIA head honcho Holman, William Bagdad as De Marco's bumbling assistant Franchot, and Vincent Barbi as sleazy thug Tiros. Look for Mikels as the guy pounding the bongo drums in the nightclub scene with the body-painted go-go dancer struttin' her sizzling stuff on stage. Good cruddy Grade Z fun.