Bowery at Midnight

      Some movies of the undead are very good. Others are extremely bad. Many are downright mediocre. Then there are those which are just plain weird. One of those that most definitely falls into the latter category is Bowery at Midnight, a movie whose name gives away absolutely nothing at all about its odd plotline. Despite the fact that the production, made in 1942, starred Hollywood horror legend and crowd puller Bela Lugosi, it has long since vanished into much welcome obscurity.

      To say that the story is a strange one is an understatement of mammoth proportions. Lugosi takes on no less than two roles: by day he is Professor Frederick Brenner, a noted expert in the field of psychology who is employed at the University of New York. By night, however, Brenner has not just a different trade but an entirely different name, too: that of Karl Wagner. Lugosi, in his Wagner guise, is presented to the viewer as a kindly character, one who helps the needy, the broke, the homeless, and the sick, by giving them much needed shelter and food. Wagner even has his nurse, Judy, dishing out medicine to help those that need it. It is, however, all a big sham. Behind the scenes, Wagner has major, controversial plans in store for the growing numbers of the needy.

      The dark reality of the situation is that, unbeknownst to Judy, Wagner and another of his associates are using mind-altering drugs to render the dregs of society into zombified states, and near identical conditions to those undead of Haitian lore. Or are they actually Night of the Living Dead-style zombies, after all? Confusingly, we never really know the truth. Neither, it seems, do the writer, director, and producer, since the movie is hardly easy to follow, as it meanders along its curious way. Wagner then uses his gang of dead or alive controlled characters to go robbing here and there, after which they take their dutiful steps into the cellar of the building in which he, Wagner, works, and where they remain until the next job looms on the horizon.

      Judy’s boyfriend, Richard, just happens to be a student of Professor Brenner and views him as something of an inspiration—in terms of his dedication to the realm of psychology. So, one night Richard decides to visit the professor and Judy, chiefly because he, Richard, hopes that speaking with Brenner at a personal and private level will help his grades at school. It does not. Instead, Brenner—in his Wagner guise—drugs unfortunate Richard, turning him, too, into a walking and thieving automaton of the night.

      Judy finally realizes the gravity of the situation, however—particularly so when Richard first vanishes then transforms—and the police are soon on the scene. Richard miraculously (and, for the viewer, confusingly) comes out of his undead state, while Brenner/Wagner meets a gruesome end at the hands of his zombie slaves. He does so deep in an old cellar: shades of a certain, memorable scene in George A. Romero’s 1968 production of Night of the Living Dead when young Karyn Cooper, perhaps the definitive zombie child of all time, kills her parents, Harry and Helen, in the basement of the farmhouse in which they are hiding.

      That, however, is where the Night of the Living Dead parallels end. Of Romero quality Bowery at Midnight is most definitely not. Arguably, it’s not of any quality, except mediocre.

       Brain Eaters of Ancient Kenya

       See also: Brains

      When it comes to the matter of eating brains, our ancient ancestors had a deep understanding of just how tasty and nourishing the average brain could really be. Millions of years ago, early man was engaging in the sorts of actions that, today, are chiefly relegated to the world of on-screen horror.

      In May 2013 a series of amazing and controversial discoveries were made at a place called Kanjera South in Kenya, which is located in East Africa. Archaeologists discovered, to their amazement, evidence of widespread hunting and scavenging of animals by primitive man—better known as Homo erectus—up to around three million years ago, and possibly even earlier than that. But there was something very special, and almost unique, about the particular type of hunting and scavenging that was afoot on the plains of Kenya. The fossilized remains of numerous animals our ancestors secured for food revealed that one specific part of the slaughtered beasts were being targeted for food: no less than the heads.

      Securing the heads of dead animals would actually not have been a difficult task, as it’s a fact that the big cats that roamed the plains of Africa millions of years ago were very partial to antelope and wildebeest flesh—as are their descendents to this day. Such big cats are, however, far less partial to the heads, which are very often the only remaining telltale sign of a big cat attack. Thus, it was speculated, the ancient Kenyans followed stealthily in the tracks of the huge cats and then patiently and silently waited until the latter had finished feasting, after which they quickly moved in to secure the heads of any and all dead antelopes and wildebeest they could get their paw-like hands on. But what was it, specifically, about the heads that made them so special? Well, it was what was contained within the heads that really mattered: the brains.

      Demonstrating that the average zombie might not be quite so brain-dead after all, the average antelope and wildebeest brain provides a great deal of tissue that is high in fat. In combined format the organs would have provided the average brain-eater with a significant percentage of the energy they would have required to live, survive, and thrive on the harsh, hot plains of Kenya. This raises an interesting possibility: when a voraciously hungry zombie sinks its wretched teeth into the head of its unfortunate victim, there may be a very good reason why it so often focuses on that one, particular part of the human anatomy: not only is the brain a source of food, it’s also a source of much-needed nutrients.

       Brain Experiments

      On April 13, 1953, CIA chief Allen Dulles ordered the creation of a program of mind control known as MK-ULTRA to be conducted by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb. Rumors and half-truths about new mind-control techniques being used by Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean interrogators on U.S. prisoners of war had panicked the CIA into a search for its own sure-fire method of questioning captives.

      In April 1961, Dr. Gottlieb decided the animal experiments, which he had been conducting with electrode implants in their brains, were successful and that it was time to experiment with human brains. Information has leaked out concerning experiments with three Viet-Cong (VC) prisoners in July 1968.

      A team of behaviorists flew into Saigon and traveled to the hospital at Bien Hoa where the prisoners were being confined. The agents from Subproject 94 set up their equipment in an enclosed compound, and the team’s neurosurgeon and neurologist inserted miniscule electrodes into the brains of the three VC prisoners.

      After a brief recovery period, the prisoners were armed with knives and direct electrical stimulation was applied to their brains. The goal of the experiment was to determine if individuals with such electrodes implanted in their brains could be incited to attack and to kill one another. Once again, the Agency was seeking a perfect sleeper assassin, a true Manchurian Candidate, who could be electronically directed to kill a subject.

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