Villain(s)  Invisible killer brains

Actor(s):  Marshall Thompson, Kynaston Reeves, Michael Balfour, Kim Parker

Brief Description  Fiend Without a Face is a 1958 British science-fiction horror film produced by Amalgamated Productions and directed by Arthur Crabtree, widely celebrated for its uniquely grotesque, stop-motion creatures. Based on Amelia Reynolds Long's 1930 short story "The Thought Monster," the film centers on invisible thought-waves powered by nuclear energy that materialize into ravenous, flying human brains with trailing spinal cords. Originally rated "X" in the UK due to its shocking gore, the movie has achieved cult classic status and is preserved by The Criterion Collection.

Plot:
The narrative unfolds near a fictional U.S. Air Force base in Winthrop, Manitoba, Canada, where the military is testing an experimental nuclear-powered, long-range radar station. Local Canadian civilians and military personnel are found dead with horrified expressions. Autopsies reveal a terrifying signature: the victims' brains and spinal cords have been completely suctioned out through punctures in their skulls. Local townsfolk blame radiation from the military base. Major Jeff Cummings (Marshall Thompson) investigates the deaths, eventually focusing on a retired British scientist living nearby, Professor R.E. Walgate (Kynaston Reeves).

Walgate confesses to experimenting with telekinesis and mind-materialization. By tapping into the base's nuclear power reactor to boost his own brainwaves, he accidentally created invisible "mental vampires"—living, malicious extensions of his own subconscious mind. Needing atomic energy to survive and human spinal fluid to multiply, the invisible entities break into the nuclear plant. Saturated with immense radiation, the thought monsters finally manifest into physical visibility. The final 15 minutes of the film shift into a siege narrative that predates and inspired elements of modern zombie cinema. The creatures are entirely unshielded human brains equipped with two twitching eyestalks at the front and a long, flexible spinal cord that serves as a tail.

They move by inching along like caterpillars and can use their spinal cords to leap through the air and wrap around their victims' necks. Major Cummings, Professor Walgate, and the professor's assistant, Barbara Griselle (Kim Parker), lock themselves inside Walgate's home. The brains swarm the house, shattering windows, breaking through boarded walls, and dropping down the chimney. Walgate tries to stop them but is killed by his own creation. Major Cummings rushes back to the military base to dynamite the radar controls and shut down the nuclear reactor. Deprived of their atomic energy source, the brains quickly liquefy into puddles of bloody goo, ending the threat.