Shanks

The old gimmick-master's last film, a genuine weirdie with the mime Marceau in a dual role (one speaking, one not) as a scientist working on the galvanic reanimation of dead animals, and as a downtrodden puppeteer brought in to assist with his experiments. When the old scientist dies, the puppeteer gleefully discovers that he can re-animate human corpses: some extraordinary stuff here, making macabre use of mimic talents (Clay and Chelton in addition to Marceau) to suggest the nightmarishly jerky, tortured movements of the living dead as the puppeteer deals with his immediate enemies. It gravitates into more routine territory - revenge against a gang of brutish Hell's Angels who rape and kill a sweet young girl (Eilbacher) who had become the puppeteer's only friend - but nevertheless remains a strikingly effective experiment.