Starring:
Lon Chaney Jr. as. Charles 'Butcher' Benton
Casey Adams as Police Lt. Richard Chasen
Marian Carr as Eva Martin
Ross Elliott as Paul Lowe

In San Quentin prison, notorious 'Butcher' Benton has been locked up for robbery and murder. His lawyer, Paul Lowe, is berating him for double-crossing fellow thugs Joe and Squeamy by having taken all of a large sum of stolen money for himself and hiding it, so they turned State's evidence against him and now he is about to go to the gas chamber. During their conversation it is revealed that Lowe the lawyer is crooked - he planned the heist and hired Butcher and his 'associates' to carry it out, and then stitched Butcher up and made him the fall guy. 'I'll have the satisfaction of knowin' that none'a you three crumbs is gonna spend it,' says Butcher, and continues 'I'm gonna kill you, Squeamy and Joe.' Lowe reminds him of his date with the gas chamber the next day. Butcher looks at him ominously and replies 'Remember what I said. I'm gonna getcha. All three of ya.'

After much buzzing and flashing of lights, the doctor and his assistant find that Butcher's heart has started beating. Butcher opens his eyes and looks bewildered. He gets up from the table against the doctor's advice, and the doctor finds that his treatments have given Butcher inhuman strength. He also finds that Butcher's skin has become so tough, like iron, that he is unable to take a blood test; Butcher's skin causes the needle to bend without penetrating. We learn via voiceover narration that the electrical voltage has burned out his vocal cords and he is unable to speak, but his brain is OK (such as it is): 'He knew who he was. And he knew who he hated.' After knocking out the doctor and his nerd, off on his journey of doom goes Butcher, an indestructible mute brute who is 'dead'-set on wreaking the revenge he promised.

The cinematography and direction are very much bog-standard B movie fare, workmanlike and effective enough with nothing notable about it. Special effects just consist of a few electrical arcs and lightning-like effects and 'bzzzt' sounds in the lab where Butcher is revived and at another point later in the film, and depictions of superhuman feats of strength on the part of Butcher such as throwing cars around and quickly and easily despatching people with his bare hands. The film revolved more around Butcher's dishevelled, lumbering appearance and his super-strength and invulnerability, than glitzy effects.

You also get some great historic shots of late 50s Los Angeles including on-location ones taken in the picturesque Angel's Flight area, a steep hill in a residential area of downtown L.A.with a cable car system that ferried residents from the hill down to the main street and its shops. I lived in L.A. as a small child and lived briefly in this area and can still remember the hill and cable cars and how unusual and quaint it all was. The whole Angels Flight area was later demolished and flattened and is now an industrial concrete jungle, so it's good to have this interesting piece of history preserved at least somewhere.