The Brain

I was reminded of 1981's Strange Behavior, with a mad scientist who is supposed to be helping troubled high schoolers actually using his techniques to take over their minds. I'm a bit surprised to see that there are more people who've rated this movie on IMDb than that one, since Strange Behavior is on DVD and this one isn't, and I would guess is out of print on VHS. However, The Brain has an alien in it. Or that's presumably what it is: at first, a giant disembodied brain in a vat, though it is able to open its two hemispheres to engulf and devour a person, after which a face emerges from the brain, which looks a little horrific, and a little silly. The Brain is able to control people's thoughts to some degree, with the help of a TV program called "Independent Thinking" put out by the Psychological Research Institute, where the brain is kept by the program's host. It either causes people to hallucinate and kill other people and sometimes themselves, or else when people's mind reject the attempt at control their mind causes hallucinations and the deaths. The hallucinations are pretty good. The one that opens the movie has a girl in her room seeing a teddy bear come to life and bleed from its eyes, a demon hand breaking out of a TV set, the room's walls pressing inwards and so on. An intelligent but problem teenager is sent to the PRI to straighten him out, but he is able to resist the programming, and the attempts to have him kill himself. He gets away and then must figure out how to save his friends and the town and destroy the brain. There are some funny lines in the movie. I liked the exchange between the high schooler and a school official: "We learned in civics class that people are innocent until proved guilty!" "You think you're in America? You're in high school!" The ending of the movie is a bit odd. Two of the characters drive off uneventfully, and there is a peculiar triangular-shaped wipe effect that had been seen earlier in the movie showing the face of the enemy. Personally, I was expecting a new similar TV show to come on the air.

This is a nice little b-movie from the glorious 80's that really made me laugh. The thing i enjoyed the most of course would be the awesomely slimy low budget special effects! Those, although cheap, were often really killer! The movie's about a mad doctor who brainwashes people subliminally through his television show into being what he calls "Independent Thinkers" which are really helpless pawns in his nutty plot to take take over the planet via mind control. (They should have included that Suicidal Tendencies' song "Subliminal" in the soundtrack, oh well) Anyway somewhere tied into this cool plot is a giant slimy killer brain from outer space. Sounds cool huh? Well it is so check it out if you dig cheesy creature fx from the 80's. There's also a couple scenes with boobies which is always a plus. The funniest part is a certain attack where the brain looks like a giant scrotum devouring a human being...if that don't sound rad to you then don't waste your time with this or any of my other reviews cuz we definitely got different taste but otherwise this isn't to be missed!

I found this really cheap on DVD recently and just HAD to snap it up - it's one of those horror flicks I kept seeing on ebay but didn't want to pay too much for it. It turns out that it's not a bad cheesy monster flick, but nothing special either. I would describe it as average. The brain itself is funny to watch, especially when it attacks. The scene at the end where it explodes in a shower of sparks is hilarious. The plot is silly and loosely ties all the events together. There's some boring moments and some fun moments. Overall I would rate it as average. There's loads of better films out there, if you're a fan of The Brain then you may want to check out The Suckling (a film about an aborted killer foetus) or The Deadly Spawn. Both have similarities to The Brain and are much more entertaining.

It was all over with the slashers around 88 so it was time for the cheesy rip offs of those older movies. The Brain is well done, the script reminded me of Videodrome but then in a more cheesy way as said before. The acting can go through with it. But it's the effects that makes you laugh, the so called Brain is really a turkey and the blood is never shown. The opening sequence is what makes this movie worth watching, the hallucinations are really nicely done and reminded me of Nightmare on Elm Street, remember the telephone coming alive.... Some how you keep watching this flick, waiting what is happening next. It's viewable for all freaks out there cause there isn't any gore in it and as said the blood isn't there neither but there is nudity for the perverts. I have seen worser movies than this one, only wished they had made it bloodier...

Although there was a lot of crap released in the eighties, one thing you can always count on from these films is a hilarious good time! The subject of this film (mind control) has been used many times before, but it's not usually explored with the aid of a mad doctor and a daft looking rubber brain! This plot is explored from the perspective of a young high school student who, in true eighties fashion, has a penchant for silly pranks and general tomfoolery. He uncovers the plot, lead by Dr. Anthony Blakely (David Gale, who played a similar role Re-Animator'), the host of a TV show called "Independent Thinkers". The show is supposed to help viewers, but it's actually a tool for the doctor to have the viewers of the show brainwashed. The silly plot "thickens" when the school lad is sent to the see the doctor by his school and ends up suffering hallucinations, before stumbling in on the doctor and his two assistants. Oh, and the monstrous brain creature that enjoys eating people and controlling minds... Naturally, this film isn't exactly high quality. The acting is terrible and the production values are low quality, but of course that isn't important in a film like this. Director Ed Hunt (who also made the surprisingly decent eighties crapfest Bloody Birthday) always ensures that the film is fun, light-hearted viewing and that ensures that The Brain just about does its job. It's true that the film could have been better. The director never really makes good use of the rubber brain, which is a shame. It does feature in two big scenes, but its left languishing in its little tank too often. The only real star of the film is David Gale, who will be remembered by cult fans for his key role in Stuart Gordon's classic Re-Animator. His acting here isn't brilliant but he provides enough interest as the mad doctor; although his exit is extremely disappointing. Overall, I can't really recommend tracking this film down as it's not great or anything like a classic; but if you're into eighties tat, then you could certainly do a lot worse than it.

The 1980's were saturated with creature features and that's one of the reasons I think they were the best time for horror. The Brain is a fine example and though silly it's a lot of fun if you can just take your brain out for a moment (Pun intended and hilarious). It tells the story of an evil guy intent on brainwashing everyone in town through his television show using a erm......brain....creature...thing. It's certainly one of those movies which doesn't explain a vast amount and expects you to fill in the gaps. In this case however considering the subject matter I had no problem with that at all. With a creature that looks like a Madball (Which oddly started the year before this came out) it's not all that easy to take seriously but I really don't think you're supposed to. At its core it's just a creature feature with a big conspiracy plot behind it with a passable cast and sfx. Sure it's not for everyone, in fact it could be considered niche but it's watchable stuff for what it is. The Good: Creature is interesting Plot is passable The Bad: Very little is actually explained Still a bit silly Things I Learnt From This Movie: Everything you see on television is real Police car rear doors can be opened at will from the inside Axes are immune to bloodstains

There's a strange cinematic netherworld where idiocy meets fun and the two duke it out for our hearts and minds, and The Brain sits there rather comfortably. Eschewing chances of suspense or paranoid frights by way of an ill advised early reveal of the central creature and soon after a reveal of its nefarious plans, The Brain seeks to run on crazed gumption alone and the pleasantly surprising thing is, it actually works. The story has young and smart delinquent Jim Majelewski signed up for treatment at the mysterious Psychological Research Institute, where he comes across an evil giant brain with an eye on world domination. The rest of the film sees him dodging the brainwashed populace while seeking to save everyone from the alien ministrations of the brain, its a chase film and it happily zips along, sleekly crafted cheese to please. Director Ed Hunt is something of a B movie veteran and so knows not to take this sort of thing too seriously, while going full tilt at scenes that require the schlocky goods, thus while the film is never gory there are a few scenes that really shine, particularly a freaky opening gambit and a spot of wild cafeteria behaviour. He also avoids emphasizing the lesser effects apart from times when they'll be clearly entertaining, so goofs are at a relative minimum and at times the effects work really does. Performances are game throughout though few are especially good, Tom Bresnahan starts slow but builds a good head of steam as Jim, Cindy Preston is effortlessly pleasing as his girlfriend and George Buza makes for a solidly menacing villainous hired goon, while the heavy lifting acting wise is carried in style by David Gale. Riffing on his Re-Animator villainy he opts for a quieter course but still amusingly deranged, its a fun turn and he lights the screen whenever he appears. The titular brain is an important star as well, a wonderfully ludicrous creation that gets to move around, make the odd expression and even eat some people, as completely crackers monster go its a good 'un. Sadly the film gets dull at times despite the driving pace and thudding score, it also needed more acting zap and gore to make it really work, but its easy watching and well freighted with chuckles. Heck, there's even a bit of nudity (from a rather lovely lady) so I can't criticise the film too much, its cheesy trash, it know its cheesy trash and it does its best to deliver as such. I happen to love cheesy trash and this one broadly worked for me, so 7/10, but it won't be to all tastes.

Insignificant and low-brained (haha!) 80's horror like there are thirteen in a dozen, yet it can be considered amusing if you watch it in the right state of mind. The special effects are tacky, the acting atrocious and the screenplay seems to miss a couple of essential paragraphs! "The Brain" takes place in a typical quiet-American town setting, where every adolescent works in the same diner and where the cool-kid in high school flushes cherry bombs down the toilet. It is here that a TV-guru named Dr. Blake and his adorable pet-brain begin their quest for nation-wide mind controlling. Under the label of "independent thinkers", a giant cheesy brain sends out waves through television sets and forces innocent viewers to kill! How cool is that? Now, it's up to the Meadowvale teen-rebel to save the world! The funniest thing about the plot is that it never explains where Dr. Blake and his monstrous brain actually come from. There are obvious references towards extraterrestrial life but that's about it. Meh, who needs a background in a movie like this, really? There's not that much bloodshed unfortunately and the "evil" brain looks like an over-sized sock-puppet. The only more or less interesting element for horror buffs is taking a look at the cast and crew who made this movie. Director Ed Hunt and writer Barry Pearson are the same men who made "Bloody Birthday" (guilty pleasure of mine) and "Plague". Both those are much better movies and they wisely decided to resign the film industry. The most familiar face in the cast unquestionably is the great David Gale, whom horror fans will worship forever for his role in Re-Animator. A girl named Christine Kossak provides the nudity-factor and she's obviously a great talent… She has exactly 3 movies on her repertoire of which THIS is her "masterpiece". In her debut, she was credited as 'runaway model' and in "3 men and a baby", her character is referred to as 'one of Jack's girls'. I really wonder how she feels about her career as an actress

it has everything. nudity, violence, a giant brain that eats people. if only we knew who operated the eyes, and if the brain skirt appearing towards the end was actually intended to hide the wheels that made the evil brain kill... if only.. it tells of mind control attempts and the horrors of the teen years. we still wonder.. will there ever be a sequel? i feel we were set up in the end.. and i want a sequel. see what mysterious haunts the brain travels to next

My friends and I rented this for "Bad Movie Night" with high hopes, but The Brain was something of a letdown. The Brain itself is gloriously goofy-looking, but it mostly just sits on its little platform. Who thought that it would be cool that the Brain only gets to munch on three people throughout 94 drawn-out minutes? This movie has a number of things going for it at first, including an Estevez-knockoff lead playing a rebellious genius (we're told that his enormous intellect is misdirected into his elaborate pranks and school stunts, which include putting krazy glue on someone's chair). It also has some great lines, a hilariously out-of-shape and out-of-breath henchman who just barely manages to be everywhere, and, yeah, some chick gets naked. However, the director desperately needs some schooling in the art of pacing. During the last half things just start to drag on and on, with at least 3 or 4 pointless, boring chase scenes making up the middle third of the plot. The scenes inside the PRI complex are especially bad. At least 15 minutes of this movie are people running up and down the same stairwell. I could've fixed the screenplay to this thing in half an hour- more cheese, more gore, more nudity, more Brain action. If you're going to make a bad horror movie, at least give me something cool to look at while my superego shuts down. Maybe the director was trying to really bring the audience into his movie- I started feeling like one of the zombified townsfolk by the end of this crapfest.