DECEMBER 5 VHS MOVIE REVIEW : THE BRAIN
From 365horrormovie.com
“Independent Thinking” is a hit self-help TV show in a sleepy small town in the US of A. Dr. Blake (David Gale from Re-Animator), is the charismatic but mentally unstable host of said TV show. The producer is giant alien brain in a bucket capable of mind and thought control, hallucinations, and devouring people whole.
Blake is in cahoots with the brain and they plan to take over the world. The plot maybe enormously cheesy but don’t let that discourage you from watching. This is a near picture perfect camp film.
Right off the bat, the movie shows its strong suit, awesomeness. A young woman begins to hallucinate that her teddy bear is bleeding from the eyes moments before it jolts to life. Then a couple of crazy alien arms explode through the wall and begin to attack the girl. Meanwhile, the room itself is continuously closing in on the young victim. The scene is very effective and provides a nice strong start to the flick.
The protagonist, Jim (Tom Breshahan) is essentially Bart Simpson in human form. Early on, he pulls the ole drop-a-block-sodium-in-the-school-toilet trick that gets himself in trouble with the principal and provides a clever (read: not clever) plot point that allows for a nice explosion near the end.
The brain itself looks somewhere between really cheesy and dumb; that is until it opens up it hemispheres and bears its giant teeth. Then it looks flat out goofy. Yes, alien mind-control brains have giant teeth. Don’t act surprised.
Between all the cheesiness there are quite a few nice death scenes for your trouble, including a decapitation and several brain munching moments. The gore effects are textbook 80s low budget junk, plus the movie was made in Canada. And since Canadians are good at hockey and hockey is a bloody sport; it only makes since that Canadians can create good blood effects.
The Brain is one of those movies that can be best described as “so bad its good” and actually deserves the phrase.
A fun romp through the campy 80s land of horror.
Snore Factor: ZZZ
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