Customer Reviews

The Brain from Planet Arous

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I was a kid, John Agar's glazed over radioactive eyes and the floating transparent brain of the film's title really gave me the willies, I tell ya. This is still a wonderful silly movie that benefits from being short, with the monster introduced early on. Agar is good, contorting himself in pain pretty convincingly as the monster enters and leaves his body, and he's got the megalomanical laugh down pat. The special effects are primitive, especially when the alien monster is forced to assume his real shape and reveals himself to be a rubber blob bouncing around on a wire, but heck, you were expecting Industrial Light and Magic, maybe? Everything is low budget: small cast, stock footage, a nuclear research lab with no equipment, and a set that consists of the desert and someone's suburban home. And what other film mentions the "fissure of Rolando"? The extras on the DVD are virtually non-existent, consisting only of chapter search and the theatrical trailer. Biographical info of the performers, especially the supporting cast, would have been welcome. If you like sci fi B-movies, this certainly fits the bill perfectly. The transfer to DVD is excellent.

Gor and Val are alien brains that come to earth. Gor wants to enslave the human race and takes over John Agar's body. Val wants to capture Gor and return him to planet Arous from which he escaped. Val inhabits a dog to be close to Gor. Gor blows up an atomic test site, crisps a couple of people, and destroys a couple of airplanes (the pieces of which hang from their wires afterwards) before his comeuppance. And, of course, Gor has to lust after the female lead. The acting is generally fine and the film exhibits a level of professionalism lacking in a lot of these "classics".

This is great B movie fare. And as an extra bonus, the ravine and cave in which Gor and Val are discovered was earlier occupied by that ultimate of alien pests, Ro-man: the alien in a gorilla suit and diver's helmet which appears in Robot Monster, another classic of 1950s sci-fi.

The DVD is of good quality. Details are visible in the shadows and the scenes have good tone throughout. The picture is sharp. A very good transfer to DVD.

This is an enjoyable, if silly, film. A good example of the alien invader paranoia of the 1950s.

From the producer (Jacques `Jack' Marquette) and director (Nathan Juran) of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Brain from Planet Arous (like 50 Foot Woman) has to be one of the top five or ten most entertaining bad films of all time. Apparently Juran was so ashamed of these two movies that he took the pseudonym `Nathan Hertz' as his screen credit. Unlike say, Dick Cunha, Coleman Francis, or Ed Wood's movies, it's not technical incompetence or lack of funds that create the magic here (although those were no doubt factors), but the completely loony, ludicrous script by Ray Buffum (Teenage Monster, Island of Lost Women). John Agar delivers a deadpan, tour de force performance (perhaps matched only by Jack Nicholson in The Shining) as Steve, the alien-possessed hero: relaxed and easygoing one minute, smug and sarcastic, leering lustfully, writhing in agony, or laughing maniacally the next. Joyce Meadows actually emotes quite convincingly as his frightened, confused fiance Sally, and familiar faces Robert (Wagon Train, Laramie) Fuller, and beaky Thomas B. Henry (Beginning of the End, How to Make a Monster, etc.) fill out the `name' cast. The only evidence of legendary makeup artist Jack Pierce's participation are Agar's silver eyeballs (re-used by Pierce five years later in Creation of the Humanoids). The lecherous (!?) brain itself is a wonderfully silly only-in-the-50s creation, while Agar, laughing psychotically, telepathically destroying chintzy model airplanes, and his climactic showdown with evil alien brain Gor are cheese-lover's delights. The sweat stains, Agar's distorted face in the water cooler, the no-fx alien craft (seen landing behind the opening credits, watch closely), 'good' brain Vol inhabiting Agar's dog, the highly visible wires suspending Gor in the hysterical climax; there are just too many bizarrely precious moments to catalog in a short review like this. If you're a bad film lover this is a must-have.
Image's DVD package is typical of other releases in their Wade Williams Collection. Minimal extras consist of a mediocre-quality `Brain' trailer, 16 chapter stops, nicely designed menus, and five bonus trailers `hidden' in a cookie. The DVD box boasts a "pristine" transfer from original source materials. While there is some very light, sporadic speckling and scratching and a few seconds of damaged frames, the print does look terrific otherwise. Very bright and sharp, with excellent grayscale, contrast, and detail. It's probably never gonna get any better than this. Aficionados of le films bad, go for it.

This is perhaps the single most enjoyable b-movie I have ever seen, including even "Plan Nine From Outer space" (which I know is high praise). John Agar delivers a good trooper performance in a storyline that is bizarre to say the least, and the infamous "balloon brain" scene near the end only makes the film more appealing to those interested in low-budget special FX. The high-temperature desert scenes, including both the exaggerated armpit-sweat stains and the hamburger-and-onion barbecue dialogue, demand that this film be watched in the middle of summer, preferably during a party with both burgers and cocktails served.

The last time I saw this movie, I was a kid, maybe 8-10 years old, living in Canoga Park, CA. As frightening as I remember it being as a child, it is equally, by contrast, hysterical today. Just love those cheesy 1950's special effects. Pay particular attention towards the end of the movie, when you can clearly see the wire that the "bad brain" is being suspended from!!
All in all, a must see for the science fiction nostalgia buff like myself!

It doesn't get any better than this! Camp cult favorite John Agar stars in his best 50's sci-fi role ever, that of Gor-possessed Steve March! He's nice and bland and bad and dangerously over-the-top all in the same movie. He blows up planes and test sites laughing insanely to the delight of every hardcore fan of campy schlock!
Produced by cinematographer Jacques Marquette this film has much in common with his ATTACK OF THE 50FT. WOMAN, produced the same year and no doubt shot back to back. Both feature the same locations, even the same shot of the car in the opening of 50FT. appears in BRAIN when Sally (Joyce Meadows) and her father drive into the desert to investigate where Steve and Dan(Robert Fuller) disappeared for a week. Both films were directed by Nathan Juran (as Hertz). And both films even feature some rather risky kissing, lurid and sexy!
John Agar, my favorite 1950's sci-fi/horror actor (my God, he was in almost everything!)is perfect as the alien controlled victim, finally getting to play opposite his straight-arrow image in so many of these films (TRANTULA, MOLE PEOPLE, ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE,etc.), and he really appears to be enjoying it as well!
A classic of it's kind THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS has to be seen to be appreciated...or at least believed.
Once Gor is defeated and killed and Steve March reverts back to his good ol' self, he certainly has a lot of explaining to do to the Army brass who saw him destroy planes and kill people at random...." I really didn't do it, you see I was taken over by this floating alien brain from the planet Arous and he made me kill all those people!!!"
...Great stuff.

Though this film is typical of science fiction in the fifties, there is a special interest due to characterization. Young people in the fifties, like young people in every decade, go through periods of alienation. The "self" projected at school or work is not always the "self" projected at home. Young people are often torn between ego and id when it comes to desires, goals, and ambitions. On the surface the alien possession of John Agar's character is simply another one of those favorite old SF themes. However, as young people often find themselves pulled in different directions when it comes to moral and ethical issues involving everything from sex to drugs so is Agar in this film. John Agar has often been underated as an actor. Here we see him as the Agar we are used to, the All American good guy with an inner dark side brought out by the alien inhabiting his body. Agar is very convincing as he in a sense plays two roles. Actress Joyce Meadows is excellent as the girl friend who is strong, loyal, and who sees the good beneath the evil surface. She is no helpless heroine who can do nothing and is one of the very few SF heroines in the fifties to prove herself the equal of any man, or for that matter, alien. Of course all of us would like to have that sort of loyal friend come to our rescue, at any age. She is not a victim. Perhaps the only unfortunate aspect of the film is the title which is very misleading. It is not just another SF film and one I used often in the classroom as a teacher. Yes, I have talked about this with both John Agar and Joyce Meadows and they have become both friends and "teaching partners" over the years. Get the film and enjoy....

gloriously seat-of-ones-pants filmaking with infinitesimal funding and grand aginst type turn . AGAR and the FX crew have a field day with their respective gifts and provide ample laughter , charm and thrills . accept no substitutes . bask in the festivities and emerge smiling broadly .

Although low budget, and limited special effects, the plot is good and can get you thinking. I liked this movie. It has more invovled and thoughtful plot than many of the recent movies (enough with the dinos and mummies chasing people around!). In fact, take the plot, update the brains to be "energy fields", and you could have a good movie.

In this movie an evil brain (mind) posseses a nuclear scientist. It's objective is not only to take over the world, but to use people to build space craft and attack its own planet. Meanwhile a "good brain" arrives instructing the guy's girlfriend on how to deal with the evil that possses her boyfriend. Sort of an alien cops and robbers working through people.

The floating brains aren't the best special effects, but a original idea for the 50s when most monsters are simply people in a man shaped monster suit (heck even today we're still stuck on dinos and mummys going back to the 1930s). The idea of the brains possesing people is good also - sort of a "you never know what really controls people -id- concept". And they good against evil concept is timeless. Like I said, take the plot and make a modernized version and you could have a good movie today.

A winner of a B movie with a great campy story, a pair of floating disembowled brains and enough reused footage to extend the running time to a whole 71 minutes! Our Story: a bad-boy brain crashes to earth and lures a world famous nuclear physicist and his strangely cute boy-pal out to a remote cave by blasting doses of radiation in his general direction. Everyone knows that excessive radiation is a sure-fired way to get the nuclear physicists running! The glowing-eyed brain croaks the boy-pal and inhabits the physicist, who then returns home to lunge at his pure-as-the-driven-snow fiancee. Man alive, the brain enjoys those sensations! He is here to take over the world in order to enslave the humans, in order to attack his own planet, in order to rule the universe! And he promises to take the girl along with him! "How about some lunch," she demurrs! OK so the good sheriff brain floats in and occupies the dog. Makes total sense. Somehow, the bad-boy brain gains enough matter to be whacked on the head and killed (despite that fact that many books and statuettes are launched through him during the course of the movie). Everything is OK and we assume that someone will tell the general and the Russians and all the rest who are frantically gathering up all their radioactive material to send it to Los Alamos. The good brain does not stick around to explain things to the authorities so one assumes that all the parties involved (dad, the fiancees) are thrown in jail for murdering the boy-pal and the old man sheriff who accidently wandered in while our hero was possessed by the bad brain. And they're probably fingered for the airplanes, and the nuclear explosion too.
Rollicking good fun! Recommended