3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Cheesy B-Grade "Masterpiece", June 16, 2011
This review is from: The Brain [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The Brain is one of those schlocky, B-movie cheesefests that is a blast to watch with some friends and poke fun at. It's not a good movie by any conventional standards, but it tries to entertain and succeeds admirably with a ridiculous plot, awesomely 80's special effects, random nudity for the sake of nudity and a crazy assistant/orderly/assassin named Varna!
The plot follows a Dr. Blakely (played by the always entertaining David Gale, best known for
Re-Animator), who hosts a popular self help TV program that he secretly uses to control viewer's mind with the help of a giant brain-like alien. From that sentence alone, you should know EXACTLY what to expect from this movie. A young troublemaker/prankster named Jim is forced to go to Dr. Blakely and his assistant Varna to get "help". When Jim is able to resist The Brain's mind control, Blakely realizes he must stop Jim from exposing his secret operation and jeopardizing his plans for world domination!
The cast is adequate. The main character of Jim is forgettable as are most of the supporting actors, plus most of the "acting" is hammy and overdone - but that's to be expected in a B-movie like this. David Gale does a fine job playing a mad scientist, but the real standout here is George Buza as Varna. I was so delighted by this character because he goes from being an orderly helping Blakely at his clinic to an axe-wielding assassin trying to kill Jim and his girlfriend. He must be getting paid extra because I doubt that "assassin" was part of his job description! The scene where Varna chases down a cop car containing Jim with an axe and the ensuing scuffle is one of the most poorly choreographed yet utterly hilarious scenes I've had the pleasure of witnessing.
The special effects are run-of-the-mill, but are still satisfyingly silly. The beginning has some pretty nifty effects as a girl is attacked by tentacles in a shrinking bedroom. The Brain itself is nothing remarkable until the end where it chases the characters through a warehouse, but the amusing part is we never see exactly how it gets around. The camera never pans down so one can assume that it's either floating or slithering around on its brainstem.
To sum things up, this is a great horror flick with the right amount of absurdity and silliness that make it well worth a watch!
Now I must ask WHY hasn't this seen a DVD release? So many other horror B-movies have gotten the DVD treatment, some of which have been excellent in terms of the transfer and the special features, such as
Street Trash and
Killer Klowns From Outer Space. A distributor like Anchor Bay, Blue Underground, Grindhouse or Something Weird needs to get their hands on this and give The Brain a proper DVD release!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cheesy fun - high recommendation!!!, March 8, 2010
This review is from: The Brain [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Dr. Blake (David Gale of Re-Animator), host of "Sensational Thinking", a self-help television program, is actually a henchman working for a large mutant brain(!). This is discovered when a teenager is committed to a hospital facility run by the television doctor.
"The Brain" definitely falls into the category of "Media has control over your mind" flicks (and yeah - "A Face in the Crowd" did it much better); but this actually has some legitimately creepy scenes. It's just the laughable effects on the title villain are SO BAD, it renders the rest of the film hilarious - But isn't that why so many of us watch 80's horror?
BOTTOM LINE: Worth finding on DVD (but you'll have to get a region 2 - which actually has a really great transfer!!!)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A giant man-eating brain!!...what!???, December 16, 2009
This review is from: The Brain [VHS] (VHS Tape)
If you LOVE odd-ball-80's-cheese fest Horror and are a collector, than it's a crime not to own this either on vhs or R2 dvd! If your like me who lives in America and couldn't have the patience in waiting on other rare horror titles to be put on a regions-free/region 1# dvd, than go buy an all-regions dvd player and snag this baby up!!!! Because there is no telling when this gem will ever get another chance on dvd or any other up-to-date format, and the R2 is getting harder to find!!! At least it was the last time I checked. Even though the R2 dvd is barebones w/ no extras, it's still worth having for now. Having a dvdr of this is fine but if your like me and know there's a legit dvd of this out there, than you wont mind shelling out a couple more bucks haha. The picture quality is fair for its price. Even for fans of Dave Gale, this is a must own!
The story is short and simple like most B-Horror flicks haha. A troubled teenager is sent to a famed psychological research institute, where he is to meet the founder, Dr. Blake (Dave Gale). Teenage boy goes through crazy mind-control experiments and later introduced to the giant man-eating brain!!!! The locals that live near/by the institute also go crazy and begin to kill there fellow neighbor! All because Dr. Blake has his own TV show haha. There are some gory moments but nothing to off-the-wall. I can't stress it enough, this is a must own flick for fans of 80's B-Horror!
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