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52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
We've got Movie Sign...for *two* versions of "The Brain"!, May 6, 2000
This review is from: The Brain That Wouldn't Die (Mystery Science Theater 3000) (DVD)
[This is a review of the DVD version] If you love old bad SF movies but haven't ever seen them given the Mystery Science Theater treatment, you owe it to yourself to pick up this DVD! Mike Nelson and his robot pals Crow and Tom Servo watch this relentlessly silly turkey of a movie (a scientist saves the severed head of his girlfriend and puts her in a pan, where she pleads with him to let her die. How sloppily-put-together is this film? The filmmakers apparently forgot their own title and call it "The Head That Wouldn't Die" in the end credits.)--and throughout the entire film, Tom and the `bots mercilessly riff on the film with funny comments and jokes that'll have you rolling in your seats. Long a staple of Comedy Central and the Sci-Fi Channel, this is one of the first DVDs of this classic comedy series (many others are available on VHS). In addition to the pristine and clear picture you get with DVD, Rhino has also included the full *original* version of "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" on the flip-side of the disc so you can see it without Mike and the `bots (to riff on your own, perhaps?). The DVD menus are innovative and worth checking out just for the clever swish-pan of the bridge of the Satellite of Love (Crow, Servo, and Gypsy flash past us). If I had any quibble at all it's a minor one... why is the DVD chapter that begins the film entitled "It's Movie Time!" when every MSTie knows it should be "We've got Movie Sign!"? But I'll put up with minor problems like that as long as Rhino continues to give us these great reissues of classic MST3K episodes. Now if they'd only release "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" and "Outlaw"... (Also recommended in this series: the DVD version of "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Eegah.")
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
So bad it's great!, May 24, 1999
I first saw this movie when I was in the 4th grade or thereabouts, and it scared the living bejesus out of me. But what do you know when you're in the 4th grade? Now that MST3K has reissued this movie and I've watched it perhaps 10 times, I laugh all the way through it. The dialogue is awful. The basic plot recalls countless puns about folks who lose their heads and flash-in-the-pan actresses. Mad Scientist Bill Courtner's girlfriend has lost hers in a fiery car crash ("Honey roasted," comments one of Mike's companions). Obsessed scientist that he is, he keeps her head alive in a lasagna pan full of "adreno-serum" in the basement laboratory of his country place. She says, "Let me die!" enough times that you're ready to oblige her, then strikes up a liaison, sort of, with the thing that lives in Bill's closet--the product of an earlier experiment that went awry. (When Bill looks in the closet, you're dying to hear, "Omygawd, it's Rosanne!" but Mike's pals missed that one.) The scene in the seedy strip club sends me into hysterics. Best line here, robot Crow observing one of the girls: "I must have blood before the night is done!" There are some godawful blunders. For example, the scene in which Bill enters the country place with a new girlfriend follows very closely after his assistant Curt's having stumbled around the same room bleeding profusedly from ... shall we say, a farewell-to-arms type encounter with the thing in the closet. So where's all the blood? The ending is a bit gory (though tame by today's standards). The thing in the closet certainly wins the ugly award for that year. But when he/it turns away toward the stairwell after making mayhem starting a fire in the lab and taking a bite out of poor Bill's throat, we see another ghastly flaw: you can actually see where the mask is tied on at the back of the actor's head! Now THAT's funny! Not to mention how Bill's old girlfriend, still in her pan at the end, manages to laugh without the benefit of chest, diaphragm or lungs. (I forgot, she has neck juice.) Incidentally, in my version the end credits also screw up the title, calling it The HEAD That Wouldn't Die. Mike and his robots' running commentary, though, offers nonstop comedy you can enjoy over and over again. I haven't been panning this movie. (Sorry!) Four stars for amusement value. Steven Yates
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ReAnimator fans will cringe..., December 1, 2002
This review is from: The Brain That Wouldn't Die (Mystery Science Theater 3000) (DVD)
Long before Herbet West creeped us out in the 80s, there was Dr. Bill. Bill has been doing some creepy things up at the cabin in the mountains, and this time, he's taking his fiancee up there with him. In an unexplained speeding frenzy up a winding road, they crash; Bill survives, but, well, only SOME of his girl Jan does. Bill scampers away from the burning mess of the car with a bundle, and we quickly realize it's Jan's head he's hiding in his jacket. Once he gets to the cabin, he sets Jan up with lots of tubes and percolating things and administers her this life-giving 'neck juice.' Is she happy to *somewhat* still be alive? Hell no! She's a freak now and ain't proud of it. The remainder of the film is Jan mocking Bill's eerie assistant and bitching at Bill. Funniest scene: Bill's method for shutting up Jan. Mike's first episode as the test subject of the 'Mads is definitely worth watching. Crow & Servo do their best to break him in, and it's a really great episode. Fans who find themselves missing Joel should know that, as the series head writer, Mike wrote many of the skits and lines Joel spoke, so while the host changes, not a lot else does. The Invention Exchange--a basic component of Joel shows--is slowly phased out, but Mike's invention is definitely a good one. A cameo at the end by Mary Jo as Jan is hilarious, and as is normal in most of the Mike episodes, Mike manages to tick her off too. Bill is creepy and easily unlikeable, especially when he goes trolling for a body for Jan! EWWWWW!!!! A must-see for Mike fans!
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