10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brain Casserole, Anyone?, August 28, 2004
This is an amazing film from our friends in Mexico. I give it five stars for hilarity and pompousness in equal combinations. You will be unable to stop rolling your eyes at this film.
The premise is that in 1661 this guy, Baron Vitelius of Astara, was burned as part of the Inquisition in "New Spain" (Mexico), and he vows revenge on the descendents of those who wrongfully executed him in 300 years, when the comet that was overhead at the time of the execution returns. We know he is serious, because he appears to have ill defined magical powers, including the power of invisibility, which for some reason he does not use to escape the fire.
In 1961, right on schedule, the comet returns, the Baron riding along with it, only now he is the Brainiac, a monster who must eat human brains. The comet needs an aside here: never before has a comet looked this hokey in all of film history (you simply must see this for yourself), and secondly, the comet lands (!) by gently dropping to the ground with a thud. It appears to be papier-mache. No smoke, no crater, nothing. Then Brainiac gets out. Amazing.
Brainiac is able to transform himself into a suave Baron who eats brains out of a casserole dish after he removes them (intact, somehow) from his victims skulls using his tubular, bifurcated tongue while in his Brainiac form. After we meet the Brainiac we get to a long monologue that was not dubbed into English, so perhaps it was a great scene, but somehow I doubt it. In the end he succeeds in killing the descendants of his old rivals and meets his own demise, oddly enough through the genius of special effects, in his underwear.
The special effects throughout this film are delightfully bad, and none is worse than the puffy, hyperventilating Brainiac himself with his rubber forked tongue and hairy hooves that he uses like big, hairy tweezers.
This movie is so bad you almost feel sorry for it. It is un-scary and tedious, yet pompous, pretentious, and so badly executed that like a train wreck, it is impossible to look away.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
EL BARON DEL....BRAINS?, September 1, 2006
CasaNegra continues it's top-notch quality preservation of old Mexican horror films with "El Baron del Terror" or "Brainiac". The film is absolutely ridiculous, cheaply made but beautifully shot in gorgeous b&w. And it's this wonderful quality that CasaNegra preserves. The print is immaculate, enabling you to see fine details like the unbelievably cheap sets and the unbelievably cheap "comet" that brings our monster "el baron" to earth 300 years after he was burned alive for heresy, debauchery, sorcery and so on. One thing must be said, though, the story is imaginative. But the baron (played by the producer Abel Salazar), in monster form, is one of the screen's most ludicrous looking things I've ever seen. He's hysterical. And likes brains, which we won't get into because he keeps them unrefridgerated and, well, nobody seemed to catch that they would SMELL after a while? Anyway, this is a fun film that's enjoyable to watch in such beautiful, sharp condition and to savor and share with your friends who also might enjoy hoots like this. The dialogue is not to be missed either. Says a detective, "A maniac with knowledge is a threat." Hmmm...guess so. Please enjoy!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great DVD, Great Classic, September 18, 2006
First of all I would like to mention the quality of the image and sound, is superb. This movie was made in 1962 and you will never notice that, what a great job doing the transfer.
The Villian of the movie get's killed by fire when the movie starts and swears to come back and kill the descendants of those who took his life, and no he is not Freddy Krueger ;)
Two hundred years later he comes back to fulfill his promise. Of course this time he can transform himself into a "horrible" monster, of course is a very cheesy one and it will make you laugh a lot, This classic has all the elements of a fun campy horror movie, cheesy monster and FX's, some bad acting, some not that bad acting and specially "The Look", you will understand it when you watch it :D
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