This is one of those movies that puzzles today's audiences. They're so jaded with mega-million dollar budgeted, hyperactive action films, they have no idea what movies were like before "Star Wars" ruined the market for drive-ins and one-screen sidewalk theaters.
"Brain That Wouldn't Die" is a personal favorite of mine. I grew up seeing it occasionally on Detroit's WKBD-TV50 Saturday night Chiller Movie Double Feature during the 1970s. It was the perfect thriller to watch late at night (in those days stores closed and people went to bed early), after a long sunny week in school and playing outside. There were no computers, cellphones, video games, cable TV or videos back then. You had three or four channels and they signed off after the news. If you were still up after 11:30pm, you felt like the last person on earth; the perfect setting in which to watch this type of picture.
The film sets a nightmarish tone immediately with its moody, creepy score and grim B&W cinematography. Yes, it's a low-budget independent film produced by people mostly just starting out. Given that it was most of the production's first screen credit, it is outstanding.
Despite the comedy relief stripper scenes, the film was one of the more violent, gory and shocking at the time and for years that followed. Everyone's stomach turned over at the arm tearing out scene and my mother used to excuse herself from the room at that point, she found it so disturbing.
Like Abbott & Costello before them--and MST3K after them--the Medved brothers ruined films like this by burlesquing them in their 1980 book, "The Golden Turkey Awards." This and the post- "Star Wars" culture have doomed these movies to an eternity of sneering contempt from a younger audience weened on endless laser blasts, propane explosions and hyperactive CGI effects.
Happily, I got to see and enjoy "Brain That Wouldn't Die" while it was still considered relevant. Every kid on the block used to know and love this movie--and I was one of them.
"Brain That Wouldn't Die" is a personal favorite of mine. I grew up seeing it occasionally on Detroit's WKBD-TV50 Saturday night Chiller Movie Double Feature during the 1970s. It was the perfect thriller to watch late at night (in those days stores closed and people went to bed early), after a long sunny week in school and playing outside. There were no computers, cellphones, video games, cable TV or videos back then. You had three or four channels and they signed off after the news. If you were still up after 11:30pm, you felt like the last person on earth; the perfect setting in which to watch this type of picture.
The film sets a nightmarish tone immediately with its moody, creepy score and grim B&W cinematography. Yes, it's a low-budget independent film produced by people mostly just starting out. Given that it was most of the production's first screen credit, it is outstanding.
Despite the comedy relief stripper scenes, the film was one of the more violent, gory and shocking at the time and for years that followed. Everyone's stomach turned over at the arm tearing out scene and my mother used to excuse herself from the room at that point, she found it so disturbing.
Like Abbott & Costello before them--and MST3K after them--the Medved brothers ruined films like this by burlesquing them in their 1980 book, "The Golden Turkey Awards." This and the post- "Star Wars" culture have doomed these movies to an eternity of sneering contempt from a younger audience weened on endless laser blasts, propane explosions and hyperactive CGI effects.
Happily, I got to see and enjoy "Brain That Wouldn't Die" while it was still considered relevant. Every kid on the block used to know and love this movie--and I was one of them.