The Brain (1988) Reviews

• Great schlock! A for effort!

  barrylynch2002-09-19

  The Brain reprises familiar cliches well known to B-movie audiences. All we need to say is an alien brain uses TV, along with self-serving humans (of course), to try to control a small town, then, hopefully the world. It's up to two teenagers, a high school delinquent and his girlfriend to stop the Brain. The effects are cheesy!, the acting is laughable!, the production quality is abhorrent!, the plot unbelievable!, but yet the whole of the movie comes off as rather endearing tongue-and-cheek stuff. Kind of a gem in a backhanded sort of way!

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• Caution: sodium in use

  sebpopcorn2008-10-06

  The Brain is the story of an evil alien brain that tries to take control of the world through a threadbare looking self-help show. When it fails to take control of a rebellious teenager it sets him up as a murderer which as it turns out is pretty easy. If you shout "he killed them" to the cops they will believe you, even if you are holding an axe and there is a headless cop at your feet. The effects for this movie range between shoddy and outright hilarious. The brain itself is obviously the comedy highlight but also memorable is the explosion where two very obvious fireworks can be seen. The story itself isn't that bad and there is some good acting, the thing is though you'll just be laughing at the effects too much to notice much else. I'm not saying it's well written though, the ending is spelt out in mile high letters within 20 minutes which is a bit of a shame. People are always saying that bad movies are "so bad they're good" but this is one film that's genuinely deserving of that accolade. I really enjoyed it, if you feel like some cheap laughs and a watchable story you'll find them with this movie.

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• amusing alien horror, if you can overlook the monster's silliness

  FieCrier2004-12-06

  I was reminded of 1981's Strange Behavior, with a mad scientist who is supposed to be helping troubled high schoolers actually using his techniques to take over their minds. I'm a bit surprised to see that there are more people who've rated this movie on IMDb than that one, since Strange Behavior is on DVD and this one isn't, and I would guess is out of print on VHS. However, The Brain has an alien in it. Or that's presumably what it is: at first, a giant disembodied brain in a vat, though it is able to open its two hemispheres to engulf and devour a person, after which a face emerges from the brain, which looks a little horrific, and a little silly. The Brain is able to control people's thoughts to some degree, with the help of a TV program called "Independent Thinking" put out by the Psychological Research Institute, where the brain is kept by the program's host. It either causes people to hallucinate and kill other people and sometimes themselves, or else when people's mind reject the attempt at control their mind causes hallucinations and the deaths. The hallucinations are pretty good. The one that opens the movie has a girl in her room seeing a teddy bear come to life and bleed from its eyes, a demon hand breaking out of a TV set, the room's walls pressing inwards and so on. An intelligent but problem teenager is sent to the PRI to straighten him out, but he is able to resist the programming, and the attempts to have him kill himself. He gets away and then must figure out how to save his friends and the town and destroy the brain. There are some funny lines in the movie. I liked the exchange between the high schooler and a school official: "We learned in civics class that people are innocent until proved guilty!" "You think you're in America? You're in high school!" The ending of the movie is a bit odd. Two of the characters drive off uneventfully, and there is a peculiar triangular-shaped wipe effect that had been seen earlier in the movie showing the face of the enemy. Personally, I was expecting a new similar TV show to come on the air.

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• The Brain: Silly but fun creature feature

  Platypuschow2018-12-01

  The 1980's were saturated with creature features and that's one of the reasons I think they were the best time for horror. The Brain is a fine example and though silly it's a lot of fun if you can just take your brain out for a moment (Pun intended and hilarious). It tells the story of an evil guy intent on brainwashing everyone in town through his television show using a erm......brain....creature...thing. It's certainly one of those movies which doesn't explain a vast amount and expects you to fill in the gaps. In this case however considering the subject matter I had no problem with that at all. With a creature that looks like a Madball (Which oddly started the year before this came out) it's not all that easy to take seriously but I really don't think you're supposed to. At its core it's just a creature feature with a big conspiracy plot behind it with a passable cast and sfx. Sure it's not for everyone, in fact it could be considered niche but it's watchable stuff for what it is. The Good: Creature is interesting Plot is passable The Bad: Very little is actually explained Still a bit silly Things I Learnt From This Movie: Everything you see on television is real Police car rear doors can be opened at will from the inside Axes are immune to bloodstains

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• this movie.. rocks..

  snatchbeast2004-10-01

  it has everything. nudity, violence, a giant brain that eats people. if only we knew who operated the eyes, and if the brain skirt appearing towards the end was actually intended to hide the wheels that made the evil brain kill... if only.. it tells of mind control attempts and the horrors of the teen years. we still wonder.. will there ever be a sequel? i feel we were set up in the end.. and i want a sequel. see what mysterious haunts the brain travels to next

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