As with all of my reviews of films for The Creepercast, I fully recommend that you check each and every one of them out. I am one man and this is my opinion. I've seen plenty of movies that received reviews that were the complete opposite of how I saw the film. These writers, directors, producers and actors all put a lot of time and love into these projects. They deserve to be seen and appreciated for what they are. Everyone has a dream and I fully support the people that take the time to make theirs a reality. With that being said....
Sometimes you just need to cleanse your palette. On nights like those, I'll find something schlocky and terrible to watch, so that it reminds me what the truly amazing films really are. However, there's something to be said for the joy of seeing how we used to live. Perhaps through the eyes of a film maker, we're getting a bit of a stylized or altered view of reality, but that's not the point. Film preserves a time and a place that are gone. Whether it was last year or 1962, it doesn't matter. In this life, every single second that passes is history as soon as the future unfolds and then it is the past as well. I'm not trying to get all deep on any of you, especially considering this is a review of the cult classic, 'The Brain That Wouldn't Die' aka 'The Head That Wouldn't Die'. Unlike what I just said, this movie has no real deeper meaning to it. A film like this was made to put asses in seats at the local cinema. An attempt to show an audience something they might not have ever seen before or to create shock and awe in them. While this particular film did neither of those things, it has still stood the test of time and shows up in the majority of books written about classic B monster movies from the 50's and 60's. You have to at least give it some credit for that. Beyond that distinction of being an oddity among the greats, it's somewhat forgettable. Now, to actually create a little shock and awe, this was the first time I've seen this film but we'll come back to that bit.
'The Brain That Wouldn't Die' tells the story of a young, hotshot doctor who's been experimenting with transplants. So much so, that it's become somewhat of an obsession to him. Much to the dismay of his doctor father. While traveling to his hidden house in the hills, the good doctor is driving rather recklessly with his best girl in the passenger seat. An accident occurs and her head is lopped clean off. Only thinking about transplants and bringing his girl back, he snatches her head from the burning car and off he goes. When he finally reaches his lab, he gives her a dose of his secret formula and rigs her up with a method to keep her alive. Not all of her.... just her head. (Which can talk, think and do fiendish things) Before the flames even cool on his burning car, he heads out to find a suitable body as a replacement for hers. Meanwhile, his trusty sidekick is back at the lab with the head and something that's lurking in the locked closet. The head learns that she can telepathically communicate with the thing in the closet and begins to plot her revenge. As far as she was concerned, she just wanted to have died in the accident. The doctor soon returns with a woman, unaware that the head has been manipulating things in the lab. While trying to complete his sinister plan, the head summons the power of the closet monster and ultimately he saves the transplant girl and the head gets her wish. She dies in a fire, along with the mad doctor and his sidekick. The end.
I'm not calling spoilers on this one. This film came out in 1962 and if you haven't seen it yet, now you don't have too. 'The Brain That Wouldn't Die' is not a good film. Not by any stretch of the imagination. While it has some charm to it, for purely reasons of nostalgia, it's far too simple and pointless. There's only 5 major characters, none of whom you care about. There are several pointless scenes of absurdity that only move to fill in the dead spaces between the scenes in the lab and despite Virginia Leith's best efforts to make something more out the script, even she couldn't save this sinking ship. I wanted to love this one, I really did. Sadly, it's just not a good film. I enjoyed some of the locations and set design, but there has to be more going on than just that. This is a good example of what was lingering on the fringe of horror film making back in the days before independent film was really a thing. I would venture to say that this is what would basically qualify as an indie horror film of the early 60's. While it probably had some backdoor studio funding, it was still low budget and outside of the mainstream.
There's a part of me that understands why this is brought up so often in books on our beloved horror history. It's such an oddity of a story that it begs the question of why it was ever green lit in the first place? Perhaps that's why? Because it was just so bizarre that they thought it might work. Regardless of all that, it still sits on my shelf as a place marker in the terror timeline. Not too mention that it includes the episode of 'Mystery Science Theater 3000', in which they riff on this film in it's entirety. That alone is worth the price of admission. I don't recommend that you submit yourself to this one, as you'll probably wish you had your hour and a half of wasted time back. Maybe you're some kind of sadist and enjoy that kind of thing. Who am I to judge? My best recommendation with this one is, if you're going to watch it, please do so with a group of other people and expect the worst. This is a 2 out of 5 star film, at best. A rainy day background piece, for when you're cleaning the house or doing the dishes. The funny thing about this in the end is that there's a lot more of these kinds of film on my horizon. You can't keep a bad film down. No matter how hard we all try.
If you like this, check out: 'From Hell It Came', 'The Manster' and 'Attack of the Giant Leeches'
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