Brain That Wouldn't Die

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

An arrogant scientist brings his fiancée back from the dead in this vintage cult horror film. Dr. Bill Cortner (Jason Evers, here billed as Herb Evers) performs medical experiments despite the trepidation of his surgeon father (Bruce Brighton); transplantation is Bill's main area of interest, but he's also had some success using electric shock to restore life to the recently deceased. When Bill causes a car crash that decapitates his fiancée, Jan Compton (Virginia Leith), he spirits her head off to his secret laboratory and keeps it alive with the help of an experimental new serum. Soon, the doctor begins scouring the dives, strip clubs, and suburban streets for an attractive woman whose body he can steal to restore his lady love to her full, ambulatory glory. Meanwhile, back at the lab, Jan grows to hate Bill for refusing to let her die. Developing telepathic powers that allow her to communicate with one of Bill's failed experiments -- a snarling creature kept locked up under the stairs -- she begins to plot her revenge. Things come to a head when Bill returns to the lab with his intended victim: a bitter, disfigured, man-hating figure model (Adele Lamont). The promotional tagline for The Brain That Wouldn't Die was "Alive...without a body...fed by an unspeakable horror from hell!" The film helped provide the inspiration for '80s horror/comedy director Frank Henenlotter's Frankenhooker and Basket Case 2. The former includes a decapitated woman restored to life by her lover, while the latter features both a cameo from Brain star Jason Evers and another character who looks like the twin brother of the monster under the stairs. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: All
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital 5.1
• Screen: Pan and Scan, Black and White
• Features:
  • • Movie trailer

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  Joseph Green

• Producer:

  Rex Carlton

• Screenwriter:

  Rex Carlton

• Screen Story:

  Joseph Green

• Screenwriter:

  Joseph Green

• Cinematographer:

  Stephen Hajinal

• Composer (Music Score):

  Abe Barker, Tony Restaino

• Editor:

  Leonard Anderson

• Art Director:

  Paul Fanning

• Associate Producer:

  Mort Landberg

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Emil Kolisch, Robert E. Lessner

• Makeup:

  George Fiala

• Special Effects:

  Byron Baer

• First Assistant Director:

  Anthony LaMarca

• Production Manager:

  Alford H. Lessner

• Additional Dialogue:

  Doris Brent

• Properties:

  Walter, Pluff, Jr.

• Script Supervisor:

  Eva Blair

• Gaffer:

  Vincent Delaney

• Grip:

  John Haupt, Jr.

REVIEW:

• Hokey, overwrought, and poorly paced, this venerable creature feature still commands a sizable following on the basis of its campy, low-grade special effects, its T&A exploitation, and its many pseudo-philosophical soliloquies. Virginia Leith gives a spiteful, glamorous performance that's limited to the neck up for most of the film. God only knows how someone without a windpipe would be able to talk, but oh, how she does. Swathed in bandages, soaking in a tray of serum, she hisses epithets and makes pronouncements about Nature, Injustice, and Evil while co-star Jason Evers trawls the city's houses of ill repute looking for a babe with a killer enough bod to provide his sweetie-pie with a new lease on life. A fixture of Saturday-afternoon horror matinees, the film often has its more flimsily clothed moments excised on TV. Seen complete on video or DVD, the picture's horror elements may seem like just an excuse to show scantily clad ladies of the night showing off their wares and getting into catfights. The finale does, however, provide some fairly effective monster makeup and some lurid bits of grisly mayhem. For some viewers, the most horrifying moment may come when Evers tapes Leith's mouth shut to keep her from talking. Never fear, feminists -- the blowhard doctor gets what's coming to him, and this collection of macabre male fantasies ends with the sinister laughter of its put-upon title character. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi