The Brain from Planet Arous starts as nuclear physicist Dr. Steve Marsh (John Agar) & his friend Dan (Robert Fuller) detect blasts of radiation coming from the nearby Mystery Mountain, the two decide to drive out there & investigate the unusual phenomenon. Once there the two scientists discover a large floating alien brain from the planet Arous named Gor, the alien brain Gor is evil & kills Dan with a blast of radiation & possesses Steve's body & takes complete control of his mind. Gor becomes infatuated with Steve's fiancé Sally (Joyce Meadows) as he plans world domination, Gor causes a passenger plane to explode & crash before ordering representative's from all leading nation's to a summit meeting where he demands all of Earth's resources be handed over to him so he can build the most fearsome invasion fleet the Universe has ever seen. Gor is power mad & will stop at nothing to rule his home planet Arous & destroy any other that tries to stop him...Directed by Nathan Juran under the name Nathan Hertz (Hertz was Juran's middle name) this is yet another ludicrous but entertaining sci-fi film that is silly, camp & unintentionally funny but also highly enjoyable in a cheesy & charming sort of way. I am sure most viewers will dismiss The Brain from Planet Arous as a cheap nonsense but if you have a fondness for infamously bad films such as Robot Monster (1954) & Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) then you have to see this as it's on par with both of those. The script for The Brain from Planet Arous is ridiculous, a giant alien brain with glowing eyes arrives on Earth (it's never explained how he gets here since he seems to need a spaceship to get back to Arous which he has to build) & possesses a scientist & develops lurid & sexual desires towards Sally while another giant alien brain who is good & here to capture Gor also arrives & possesses Steve's dog George! It all sounds silly & it is but I found it infinitely entertaining, at only just over 70 minutes long it moves along like a rocket, the dialogue isn't as bad as some other sci-fi films from the same period & there are one or two effectives moments. The character's are alright even if Sally & her father seem rather relaxed, unshocked & unconcerned about the giant talking alien brain they meet! There are also a few other howlers here, the idea that a scientist can say with 100% accuracy that no force on Earth could have made the plane crash & that aliens are responsible is lazy while Steve seems to know a lot about Mystery Mountain if he can tell a pile of rocks at the base weren't there a year ago! I mean a rock fall might have happened & did he memorise every rock at the base the last time was there a year ago? Wouldn't a nuclear scientist have better things to do? The for some reason Sally knew that the bodies from the plane crash were burned like Dan yet she was not allowed to see the bodies & told to go away at the scene of the crash so how did she know?The production values are alright, obviously a really low budget film the special effects aren't too bad considering. The giant brains look silly but because of what they are & the concept that they represent rather than because of bad special effects if you see what I mean. The only really bad effects shots are the planes exploding which are less than impressive. There's some stock footage of an atomic bomb going off & destroying a town & a wimpy crash at the start. The sexual advances & the way Gor talks about Sally must have been quite strong for it's day, he forces himself upon her a couple of times trying to rip open her top & take her bra off, George the dog comes to her rescue but get a kicking for it's trouble in yet another scene that seemed quite strong for it's day.Filmed in black and white on a budget of about $58,000 the ever popular Bronson Canyon was used as a location (maybe Gor's cave was the one that the mighty Ro-Man from Robot Monster hung out in...). The acting varies, John Agar is alright as are most of the main cast but some of the smaller roles are filled with really bad actor's.The Brain from Planet Arous is another highly entertaining film that I really liked, it's difficult to recommend it & give it more than five out of ten but I would rather watch this again than a lot of the crap that gets released these days. A top guilty pleasure.

Generally speaking there are two types of Sci-Fi movies from the 1950's. First and foremost you have the timeless and indisputable classics. These are the highly influential milestones that everybody knows and appreciates, like "The Day The Earth Stood Still", "Forbidden Planet", "This Island Earth" and a selected few others. Secondly you have the massive overload of low-budgeted, insignificant but tremendously amusing campy B-movies. These movies handle about the weirdest and most grotesque alien invasion stories and feature the craziest monster designs and special effects. The majority of those films are long forgotten and very obscure by now, but if you happen to stumble upon a cheap DVD version, you're guaranteed to have a great time! "The Brain from Planet Arous" is such an irresistible camp oldie. The plot is preposterous, the titular monster is a ludicrous creation and the script is chock-full of slightly perverted undertones and insinuations. Dig this: the eminent scientist Steve March and his assistant head out to the remote area of Mystery Mountain because there are unusual fluctuations in the radioactivity measurements. Once there, they run into an evil alien from the planet Arous that goes by the name of Gor. Gor is in fact a gigantic floating brain with a pair of evil penetrating eyes who promptly kills the assistant and possesses the body of Steve. Gor wants to do very sexist things to Steve's fiancée Sally, but his main objective nevertheless remains dominating the entire universe. His hobbies include burning people's faces and causing planes to explode in open air. Luckily, for our planet's sake, Arous also sent a good alien named Vol to prevent Gor from executing his fiendish plans. In order to stay close to Gor, Vol possesses the body of Steve's loyal dog George! Now, through this brief plot description it's probably clear already why "The Brain from Planet Arous" isn't ranked amongst the biggest Sci-Fi classics of the 50's decade, but it's definitely great entertainment. The film is fast-paced and doesn't suffer from dullness at all. Genre expert Nathan Juran ("The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", "20 Million Miles to Earth") assures a tight direction and John Agar is the B-movie veteran actor at your service. There are numerous memorable highlights to be found here, like watching how Agar painfully struggles with his black contact lenses or the meeting of the world leaders gathered in a small office in Indian Springs; Nevada. The abrupt ending leaves many questions unanswered (like how is Steve every going to talk his way out of what happened) and the whole thing only gets sillier if you think about it, but "The Brain from Planet Arous" definitely comes warmly recommended to all tolerant fans of Sci-Fi nonsense.

This is yet another underrated John Agar Schlocko-Sci-Fi Movie from the Fifties and Sixties. Its pacing appears immediately as a problem(far too SLOW in building towards the film's plot points and overall plot), but, to paraphrase past video/movie reviews from "Video Review" magazine, of the no less SCHLOCKO and Rather-Reaganesque, uber-CONFORMIST 80's, ... if you're looking for some "Vegematic movie" Laughs, "The Brain From Planet Arous" will NOT let you down!"The EVIL Brain" of course, steals the cinematic show, even from the flick's star, Mr. Agar, whose body this "Salacious, and Sex-Starved, Fiend from The Deepest Fathoms of Space" has tragically, ... overtaken.Will leave the rest of the story of this again, underrated John Agar flick, to You, The Viewer, to decide IF this really is an underrated work by Agar, and this film's also, often too underrated Director, NATHAN H. JURAN.Mind you, Dear Viewer, this movie is not as effective as Agar's starring roles in such SCHLOCKO Masterpieces as "Tarantula," or "The Revenge Of The CREATURE," ... but still on my "Schlocko-B-Movie Scale," it's gotta rate, a well-earned 8 out of 10! Alright, so I have far less TASTE and "Culture" than that-there LEONARD MALTIN Lad! So what! I still appreciate the STRONG acting PERFORMANCES, in this Fifties Sci-Fi movie, as well as in many other such flicks, wherein the actors, the entire CAST is challenged by the truly cheesy "Special Effects"(well by our now, 21st Century Standards, of course they're cheesy!), to truly convince "We the viewers," that there IS indeed a real existential threat coming "right at us," from this "Womanizer-Wanna-Be' of a "Brain," ah-hem, from indeed, HIS{and it IS surely a MALE Brain, Folks!) Planet, of "AROUS"! Wonderful performances are turned in as well by JOYCE MEADOWS as the attractive source of the Ever-Loving Lustfulness, from this disgustingly, sexually AGGRESSIVE, from this "Interstellar SEX-ADDICT," really, from this Stinkin' Space CADET, ah-hem, I mean, from the "Space Brain," and yes, I do believe that IS, the notable B-Movie Actor Thomas B. Henry, who plays Ms. Meadows' Dad.Enjoy it! And it's NOT only for kids and CHRONICALLY-WACKY, Emotionally IMMATURE "Adults," like me, either, folks, believe me, ... it is not.

"The Two Brains From Planet Arous", actually. This stupid little sci-fi cheapie features an alien who must have inhaled a life-long supply of laughing gas; how else to explain the incessant laughter which precedes and follows every act of violence against the poor, defenseless Earthlings? Agar's performance is so hammy, so campy, so silly, and invariably stupid that it reduces the already flimsy story to a sub-superficial comic-book level.The evil brain, Gor, dominates the movie with his endless displays of power. On the other hand, the good-guy brain, Vol, promises at the outset that his powers are equal to, if not greater, than Gor's, but what happens? Vol enters a dog's body, and does practically nothing to stop Gor; so much for greater power than Gor... In fact, for most of the movie Vol is just a useless dog, licking his masters or his own balls (a new sensation for him, no doubt). And what's with this Gor? His plan is to have the Earthlings create a huge inter-planetary fleet which would invade Arous and establish him as ruler of that planet. There's just a tiny, tiny, tiny little hitch: won't the other brains from Arous have the same power as he does, and simply annihilate any fleet that attempts to take over the planet with the power of their mind? I also find Gor's newly-acquired taste for female flesh - and a ravenous appetite it is - to be quite silly.