I'm not sure what exactly led to the Sci Fi fixation of evil secret projects being launched by the government but the late 70's and early 80's flicks are FILLED with them. This era of Sci Fi created almost as many of these types of movies than the bomb did back in the 50's Much of those movies were quite bad, the same can be said about these types of films as well, to that, say hello to The Brain Machine AKA Grey Matter.Much of what has been said about this flick has already been said so I'll summarize, The flick starts with a Robert Ludlumesque plot of a Doctor finding out some connection between the military and an environmental project. Once this slice of suspense is over (roughly 15 minutes in), the rest of the movie is just ending....Brain Machine has some overlong skinpealingly boring scenes of doctors trying to get "the truth" from the volunteered patients. How someone telling "absolute truth" helps the environment(you know, pollution, overpopulation not emotional environment), I will never know and don't bother scratching your head about it. IT IS NOT WORTH IT!The director, editor, maybe screenwriter, I don't know was absolutely obsessed with establishing shots of the clinic and the General's office. Interesting fact for fellow connoisseurs of bad movies, the General's house is the exact same house Peter Lawford's character uses in the Greydon Clark nonclassic (made famous by MST3K) Angel's Revenge aka Angel's Brigade aka Seven from Heaven. It is easy to make this connection because the viewer really gets a lot of long hard looks at buildings.Aside from the padding, boredom, and confusing script, the dialog is REALLY goofy especially when the patients go in the "E-box" Things go wrong in there and an exasperated patient says things like "You scientific birdbrain!" followed by "You scientific bitch!", another patient follows suit with "You scientific bastards!" and my favorite "You'll have to kill me before I die!"I recommend watching this movie if you got it like I did in one of those 50 movie budget DVD packs. You basically know what you're getting into when you buy those sets so enjoy the mediocrity and remember DO NOT TRY TO FIGURE OUT HOW TELLING THE TRUTH HELPS THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT! As Lewis Black once said about something similar to that "You'll end up having blood shoot out of your eyeball trying to figure that one out."

"The Brain Machine" is one of those action films with relatively little action and lots of "filler" sequences between the action scenes. But that's OK in this case, because what we get is intriguing filler. At times endearing filler....entertaining filler....but above all intriguing filler. This is also one of those films in which you don't really know what's going on a good deal of the time, or even most of the time. And at times you don't even know who some of the characters are supposed to be (antagonists? PROtagonists? NEUTRALS??). But that's OK in this case, since what is on the screen is interesting even when it's incomprehensible. "Brain Machine" keeps your attention and gets you to think. I like the way Joy N. Houk, Jr. mixes "modernistic" and "postmodern" elements. The whole production, from a design point of view, has a "modernistic" orientation (obsessive use of the color blue in the decor, the appearance of abstract expressionist paintings as wall murals, the overall sleek and clean look, etc.). Yet the storytelling style and characterization are decidedly POSTmodern, i.e., ambiguous, amorphous, and ill-defined. "Brain Machine" tells the stories of a group of disturbed individuals living in a disturbed, uncertain universe. The film may be more than thirty years old, yet in some respects it is quite contemporary........

Ouch, what a painfully BORING Sci-Fi movie! And that's especially saddening because the opening 15 minutes were so action-packed and full of potential! During the intro, we follow a bunch of nervous security officers and hired hit men as they chase a doctor who escaped from a mysterious laboratory with a briefcase full of top-secret files. As he's about to reveal the supposedly horrible & inhuman events that take place in the lab, he's executed. Figures… From then on, the 'action' swifts back and forth between two locations, the aforementioned laboratory and the rural mansion of a corrupt senator (or something), and it quickly becomes clear that the experiments are actually the complete opposite of disturbing. More like dull, pointless and vague. Scientists selected four random persons without living relatives and it's really really really really important that they speak the truth even though a giant machine reads the content of their minds, anyway. They all hide dark secrets from their pasts and people suffer when get revealed; yet I fail to see how these tests could ever result in a humanity-threatening device. Perhaps I missed something, but I doubt it. The interactions between the patients and doctors are even less interesting to follow, as really none of them have personalities. So basically, "The Brain Machine" just handles about a bunch of lame people living in an awfully decorated room. The film also could have been half an hour shorter if it weren't for a THOUSAND stagnant shots of buildings! The relocations from the lab to the villa and vice versa are indicated EVERY SINGLE TIME by a five-second shot of the places. Either the makers really needed the padding or they just assumed that all Sci-Fi viewers are morons unable to notice a change of location by themselves. Staring at a forsaken pool with a mansion in the background for the tenth time in only five minutes becomes quite annoying, I assure you. James Best's performance as the reverend with mental issues is rather decent, but one man definitely can't save this thing from being an absolute waste of time. Avoid!

Someone mentioned editing. This is edited badly and what started out as somewhat intriguing became an incomprehensible mess. For starters, let us know what it is you are trying to do with these experiments. Why are these people the best choices for the type of experimenting they are involved in? And, what exactly are they testing? Apparently there is some grand plan that some agency is going to exploit. The acting is pretty bad. Everyone is emoting. Everyone is keeping secrets. They frequently mention that if it weren't for the money, they'd hang it up. There's a deranged minister who spouts scripture. On and on. But, again, the biggest hang up is the lack of laying out a playing field for the actors. There are some really cheesy elements. Those little rooms and those chaise lounges. The awful wallpaper (was it wallpaper?). It was interesting, but didn't seem to go anywhere.