THE BRAIN is a solid entry in the 'rubbery monster' B-movie cycle of the 1980s: many of these films were highly entertaining, and this is no exception. It may not reach the heights of genre classics like RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND, or NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, but for what it is, THE BRAIN delivers. It reminded me of a slightly higher budgeted version of films like THE DEADLY SPAWN and THE ABOMINATION.The biggest drawback is the plot. What we see of it is fine, but half of the film is spent on repetitive chase sequences with our hero narrowly averting being captured by the cops time and again. The first few times, this stuff is fresh and exciting, but then it becomes boring and you wish they'd get on with telling the story. This is what stops THE BRAIN from being an outright camp classic.Still, there are plenty of pluses here too. The opening sequence, in which a teenage girl is assailed by slimy tentacles and bleeding teddy bears in her narrowing bedroom, is exceptionally done. I liked how the brain kept growing in size as the film progressed, until it reaches tremendous proportions at the climax. I also found the special effects to be superb, especially the brain itself: this is what special effects were all about, and it's obvious that plenty of time and care went into its creation. Fine by me! The casting is less impressive, as we're saddled with a particularly unsympathetic lead. Not to worry – further down the cast is the great David Gale, once again playing a rotter (in line with his appearances in the RE-ANIMATOR flicks!). Plus there's the gorgeous Christine Kossak, providing some completely gratuitous nudity, and the hulking George Buza, who runs amok with an axe for the most part; you can't really complain about that.Despite the multitude of rubbery effects, the film is surprisingly free of gore. There's a beheading in here and some gruesome scenes of the brain chomping on victims, but that's about it. There's also an impressive car flip and a fun explosive ending. This will go down as a classic in nobody's mind, but for some fun '80s cheesiness, you've come to the right place.

This is a nice little b-movie from the glorious 80's that really made me laugh. The thing i enjoyed the most of course would be the awesomely slimy low budget special effects! Those, although cheap, were often really killer! The movie's about a mad doctor who brainwashes people subliminally through his television show into being what he calls "Independent Thinkers" which are really helpless pawns in his nutty plot to take take over the planet via mind control. (They should have included that Suicidal Tendencies' song "Subliminal" in the soundtrack, oh well) Anyway somewhere tied into this cool plot is a giant slimy killer brain from outer space. Sounds cool huh? Well it is so check it out if you dig cheesy creature fx from the 80's. There's also a couple scenes with boobies which is always a plus. The funniest part is a certain attack where the brain looks like a giant scrotum devouring a human being...if that don't sound rad to you then don't waste your time with this or any of my other reviews cuz we definitely got different taste but otherwise this isn't to be missed!

My friends and I rented this for "Bad Movie Night" with high hopes, but The Brain was something of a letdown. The Brain itself is gloriously goofy-looking, but it mostly just sits on its little platform. Who thought that it would be cool that the Brain only gets to munch on three people throughout 94 drawn-out minutes? This movie has a number of things going for it at first, including an Estevez-knockoff lead playing a rebellious genius (we're told that his enormous intellect is misdirected into his elaborate pranks and school stunts, which include putting krazy glue on someone's chair). It also has some great lines, a hilariously out-of-shape and out-of-breath henchman who just barely manages to be everywhere, and, yeah, some chick gets naked. However, the director desperately needs some schooling in the art of pacing. During the last half things just start to drag on and on, with at least 3 or 4 pointless, boring chase scenes making up the middle third of the plot. The scenes inside the PRI complex are especially bad. At least 15 minutes of this movie are people running up and down the same stairwell. I could've fixed the screenplay to this thing in half an hour- more cheese, more gore, more nudity, more Brain action. If you're going to make a bad horror movie, at least give me something cool to look at while my superego shuts down. Maybe the director was trying to really bring the audience into his movie- I started feeling like one of the zombified townsfolk by the end of this crapfest.

In the small American town of Meadowvale Dr. Anthony Blake (David Gale, the IMDb listing for this character is wrong it's definitely Dr. Blake not Dr. Blakely) is the director and founder of the famed 'Psychological Research Institute' and also host's a local T.V. programme called 'Independent Thinkers'. He uses this T.V. show to hypnotise the viewers and make them commit acts of violence. Dr. Blake has the help of a large brain with an evil face that uses it's spinal cord as a tail thingy. Usually the brain is just sitting in a tank, eats mice and the odd bad actor, each time it eats someone it gets much bigger. Meanwhile at the local high-school gifted but troublesome teenager Jim Majelewski (Tom Bresnahan) has been caught putting Sodium down the toilets. Jim is sent to Dr. Blake at the PRI for help with his attitude and behavioural problems. While there Dr. Blake hooks Jim up to, well something I'm not actually sure what. This whatever it is, is attached to the brain. At first Jim is able to resist the brain's mind control. The brain feels that Jim is a threat to itself and it's plans. Once out of the PRI Jim starts having bizarre hallucinations and crashes his car. Jim makes it to his waitress girlfriend Janet (Cynthia Preston as Cyndy Preston) but is handed back to Dr. Blake's assistant Verna (George Buza) soon after by Officer Marks (Harry Booker). The brain wants to kill Jim because he is the only one capable of withstanding it's mind control techniques, and with 'Independent Thinkers' going national the brain doesn't want anything or anyone to stop it's evil plan for world domination! Jim quickly realises that the brain is controlling the entire town and he alone must stop the brain, before it takes over the world!Directed by Ed Hunt who calls himself Edward Hunt here, the Brain wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Don't get me wrong as it certainly isn't great either. The script by Barry Pearson tries a stab at satire with the brain washing and mind control by T.V. storyline. It moves along at a fair pace and isn't too boring. No explanation is given for the existence of the brain at all, it's just there and that's it we have to accept it. The story is a little choppy and never fully explores one single element, there's the T.V. mind control, the brain itself, Jim being hunted by the police & his misbehaviour and various other little bits and pieces here and there including a bizarre revelation regarding Dr. Blake that isn't explained at all. Production wise this film looks cheap, and probably was cheap. The acting isn't great but I've seen worse, and what is David Gale doing in this? In fact this role is similar to Gale's role in Re-Animator (1985) even down to his character's deaths in both films. The brain itself at first sits in a tank and starts to grow whenever it eats someone and by the end it is pretty big. Each stage is just made of rubber. It doesn't look particularly good and isn't scary or creepy, just cheap. There's no blood or gore in it apart from a blink and you'll miss it decapitation. The nudity is provided by Dr. Blake's assistant Vivian (Christine Kossak as Christine Kossack) before she gets eaten. The brain had a certain entertainment value for me but I would think most people would dislike it. Maybe worth a watch if you can see it on T.V. for free.