GamerTab
That was an excellent one.
Dotsthavesp
I wanted to but couldn't!
TaryBiggBall
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
Humaira Grant
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
cinemajesty
Movie Review: "The Brain" (1988)This in Canada-produced micro-budgeted Horror Flick, probably produced for less than 500,000.00 Canadian Dollars in season 1987/1988, where family-friendly productions as "Bettlejuice" highly visceral-directed by multi-talent Tim Burton, the 1950s remake of "The Blob" (1988) or alien-zombie-apocalypse "They Live" directed by John Carpenter will take all the glory with the knowledgeable movie-goers; without being ashamed this small-time gem makes its way anyways onto the list of 1980s horror exploitation due to a well-paced script by hobby-screenwriter Barry Pearson, following a local TV show moderator, who presents "live" to take over world dominion with help of an human-manipulating alien psychic brain parasite, with regards to fair writings execution by director Ed Hunt under impeccable restrictions and a saving-it-all in 90-minutes-editorial by David Nicholson; in favor for an inflation-clarified formula that still works to this very day where Hollywood Majors as Warner Bros. affiliate New Line put a minimum amount of budget of less than five million U.S. Dollars production budget into movies as "Lights Out" directed by David F. Sandberg to come out with two to three decent shocker effects within 90 minutes or less that sell as box office magnetizing gimmicks in order to end up with margin of 10 to 15 times multiplied revenues on the initial production budget; which was not the case with "The Brain", having no chances in selected Canadian movie houses, but reaching cult status with genre fan boys; and additionally discovered by an anonymous German Sales Representative in reviews, who then brought it in the year of 1989 straight to VHS cassette distribution in West Germany without seen any U.S. American theatrical exhibition at all, at time of release on November 4th 1988.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)
TheBlueHairedLawyer
High school student James has excellent grades and a beautiful girlfriend, but he is always playing weird practical jokes. This makes his teachers and parents sign a consent form to have him sent off to a revolutionary new TV doctor, Dr. Blake. Dr. Blake often talks about the increase in teen suicides and sure enough, just near James' house, a fellow student has just stabbed her mother and jumped out a window... but was there more to it? Did she really jump, or did something else kill her mother and push her? James finds the mental hospital where is is sent to be pointless and annoying, so he leaves the building. Unknown to him the hospital nurse who he hallucinated as being topless, is on his side; she knows about the strange hallucinogenic brain experiments on people in the building and threatens to tell. Before she gets the chance, a giant brain-like creature eats her. Blake sends an overweight bearded med assistant to hunt down James and bring him back.James hides out in his girlfriend Janet's diner after his car crashes and blows up. She tries to hide him but a cop shows up, as does the fat med assistant, and Janet can only watch as he is dragged away again, this time kicking at some invisible monster no one else can see. He escapes the hospital a second time with her help, and the help of his best friend, but his best friend is eaten by the brain monster. Murders start popping up all over town and on the TV sets of all the viewers tuned in, Blake tells them it was James who killed them, and that James has trouble distinguishing reality from fantasy. A brainwashing message is also said, convincing several housewives to kill their husbands if their husbands refuse to watch the Dr. Blake show. Now Janet and James are runaway fugitives, hiding out in the local high school as the entire town of brainwashed adults search for them.This wasn't the best movie but you've gotta admit, it's entertaining at least. The soundtrack is pretty good, the acting was okay and for the budget they had, the brain monster was pretty good, though highly unbelievable. This movie might make you think twice about tuning in every day to D. Phil, Ellen and Oprah.
trashgang
It was all over with the slashers around 88 so it was time for the cheesy rip offs of those older movies. The Brain is well done, the script reminded me of Videodrome but then in a more cheesy way as said before. The acting can go through with it. But it's the effects that makes you laugh, the so called Brain is really a turkey and the blood is never shown. The opening sequence is what makes this movie worth watching, the hallucinations are really nicely done and reminded me of Nightmare on Elm Street, remember the telephone coming alive.... Some how you keep watching this flick, waiting what is happening next. It's viewable for all freaks out there cause there isn't any gore in it and as said the blood isn't there neither but there is nudity for the perverts. I have seen worser movies than this one, only wished they had made it bloodier...
Paul Andrews
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.
