Review of Brain Eaters, The

Introduction

As producer Samuel. Z Arkoff explains in the interview on this disc, the fifties were lean years for cinema in the United States. Competition from television meant that the film industry was a shadow of its former self, but Arkoff found a niche in the market. The post war ascendancy of the teenager meant that a new demographic existed to be catered to. With traditional Hollywood still making movies with established and by now aging stars, Arkoff saw that by making cheap and cheerful films directly for that market, he`d be on to a winner. It was just a matter of marketing and with titles like `I Was A Teenage Werewolf` or `War Of The Colossal Beast` he`d easily pique interests. Well, I must be a sucker for punishment. Having reviewed The Spider from the Arkoff Film Library, you would think that I have had my fill of b-movie horror. However three names associated with 1958`s The Brain Eaters captured my attention, noted Science Fiction author, Robert Heinlein, albeit unaccredited as writer, Roger Corman as executive producer, and Mr Spock himself Leonard Nimoy in an early role.

A couple are driving home one evening when a loud bang causes them to pull over to investigate. They find a forest clearing strewn with dead animals surrounding a strange metallic cone shaped object rising 50 feet from the earth. News of this phenomenon reaches Washington, and Senator Walter Powers takes it upon himself to investigate. When he gets to Riverdale, Illinois he finds that local scientist, Dr Paul Kettering is already studying the object. But the inhabitants of the town are beginning to act strangely and out of character. Strange parasites from the cone have attached themselves to people and are controlling their minds. Overwhelmed and cut off from the outside world, it falls on the Senator, Dr Kettering and a select few to combat this chilling menace, and they no longer know who to trust.

Video

These movies were made on a budget and were kept cheap and cheerful. You won`t be surprised to read that The Brain Eaters comes with a 4:3 monochrome transfer. The picture isn`t in as good a condition as was The Spider, but it is fairly clean but soft, and it does appear grainy and over-exposed at times. Contrast also varies through the film.

Audio

A simple DD 2.0 mono track naturally accompanies this film and the dialogue such as it is, is audible throughout. The sound does suffer from hiss, crackle and pop, but the music is classic fifties b-movie melodrama. If you select Play or Chapters, you will first be taken to the subtitle menu before you can continue. Subtitles are available in German and Dutch

Features

The problem with the Arkoff Film Library is that every disc contains the same extras. So if you buy one disc, the other discs end up as rather redundant. Nevertheless following the theme of cut and paste for this review…

With the disc comes a collection of 9 postcards with reproductions of various posters from American International Pictures. Some of these posters are very good, advertising films like The Brain Eaters, The She Creature and Voodoo Woman.

On the disc you will find 9 trailers lasting just under 2 minutes each, advertising more of the same.

Finally there is a 50-minute audio interview with producer Samuel Z. Arkoff. This is presented with a looped slideshow of images of the producer and is very interesting. He goes into the history of 50`s cinema and also his own personal story. He also has some interesting comments regarding the state of modern cinema (at the time of the recording) As I said this is an entertaining and in depth piece, but it is blighted somewhat by the variable audio quality.

Conclusion

Well, I`m going to break with precedent and write a completely different conclusion for The Brain Eaters, rather than re-editing the one I wrote for The Spider, mostly because The Brain Eaters is quite good, in a bad way of course. All the necessary ingredients for a b-movie experience are there, the dodgy acting, the dire dialogue and the pathetic effects. Yet there are elements that make The Brain Eaters a rather enjoyable experience, not least the short running time, as the Brain Eaters will sap only 61 minutes from your life. However, there is a semblance of a story here, one which is entertaining and more than two-dimensional. There are a few twists and turns, and the story throws up a few surprises as it plods along.

It also must have been apparent to the filmmakers that their monsters were hardly monstrous, looking in the daylight more like a black plastic blob with drinking straws for antenna. So they followed the same path that Spielberg would tread with Jaws, and tried to keep their monsters obscured for much of the film. Indeed if you look at the trailer, you`ll see a scene with the black blobs visible in all their glory, yet in the film itself, the same climactic scene is rendered barely visible through mist and fog apparently added in post production. It also has the added effect of obscuring an already unrecognisable Leonard Nimoy. All this means that the film retains a modicum of suspense throughout by inference and implication. Also when people are possessed the only way of knowing this is a curious bulging at the back of the neck, a clever touch that keeps the audience guessing.

Yes, it is highly derivative, coming only two years after Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, with a theme often copied subsequently, not least in the Original Star Trek Episode: Operation Annihilate! and TNG episode: Conspiracy. But somehow, that doesn`t matter, as the film is fun in its own way. This is how b-movies should be, cheap, cheerful and utterly pointless. And yes, the scientist does indeed smoke a pipe.

Bad, but in a good way, well worth a watch.