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The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) - Joseph Green


This is a strange and demented piece of film that serves as the granddaddy to such pictures as Maniac and Re-Animator. But obviously draws from Frankenstein. The imagery of the female head being kept alive in some sort of science lab is very famous for low budget cinema. This movie has a lot of critics, and for good reason. This isn't a good movie in the usual sense. But it is one hell of a horror picture.

A mad scientist comes up with a way to keep boy parts alive for transplants. He has performed transplants before. However, nothing has ever taken properly. When he and his fiancee are involved in a car accident, he is saved but she is horribly injured and only her head survives. He keeps her head alive with the hopes that he will soon have a fresh body to perform a successful head transplant on. However, the head and one of the doctors own imprisoned creatures have different plans.

This movie works on so many levels. It has a good deal of science fiction and is evened out with a great deal of horror. You even get some minor gore through blood loss. The entire thing is cheesy as hell, but that is the charm. Its a cult movie through and through. The movie has that independent feeling to it. The film maker shows the sleazy size of the mad scientist. It shows him out on the prowl picking up fast women and failing at getting them back to his place.

This was my first time seeing this movie and I loved it. I ended up buying it online just to have a legit copy. I recommend this to anyone looking for something different. If you have been putting this one off, then stop. Watch it.

Director: Joseph Green
Producer: Rex Carlton & Mort Landberg
Writer: Rex Carlton & Joseph Green
Starring: Jason Evers, Virginia Leith, Eddie Carmel
Studio: Sterling Productions
Release Date: May 3, 1962
Country: USA
Did ya know: This was the first movie watched by Michael J. Nelson after Joel Hodgson had left in the previous episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988).









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