“Let me die…..let me DIE!”
Equal parts campy, exploitative, and just plain dumb, 1962’s The Brain That Wouldn’t Die has its moments of brilliance, but they get lost in a sea of silliness that made this film a cult classic. The film stars Jason Evers as Dr. Bill Cortner and Virginia Leith as his fiancee, Jan Compton. Cortner is a surgeon alongside his father, who doesn’t agree with Bill’s unethical practice of experimenting on humans. While inexplicably driving at a high rate of speed to get to his secret lab at his family’s country estate, Bill flies off of the road in a one car accident. Sadly, Jan is decapitated. Hoping to save her, Bill takes her head to his lab where he and his assistant, Kurt (Anthony La Penna), manage to revive Jan’s head and keep it alive. Amazingly, Jan can breathe and talk without lungs and receives sustenance from Bill’s “andreno serum.” Bill believes that he can sustain Jan in this state long enough to procure the right body for her. He goes on the hunt for the perfect body while Jan realizes that she has acquired telepathic powers thanks to the andreno serum. She soon learns how to control one of Bill’s failed experiments and plans on using it to put herself-and anybody that gets in the way-out of her misery. Does Jan get ahead of Bill? Does Bill find the perfect body for Jan? Watch The Brain That Wouldn’t Die to find out!
Despite being filmed and completed in 1959, the movie didn’t find a distributor until 1962. American International Pictures released the film on a double bill with Invasion Of The Star Creatures. The film was heavily edited for theaters, with most of the gore, an exploitative cat fight between strippers, and a nude scene cut from the release. The European version of the film kept all of these elements. It was directed by Joseph Green and co-written by him along with Rex Carlton.
Along with Evers, Leith, and La Penna, the film starred Bruce Brighton as Bill’s father, Eddie Carmel as the monster controlled by Jan, and a number of attractive women that Bill preys upon in order to find the perfect body type. The women that Bill attempted to lure back to his lab were portrayed by Bonnie Sharie, Lola Mason, and Playboy Centerfold Marilyn Hanold. The Web, a very groovy, sexy theme played each time that Bill goes on the hunt, actually received a cast credit in the film as well. Adele Lamont portrayed Doris, Bill’s ultimate victim in the film.
Each time that Bill approached women, he would attempt to avoid others that might see him with them. Unfortunately for Bill, someone almost always showed up to unknowingly save his potential victims. Every “hunt” sequence was creepy. No, not in the “there’s something out to get me” way, but more like a “pervy dude gawking at women” way. There’s an extended driving sequence in which Bill looks at women walking down a street. The camera focuses on the women for very long periods of time. When Bill goes to a strip joint, the camera cuts between looks of seduction from the strippers to looks of disgust from the “average” women that happen to be there with their boyfriends or husbands. Then we get to see a seductive dance by a scantily clad Bonnie Sharie and then a gratuitous cat fight between Sharie and Paula Maurice that, while having no nudity, just feels dirty to watch. We then see Bill attend a beauty contest just in time for the swimwear competition. When he’s tipped off about an old college friend, Doris, who is now an artist’s model, Bill walks into one of her sessions where a group of men are quickly snapping photos of her with hungry looks in their eyes. If you see the American theatrical version, you’ll get to see Adele Lamont in a bikini. If you see the European version, you’ll see Lamont posing in the nude. Much like with the stripper fight and the swimwear competition, this scene is creepy and exploitative. There’s nothing sexy about it all.
Despite the very pervy and exploitative feel of the film overall, there are some flashes of brilliance. The cinematography and music built up frantic and creepy moments in the film. I was particularly fond of the high speed drive that ended with the decapitation of Jan. Much of the sequence was shown from the viewpoint of the tires on the vehicle. I also loved how random closeups of highway signs would flash during the sequence. The frantic music only added to the chaos. I also liked the special effects in the film.
The main things that made me dislike this film were the extended exploitation scenes and the long sequences, with little to no dialogue, that often took place. Bill runs like crazy to get to his lab in order to save the head of Jan, but he seems to meander, fall over, and look away in anguish for far too long. There are also extended scenes without music that pull you out of the film for a bit.
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die is by no means a masterpiece. In fact, it’s more garbage than greatness. That said, it’s worth watching at least one time. Just be ready to wash your hands after viewing this cult classic.
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