The Brain That Wouldn't Die

An independent horror release from the mid-60’s that has since become into a classic of the public domain world (meaning any idiot with a projector can show it and make money off it), this movie must definitely be better now than it was when it first came out. The story deals with a good-looking doctor who is convinced he can transplant body parts, this during the time when transplants were apparently non-realistic. In an accident, his wife “dies”. But it’s okay, because he’s been able to save her head (?) and is able to keep it alive using some of his custom life substance, which had previously brought back to life a creature made up of isolated body parts. While the doctor goes out to get a new body for his girl, the head gets some telepathic link with the monster, and is ready for revenge. Yeah, as you can tell, this is a pretty bad movie. The acting is abysmal and the directing is shoddy, at best. But you can’t really hate on it either, because it’s very entertaining as well. The plot is comical, and some of the situations are really ridiculous, like when the two women fight over a man with cat sounds over it. But there are some interesting subliminal points, particularly when it comes to male behavior. After all, this is about a doctor who is looking for ‘the perfect body’, going from strippers to friends and settling on a model who has a deformed face but a perfect body. There’s also the whole “monster in the closet” thing, which you can read into it as much as you can. Anyway, very recommended, especially with the MST3K commentary. One tidbit, the giant monster was played by the Jewish Giant, Eddie Carmel, from the famous Diane Arbus photograph.