Rating: 
Summary: Classic horror camp
Review: "Alive... without a body... fed by an unspeakable horror from hell!"
So reads the tagline for this laughter-inducing horror film.
Dr. Bill Cortner is an egotistical and arrogant physician who likes to experiment with bodies in his spare time. In the first scene, after exclaiming, "He's dead! I can't do any harm!" and "Sure! I've made a few mistakes, but I've learned from them! Learned!" he is allowed by his physician father to take over in the operating room when a patient dies on the table.
Good Dr. Bill is next seen recklessly driving himself and his sweet, horny fiance Jan out to his country house; the car crashes, he salvages Jan's head from the burning wreckage, wraps his prize in his jacket, and runs the rest of the way with it like he's going for a touchdown during a football game. Once he gets to his lab, he sets her all up and presto! It's "Jan in a pan!" as I have heard this film referred to in the past.
Almost immediately his once-sweet lady (well, her head anyway) becomes a screeching shrew hoarsely calling out such lines as "Revenge! I hate him for what he's done to me!" as the desperate doctor goes on the hunt for a suitable body to use for restoring his girl back into something more, uhm, fully functional. His search takes him to strip joints and a beauty contest, to name two avenues he tries before he finds someone he believes to be a suitable candidate, telling her, "I'm going to cut your face off and give away your body, ah ha ha!" as she innocently laughs along.
To add to the fun, there is of course the wretched assistant with a mangled arm; one of the doctor's earlier "mistakes", and the "thing" locked in a closet in the lab. There's also the continual soundtrack of horns and sleazy stripper-like music. As far as the gore factor, this movie is actually pretty gruesome for its time, although the blood seems to be rather conveniently spilled (downstairs, but not upstairs, for instance), and "Jan in a Pan" laughs more maniacally as the movie progresses.
It's never explained how the head can speak without lungs or a body, although it must be the *new and improved* "Adreno-serum" as it's called that's being pumped into Jan's head, but then again who cares? Continuity flubs abound and serve to add to the camp factor. And look for the ending credits, which list the movie as "The Head That Wouldn't Die".
You can find this movie on Amazon.com in a DVD version that has the original film by itself, and also the film as part of an episode of Mystery Science Fiction Theatre 3000, the now-defunct hit TV show. Well, all I had to review this film with was my raggedy old videotape that appears to be degrading, so after watching it again, I gave into temptation and ordered the Amazon DVD of it. It'll be worth having a really good version of this so-bad-it's-funny bomb.
Rating: 
Summary: "I'm just a head and you're...whatever you are ...
Review: ...but together we are strong!" If these words give you goosebumps, then this movie is for you. How fortunate for our protagonist, that just when he's searching for a nice body to attach to his fiance's head, they're holding a Body Beautiful pageant in his town. But just like a woman, his fiance actually gets angry at him for keeping her head alive in a tray. Sometimes you just can't win. While this film has everything you could expect from a so-bad-its-good movie, there are also flashes of intelligence, halfway-decent acting and nice camerawork. Not enough to keep it from being fun, though. A classic of its tiny genre.
Rating:
Summary: "I'm just a head and you're...whatever you are ...
Review: ...but together we are strong!" If these words give you goosebumps, then this movie is for you. How fortunate for our protagonist, that just when he's searching for a nice body to attach to his fiance's head, they're holding a Body Beautiful pageant in his town. But just like a woman, his fiance actually gets angry at him for keeping her head alive in a tray. Sometimes you just can't win. While this film has everything you could expect from a so-bad-its-good movie, there are also flashes of intelligence, halfway-decent acting and nice camerawork. Not enough to keep it from being fun, though. A classic of its tiny genre.
Rating:
Summary: "I'm just a head and you're...whatever you are ...
Review: ...but together we are strong!" If these words give you goosebumps, then this movie is for you. How fortunate for our protagonist, that just when he's searching for a nice body to attach to his fiance's head, they're holding a Body Beautiful pageant in his town. But just like a woman, his fiance actually gets angry at him for keeping her head alive in a tray. Sometimes you just can't win. While this film has everything you could expect from a so-bad-its-good movie, there are also flashes of intelligence, halfway-decent acting and nice camerawork. Not enough to keep it from being fun, though. A classic of its tiny genre.
Rating:
Summary: "I've got a headache this big...."
Review: A few technical notes about this "Special Edition" DVD of THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. The box states the length to be 85 minutes, yet the DVD timer on the DVD player reads 82. Intermittantly during play, the timer would pause for minutes at a time (an error in the writing of the disk or not?). This was especially noted during the gory scene of the lab assistant's death. Hence, the time was not accurately displayed. This DVD was 85 minutes however, regardless of the hour and 22 minutes the movie ended on. Another noted inaccuracy was the ratio. On my TV, the movie did not seem "windowboxed" at all as the package states. This was not a concern, however. Now for the film itself. THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE is an alternately creepy, hilarious, quirky and campy little picture. The "Brain" is the loved one of the mad scientist, whom was decapitated in a car accident. The creepy doctor takes the head to his laboratory and brings it back to life in order to transplant it on a curvier, sexier body. This is all and good, 'cept the brain WANT'S to be dead and plots a course of revenge against her former beau. Hmmm, pretty impressive for a gal who is sustained in a lab tray! Nothing about this film could ever be taken seriously, and that is the fun! I saw this weird film as a kid during the "Creature Freature" on the local T.V. It made a huge impact on me and I am happy to own a copy on DVD. As for the quality of this DVD, minus the minor techincal flaws mentioned above, its a real treasure. Also contained are the original trailer and some odd publicity materials. The "extra footage" is what gave this old movie new life to me. Its not difficult to see why these scenes were removed for TV audiences. Seeing this film uncut for the first time was an eye-opener. The film's print is a mostly clean one, with some age defects. The sound sometimes comes through as tinny, but it is certainly more than adequate. Enjoy THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, if its few flaws don't give you a headache!
Rating:
Summary: IM DA ONLY ONE
Review: GOOD MOVIE.A GREAT MOVIE IF YOU LOVE OLD MOVIES IN BLACK IN WHOTE (FRANKIENSTIEN,THE WOLF MAN, THE MUMMY.ECT.) P.S I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO REVIEWED DIS MOVIE BECUSE I AM AWSOME!!!
Rating: 
Summary: The movie that wouldn't end
Review: I bought this dvd expecting something hilariously awful. I got something that was just awful. Parts of this movie were funny, but the movie really could have been 15 minutes long. All the scenes just dragged on forever. Then just when the movie was actually getting interesting it ended. I recommend getting Plan 9 from Outer Space if you're looking for a really bad funny movie. That movie was great all the way through. Don't waste your money on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Funny B-Movie!
Review: I first became aware of this film when it was featured on the show "Mystery Science Theater 3000". I figured that I would buy this film on it's own and check it out. While I can't say that the film is excellent, I do have to give it four stars for its ability to throw something different your way. The story revolves around an experimental doctor who feels that he can either create new body parts and/or creatures. When his fiancee is tragically decapitated in an accident, the doctor is so distraught that he chooses to keep her head alive in some sort of pool of liquid and hooked up to numerous wires and things that buzz. He then sets out to find a "donor" body for his fiancee so they can be together again. However, his fiancee feels betrayed that he would keep her alive in this fashion. She plots with a creature the doctor has created and has kept hidden to destroy the horror she and many others have been involved in. While the actual plot seems really far-fetched and a bit silly, I think this is a pretty decent film (according to B-movie standards). I think that if you are in the mood for an old horror movie that's not really scary or disturbing, but will give you a good laugh and make you think, "What was that," this is the film for you!!!
Rating:
Summary: BEWARE THE THING IN THE CLOSET!!!!
Review: I loved this movie as a kid! Scared the be-jesus out of me! After his fiancee loses her head in an automobile accident, a mad scientist keeps it alive in a roasting pan, complete with succulent juices! In his search for the perfect body with which he hopes to re-attach the head, we are treated to a cat-fight by some pretty voluptuous strippers, and introduced to a "thing in a closet" that has a telepathic link with the head. Jan, as the head is known, conspires with the closet monster to exact revenge on hubby-to-be for keeping her alive as some sort of freak. ALL HELL breaks loose when the "thing" in the closet escapes, rips the arm off of the scientist's assistant, and bites a plug of flesh from the mad doctor! SYNAPSE has done a very good job in its presentation of this sci-fi "classic"! Buy today and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Really Scary
Review: I never saw this one as a kid. I'm not sure how I missed it, but I'm glad I did. It's scary as hell. The photography quality is awfull, the acting is what you would expect, but it comes across as a cross between a film noir ,an old dracula flick, and the 1930's Blue Angel. Excellent for a dark night.
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