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The Brain From Planet Arous

The Brain From Planet Arous

List Price: $24.99
Your Price: $22.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: So bad it's funny
Review: This movie certainly isn't up (or maybe I mean down) to the standards of the schizoid and nearly incomprehensible "Plan Nine from Outer Space," but as bad-but-funny films go, this is a doozy. The title itself cracked me up: it's pronounced, "The Brain from Planet Eros." If that's not a double entendre, I don't know what it. John Agar, probably best-known as the ex-husband of Shirley Temple, gives as credible performance. The brain Gor, as noticed below, would make a good model. (Actually I made one once; got a plastic brain and put fake eyeballs on the front. Kids were fascinated by it.) Sometimes I wonder if this movie didn't influence the stylish and witty '80's film "The Hidden." In "Arous" the alien hides in a dog; the same thing happens in "The Hidden." I wonder how the actors were able to keep straight faces.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Joyce Meadows, the perfect SF Heroine.
Review: Though this film is typical of science fiction in the fifties, there is a special interest due to characterization. Young people in the fifties, like young people in every decade, go through periods of alienation. The "self" projected at school or work is not always the "self" projected at home. Young people are often torn between ego and id when it comes to desires, goals, and ambitions. On the surface the alien possession of John Agar's character is simply another one of those favorite old SF themes. However, as young people often find themselves pulled in different directions when it comes to moral and ethical issues involving everything from sex to drugs so is Agar in this film. John Agar has often been underated as an actor. Here we see him as the Agar we are used to, the All American good guy with an inner dark side brought out by the alien inhabiting his body. Agar is very convincing as he in a sense plays two roles. Actress Joyce Meadows is excellent as the girl friend who is strong, loyal, and who sees the good beneath the evil surface. She is no helpless heroine who can do nothing and is one of the very few SF heroines in the fifties to prove herself the equal of any man, or for that matter, alien. Of course all of us would like to have that sort of loyal friend come to our rescue, at any age. She is not a victim. Perhaps the only unfortunate aspect of the film is the title which is very misleading. It is not just another SF film and one I used often in the classroom as a teacher. Yes, I have talked about this with both John Agar and Joyce Meadows and they have become both friends and "teaching partners" over the years. Get the film and enjoy. Fred R. Eichelman, Ed.D.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Will the Fissure of Orlando show up in time?
Review: Two brains with dissimilar attitudes arrive on Earth. One is criminal (Gor) and takes on Steve March's body. The police brain (Val) takes on the body of an actor that is a real dog. They don't ware black and white but you know the bad guy when he has a tendency to destroy things. Don't look too close or you will see the wire holding the brains up.

After/if you recover from this great John Agar movie. Next you need to watch Tarantula

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hokey fun
Review: When I was a kid, John Agar's glazed over radioactive eyes and the floating transparent brain of the film's title really gave me the willies, I tell ya. This is still a wonderful silly movie that benefits from being short, with the monster introduced early on. Agar is good, contorting himself in pain pretty convincingly as the monster enters and leaves his body, and he's got the megalomanical laugh down pat. The special effects are primitive, especially when the alien monster is forced to assume his real shape and reveals himself to be a rubber blob bouncing around on a wire, but heck, you were expecting Industrial Light and Magic, maybe? Everything is low budget: small cast, stock footage, a nuclear research lab with no equipment, and a set that consists of the desert and someone's suburban home. And what other film mentions the "fissure of Rolando"? The extras on the DVD are virtually non-existent, consisting only of chapter search and the theatrical trailer. Biographical info of the performers, especially the supporting cast, would have been welcome. If you like sci fi B-movies, this certainly fits the bill perfectly. The transfer to DVD is excellent.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hokey fun
Review: When I was a kid, John Agar's glazed over radioactive eyes and the floating transparent brain of the film's title really gave me the willies, I tell ya. This is still a wonderful silly movie that benefits from being short, with the monster introduced early on. Agar is good, contorting himself in pain pretty convincingly as the monster enters and leaves his body, and he's got the megalomanical laugh down pat. The special effects are primitive, especially when the alien monster is forced to assume his real shape and reveals himself to be a rubber blob bouncing around on a wire, but heck, you were expecting Industrial Light and Magic, maybe? Everything is low budget: small cast, stock footage, a nuclear research lab with no equipment, and a set that consists of the desert and someone's suburban home. And what other film mentions the "fissure of Rolando"? The extras on the DVD are virtually non-existent, consisting only of chapter search and the theatrical trailer. Biographical info of the performers, especially the supporting cast, would have been welcome. If you like sci fi B-movies, this certainly fits the bill perfectly. The transfer to DVD is excellent.


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