Beast From Haunted Cave/The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Film, But...
Review: "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" is a masterpiece of the kind of filmmaking that's so bad that it's great, but there are many incomplete prints of this film which cut out the best scenes, including one of a pinhead tearing the arm off the mad doctor's assistant.

Since I have no idea whether or not the Mystery Science Theatre version of the film, for example, is complete, but knew that Madacy had a rather complete copy of the film with a bonus feature tagged onto it, I decided to give this cheap version a try despite the adage that you get what you pay for.

When Madacy does things right, they put out great deals. The thing with Madacy however is that they do not go to the expense of remastering films or tracking down the best film elements. Sometimes they have great prints, and it is unrealistic to expect perfect prints of any of these old turkeys which nobody made any effort to preserve in the first place. Even some of the ones which are slightly degraded have a fun midnight movie feeling to them with their scratches, etc. And for an apparently complete cut of "The Brain..." I was even willing to lower my standards. However, the picture quality of this print of "The Brain..." is particularly terrible. The print is all washed out and there is very little black and white contrast or detail. Watching this version, I believe I have a good idea of what it is like having a cataract.

Well, I was willing to take a gamble because the disc is cheap and contains a second movie, and usually at least one film on Madacy's double features is worthwhile. But "Beast From Haunted Cave" is merely boring. There are only approx. 5 minutes of the film that are interesting when the aforementioned beast, a character apparently added to the film as almost an afterthought, is on the screen, but this isn't enough to make the film worthwhile.

I still enjoy owning what seems to be a complete cut of "The Brain That Wouldn't Die", but I would recommend looking into the running time of other releases as it is worth some extra cost to get a better complete print (the complete cut is usually listed as running approx. 92 minutes), especially since the extra feature of "The Beast From Haunted Cave" provides no incentive to buy this version.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: Ah, the joys of found footage! It is truly a lost art form. Beast:
Anyone that can take footage from their ski vacation and turn it into a movie deserves an Oscar. Just goes to show how corrupt Hollywood is, I guess.

There is a certain charm in watching these people try to act as if they are in a ski resort by bumbling about in front of projected footage. But the kicker is watching them depict warm breath by, get this, stealing drags off of cigarettes and blowing the smoke out while they talk! Yep, a classic.

Brain:
Wow, stunning. The world has never seen special effects like this before, and probably never will again. If silly tubes and vials filled with percolating fluid and dry ice are your idea of a mad-scientists lab, you're in for a real treat. There are a "few" plot holes that you could probably drive a Mack truck through, but why would you watch this for deep meaning? Kick back, grab some popcorn, and prepare to laugh yourself silly.

Rating:
Summary: DVD deserves DVD quality!
Review: I can not stress how dissapointed I was with the qaulity of this DVD. It looked like the company used a VHS tape recorded in the EP mode for mastering. This compnay should realize that consumers are not stupid. We know what DVDs should look like. Most of us who like these old films already have a poor quality VHS copy at home. I would be happy to pay twenty dollars for either of these titles (as opposed to ten for two),but please don't insult us. If only all DVD older films would look like the Blob that was recently released by Criterion. Most people watch these old movies to remember yesterday. There worth the price if done right.

Tom Phillips

Rating:
Summary: Madacy Should Be Ashamed
Review: Some of the titles in Madacy's new Drive-In double feature series are decent-enough quality. This disc, however, is unwatchable. The "Beast" transfer is washed out, with video and black levels far out of spec. The transfer itself appears to have come from a bad 3rd generation VHS. "Brain" is equally horrific... out of focus most of the time, with the framing too tight and off center, as if the producers simply set up a video camera and shot the image off of a television set. The TRAILERS included for both films are actually much better quality than the features. Save your money.

Rating:
Summary: Madacy Should Be Ashamed
Review: Some of the titles in Madacy's new Drive-In double feature series are decent-enough quality. This disc, however, is unwatchable. The "Beast" transfer is washed out, with video and black levels far out of spec. The transfer itself appears to have come from a bad 3rd generation VHS. "Brain" is equally horrific... out of focus most of the time, with the framing too tight and off center, as if the producers simply set up a video camera and shot the image off of a television set. The TRAILERS included for both films are actually much better quality than the features. Save your money.

Rating:
Summary: Bad movie vs. good movie
Review: The Beast from the Haunted Cave is a terrible movie. Besides the film being all washed out, the plot is long and drawn out. I could hardly stay awake for this snoozer. The beast is seen for a total of about maybe 10 seconds the entire film, and is genuinely scary looking; but not good enough to redeem the movie.

The Brain that Wouldn't Die, on the other hand is a perfect B-movie horror flick. It's just so bad, it's good. You've got to see this one! A mad scientist-type loses his main-squeeze in a firey auto accident, but manages to salvage her head from the wreckage! He keeps the head alive, while scouting out the babes for a suitable body to attatch the head to! Hilarious! Although the sound quality is pretty poor, this is one classic that you CAN'T afford to miss.

Skip the Beast, and buy this just for the Brain!

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Movies and the Horrors They Endure
Review: While looking for Creature From Haunted Cave, a Corman movie listed in the annals of my movie-watching past as something akin to a giant insect feature, I happened upon this double set of it and The Brain That Wouldn't Die, an absolute classic. Now, both of these movies are something worth watching, The Brain that Wouldn't Die a bit more than the almost monster-devoid Beast From, and both rank right up there in the cinema hall of fame that sprouted from the B-movie halls of shame. Still, since both movies have been covered in depth here and on there separate movie pages, I'll focus my attention on the DVD at hand (Killer Creature Combo) and the utter lack of quality it has so you'll perhaps go and buy a better version of both.

Its truly a shame to see these movies cast in the green haze of Killer Creature films as it eats away at the black and white and makes certain scenes wretched and vacant. The darker aspects of the screen sometimes disappear altogether and sometimes the brighter scenes seem to be overcast, ruining the effects of many a movie that would have otherwise been a lot better and killing the moods when monsters decide to drop in and wreak havoc. Added to this is the sound quality of the most abysmal variety, where voices fade in and out and sometimes become so low that one can't hear them, and the fact that the menu to this DVD is an utter annoyance.

If you decide to buy these films, which are both worth a watch, you should definitely spend a little more and go for a transfer that has been remastered. Otherwise, you'll be disappointed when scenes disappear along with your patience!