Rating: 
Summary: If It Were Any More Disturbing, It Would Be Illegal
Review: The rating isn't for quality. This movie is one of the cheapest productions ever put on film. It literally defines schlock. The performances are so uneven, they come off as amateur night at the community theater. The cinematography is so bad, the day-for-night shooting slips in and out. Several scenes sound as if they were recorded in a tin can - and probably were. It's more padded than Dolly Parton, and not as delightfully.On the other hand, once you get past all that, this is one of the most unsettling movies ever made. If it were any more demented or disturbing, it would have to be directed by Tobe Hooper and rated "X". Psychopathic surgeon Jason Evers gets in a car accident speeding home to check on one of his failed experiments, and ends up decapitating fiancee Virginia Leith. He carries her head to the lab, and keeps it alive in a pan of his special serum, which he uses in limb-grafting experiments of so-far unsatisfactory results. Leith is extremely unhappy with being kept alive in her present condition, and even more so when she discovers Evers intends to murder the most beautiful woman he can find so he can put Leith's head onto a new body. The serum Evers keeps Leith's head alive with gives her telepathic power, and she develops an unsettling friendship with the failed experiment Evers was running home to check on in the first place - a hideously deformed giant golem in a locked closet, constructed of badly grafted-together tissues. The longer Leith is kept unnaturally alive, the more twisted and hateful she becomes, until she and the deformed monstrosity create an insidious alliance to kill Evers and his criminal assistant. What makes this unbelievably cheap p.o.s. work is the conviction of the performers - Leith, especially - and the pervasive dementia, throughout. The soundtrack is incredibly effective, eerie beyond belief, often creeping up and down your spine. The visuals are genuinely unsettling in their very simplicity, to the point that you don't even notice the rubber bald-cap on the hideous golem until repeat viewings. The violence is shuddery-awful, voyeuristically lingering on some of the most gruesome things imaginable - like a man's arm being ripped out of its socket, and the camera's following him through the house while he bleeds to death, the demonic head in the pan cackling delightedly throughout. In short: cheap beyond belief, but more often than not incredibly effective. A must for all schlock horror afficionados.
Rating:
Summary: They Don't Make Them Like This Anymore
Review: This is a great movie. It's intelligent, suspensful, well written, and well acted. And it probably really could happen in the future as medical technology advances. That's the scary part.
Buy this movie.
Jeff Marzano
Rating: 
Summary: "...horror has its ultimate..."
Review: This legendary turkey rivals the worst of the worst. Regardless, fans of schlock cinema can rejoice and enjoy its lowbrow aura. The girlfriend of Dr. Bill Cortner, a radical experimental surgeon, suffers decapitation in an auto accident. Using his dark science, Dr. Bill keeps her head alive, propped up in a pan and connected to tubes and IVs. The raspy-voiced Head laments its fate with the bleat, "Let me die!" Dr. Bill eventually covers the yakking mouth with surgical tape to silence the whining, a great moment in our little story. Across the room, the monstrous product of a previous failed experiment pounds on the heavy door of its cell, and plots revenge with The Head. They both want, er, a piece of Dr. Bill. Dr. Bill goes out looking for a perfect female body, upon which to implant The Head. This is an excuse for leering scenes of strippers, poverty-row beauty contestants, and a briefly clad model posing for photographers. '50s soft-core titillation. (Note: the flick is variously dated as 1959, 1960, and 1962. Who knows?). The mood music is a sleazy jazz piece with an edge called "The Web" that helps the viewer endure the skid row sideshow. Various edited versions of the film exist, but the one with the wrestling middle-aged hookers, fighting for Dr. Bill's attention, is the funniest. If the women only knew what he really wanted! The Head cogently summarizes the entire flick by pontificating, "Like all quantities, horror has its ultimate, and I am that!" We couldn't agree more. There is a risk of overusing the phrase, "so bad, it's good." At times, it can't be helped. Good party tape. ;-)
Rating:
Summary: So bad, it's good!
Review: This was a GREAT "B" movie! Not only does it contain some cheesy special effects, bad acting, and a script that is just laughable, it's one of the WORST movies I've ever seen! Low-budget has never been this bad! I LOVE IT!!! Herb Evers plays the role of mad doctor Cortner who is illegally experimenting with transplant surgery. But when his girlfriend (Virginia Leith) is killed in a gruesome car accident, Cortner takes her disembodied head and keeps it alive with a special serum which he made himself. Unfortunately, the head takes a mind of it's own and forms a special bond with a hideous monster, another failed experiment of the doctor, while he's out searching for a new body for her. Plenty of shocking blood and gore which was edited out of the television version, this 1962 B&W horror flick is good for it's time and gore buffs of today will still not be disapointed. If you're looking for an award-winner though, this is NOT the movie for you! This turkey will probably only please the average "B" movie buff. IT'S SO BAD, IT'S ACTUALLY GOOD!
Rating:
Summary: So bad, it's good!
Review: This was a GREAT "B" movie! Not only does it contain some cheesy special effects, bad acting, and a script that is just laughable, it's one of the WORST movies I've ever seen! Low-budget has never been this bad! I LOVE IT!!! Herb Evers plays the role of mad doctor Cortner who is illegally experimenting with transplant surgery. But when his girlfriend (Virginia Leith) is killed in a gruesome car accident, Cortner takes her disembodied head and keeps it alive with a special serum which he made himself. Unfortunately, the head takes a mind of it's own and forms a special bond with a hideous monster, another failed experiment of the doctor, while he's out searching for a new body for her. Plenty of shocking blood and gore which was edited out of the television version, this 1962 B&W horror flick is good for it's time and gore buffs of today will still not be disapointed. If you're looking for an award-winner though, this is NOT the movie for you! This turkey will probably only please the average "B" movie buff. IT'S SO BAD, IT'S ACTUALLY GOOD!
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Storm Of Schlock!
Review: To me, THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE is the perfect horror movie. It has my three favorite elements: Mad scientists, experiments / organ transplants gone wrong, and zombies. In this case, the mad doctor and his wife get in a car crash, severing her head from her shoulders. The doctor rushes her dome to his lab, where he keeps it alive in a tub of chemicals. He then attempts to locate and kill a beautiful stripper to provide a body for his spouse. Meanwhile, Mrs. mad scientist's head has decided that her husband is crazy and needs a lesson in "head-side" manner. She befriends a strange zombie / monster in a closet made of her hubby's other botched experiments. She's the brains and it's the brawn, so to speak. Together, they take care of the mad doctor and his lab. A classic schlock-o-rama! Highly-Highly recommended...
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