Brain of Blood

A man who goes by the name of "Amir" (Reed Hadley) is a rich and powerful leader of a country called "Kalid" and he is dying of cancer. Wishing to prolong his life he turns to an insane surgeon named "Doctor Trenton" (Kent Taylor) who guarantees him that he can transplant his brain from his diseased body into a healthy one. Of course, to do that Dr. Trenton needs a live human specimen and since there are no volunteers, he sends a mentally challenged and seriously deformed henchman named "Gor" (John Bloom) out to procure one. Unfortunately, Gor fails in his assignment and so Dr. Trenton is compelled to use Gor as the recipient of Amir's brain. But things don't go as planned. Anyway, rather than disclose the entire story and risk spoiling this film for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that I don't recommend it to anybody but die-hard, Category-Z movie buffs. For starters, the special effects weren't very good and some of the scenes--like the initial surgical procedure or with the young lady named "Katherine" (Vicki Volante) wandering around in the dungeon--seemed to drag on forever. Likewise, I didn't especially care for the ending at all. Below average.

1971's "Brain of Blood" was strictly work for hire as Al Adamson's addition to Hemisphere's trio of 'Blood Island' entries, minus the wooden presence of John Ashley (his "Beast of the Yellow Night" went out through Roger Corman's New World Pictures, so Hemisphere needed a replacement quickly), with Adamson's usual cast of characters for location shooting over 8 days in California rather than the humid Philippines (sadly, no scantily clad jungle beauties). Two ailing actors emerged for one last film role, TV veteran Reed Hadley as dying Kalid ruler Abdul Amir, and Incredible Shrinking Man Grant Williams, whose heroic Dr. Bob Nigserian is given the task of maintaining complete secrecy in keeping Amir's brain alive long enough to transplant from its current cancerous body to a younger, stronger one. Reliable Kent Taylor offers continuity from "Brides of Blood" as mad scientist Lloyd Trenton, the surgeon assisted by dwarf Dorro (Angelo Rossitto) in the delicate operation that will enable him to realize his goal of taking over a Middle Eastern nation. Problems arise when the doctor's mentally deficient henchman Gor (7'4 John Bloom) supplies damaged goods, requiring Gor's noggin to house the brain of Amir, coupled with a special tracking device in his skull that enables Trenton to bend this subject to his will. Meantime, Bob's car is forced off the road by a treacherous Trenton confederate (Richard Smedley), and even Amir's trusted fiancee Tracy (Regina Carrol) turns out to be a heartless harlot, another profiteer itching to earn the ultimate payoff. Apart from Amir's unhappy new countenance, scarred by battery acid, the only one standing in Trenton's way is Bob, the lone survivor of the wreck, but even he cannot prevent the inevitable from happening, a whole host of corpses left behind. It certainly delivers on its promise of blood and brains but very little else, a plot that just dangles like a loose tooth waiting to drop despite the high death count, the picture slowing to a crawl over the entire second half, essentially a simple minded chase picture with everybody on foot. Williams ably carries things along in a part tailor made for him, Kent Taylor repeating his mad doctor from "Blood of Ghastly Horror," Angelo Rossitto and Zandor Vorkov reunited from "Dracula vs. Frankenstein." Vorkov, better known as stockbroker Roger Engel, actually improves on his pasty faced Dracula as Amir disciple Mohammed, lasting a half hour before crashing in a blaze of glory, never again acting before the camera.

The film is not good by any stretch, but it's got elements sure to please the fans. A sadistic midget surgeon for one. There is a dungeon with chained women. I suppose the operation scenes are the coolest. I could not tell if the film used real operation stock footage, not that there are brain transplants in the real world. Well, I was not blown away, but I'm glad I watched it.

I can't say I'm a fan of these 60's Blood Island Flicks (although, I wish I liked them), but in the early 70's, a knock-off, or something similar was created by Al Adamson (Dracula vs. Frankenstein) and Sam Sherman. Brain Of Blood is considered the black sheep of the Philippine gore series, mainly because Eddie Romero didn't direct, and, well, it was filmed in California, so it's an unofficial addition to the series. But whatever. Close enough. For something so shclocky and inept, we're working with a pretty decent premise, here. About the ruler of a fictional Middle Eastern country (Kaleed), who has recently discovered he is dying of a terminal disease. Amir fears for the future well-being of his beloved country. Although, there may be hope in the crazy Dr. Trenton, who believes he can perform successful brain transplants. Amir and his peeps have pretty much nothing to lose. Once Amir's brain is removed, the doctor figures now would be a good time to look for a new home for the brain. With very little time to spare, the brain ends up in the nearest available person... That's right, Gor. Gor is some kind of assistant/village idiot/monster, with a fake-looking, messed up face that makes him look kinda like the Toxic Avenger. So, yeah, Amir is now stuck in the body of a monster, and Dr. Trenton doesn't care because he now has plans of taking over the world, and there's pretty much nothing he can do about it. Although, Amir is a hulking, yet ridiculous-looking monster now, so, maybe something can be done. Yeah, so, this is genuine 70's Drive-In trash in all its inept, stock-footage-using glory. Not really gory at all, and if I'm not mistaken, this got a PG rating, but if you have a thing for the more low-budget Horrors of the early 70's, this one is one of the essentials. Highly recommended. 8/10

I'm not sure I've ever seen a film as bad as this. Awful acting, All over the place plot, terrible special effects. There are some 'so bad its good' moments in here but not really enough to maintain interest. The woman who plays Tracey looks hideous. There are some fairly worrying scenes with a dwarf which leave you feeling ever so slightly violated. On the plus side the operation scenes are fairly amusing for the special effects as is the car chase where one car is "trying to force us off the road" without actually making contact. Guess the budget didn't stretch to trashing cars. Oh and what looks like a Postcard of the Taj Mahal is shown every time they cut to the fictional foreign country.