The Brain Eaters

I found this movie amusing for its low budget effects and several flaws in its continuity. The most frequent flaw was the splicing of scenes in which it would appear to be day and then night and back and forth. Despite, or perhaps because of its flaws, I liked it. It does help if you like 1950's "B" sci-fi films and Shostakovich to start with.

In addition to the plot strongly resembling Robert Heinlein's "Puppet Masters", the music was also not original. I could find no evidence that there ever was a "Tom Jonson" who wrote any music for this film or anywhere, ever. Most of it was taken, uncredited, from Dmitri Shostakovich's symphonies 1, 5, & 10. I also recognized an excerpt from Sergei Prokofiev's music score for the Russian language film Alexander Nevsky. At the time Brain Eaters was distributed these composers were not as frequently performed in the US and their music would not have been familiar to almost all movie goers. Both composers were from the Soviet Union (Prokofiev died in 1953). They were perceived as Communist and there was a certain amount of prejudice and/or fear about performing it. During the cold war it would also have been difficult for Shostakovich to pursue legal action against the film company if he even knew his music had been used. I suspect this is exactly why this music was used.

I also would not be surprised if it turns out that the source of the performances were records purchased at a record store and the musicians were not compensated either. The credits do not list any orchestra(s)/conductor(s). The editing of the background music was also poorly done. There were several places where the music did not transition smoothly to the next scene or even within the same scene.

Brain Eaters, The (1958)

** (out of 4)

AIP sci-fi about a ground an alien like critters that attach to the neck's of humans of suck their blood out. This is a decent time killer since it runs just over an hour but God knows this isn't the greatest film the genre has to offer. The low budget nature adds a lot to the film and the alien things are actually pretty neat and work well with the small budget. The performances and direction aren't anything to write home about but if you like silly little "B" movies then you might enjoy this one. The film would have worked a lot better without the Dragnet like narration.

I have seen The Brain Eaters a couple of times and is quite enjoyable, despite the low budget and reading some bad reviews about it. This movie was first released on video in the UK as part of the Drive-In Classics series, of which I own a copy. It has since been re-released on video and now DVD.

A strange alien cone shaped craft of unexplained origin appears in the small town of Riverdale. Some scientists and government officials are sent to investigate the craft and at the same time, some of the local residents start acting strange and then die. All of the people who have died have bite marks on the back of their necks and it turns out these are the work of parasites from the cone. These turn out to be millions of year old aliens who want to rule the world and have been living underground all this time. Some of the people enter the cone and are attack by more parasites and are defeated in the end.

The movie's cast is mostly made up of unknowns, although Ed Nelson has appeared in several drive-in movies of this kind including Attack Of the Crab Monsters and A Bucket Of Blood. Also look out for a then unknown Lenard Nimoy, some years before he played Mr Spock in Star Trek.

This is a worth seeing, especially if you are a fan of 1950's science fiction like me.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

This movie is about an invasion of the planet from deep within the bowels of the Earth. Little stupid looking beings (that look a lot like the old Cootie game from Schapper) invade the brains of unsuspecting humans and begin doing their evil bidding.

With a title like THE BRAIN EATERS, this sounded like an astoundingly bad movie--and that's something I can't resist! Older schlock films are a guilty pleasure for me, as I know I should hate them but enjoy them for a laugh now and again. And, with a terribly low score of 4, I sure expected it to be bad. Wow, did it come as a surprise when I did watch this super-low budget film, as in many ways it was quite entertaining and clever---and deserved a score much higher. In fact, almost all the reviews for the film give it a 5 or above--yet, incongruously, there is an overall score of 4!. Given that there is practically no budget, I was surprised that the film was pretty well written and the acting wasn't bad--I really expected so much less. Now I am not saying this is Shakespeare--this is a 50's sci-fi film that seems awfully similar to contemporary films such as INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. And while it will never come close to the quality of great 50's sci-fi, it is a touch better than average and better than films with five and ten times the budget. While my score of 6 may seem high for such a modest film, considering how successful the end product was and how little the outlay, I think it is well earned.

By the way, although he's heavily disguised with a cheesy and very large wig AND he's within a veil of steam, it's Leonard Nimoy as the leader of the little buggers.

It's only about 60 minutes long, and the special effects (what little there are) are substandard, but some real imagination went into this one, with a plot based on `The Puppet Masters' by Robert Heinlein. A strange Earth-drilling craft surfaces in a small town and disgorges a horde of fuzzy little parasitic creatures who fasten themselves to the necks of the townsfolk and control their brains. Scientist Ed Nelson (who is also the film's producer) battles the invaders. Watch for a scene in which the hero enters the drill craft and confronts a bearded old man . . . played by Leonard Nimoy!

If you just LOVE 1950s sci-fi, here's an obscure little curiosity for you. If not . . . well, try the Sci-Fi Channel.