Elmer le remue-méninges

My review was written in April 1988 after a screening at Cine 42 on Manhattan's 42nd St.

"Brain Damage" is an overly ambitious but nonetheless rewarding low-budget horror film using the monster genre as a timely metaphor for drug addiction and its ills.

Unfortunately, pic has been poorly promoted and instead of a careful launch it preemed at the sleziest theater on 42nd Street in Manhattan.

Filmmaker Frank Henenlotter showed promise with his 1982 pic (shot in 16 mm) "Basket Case", with many of his collaborators encoroing on this 35mm followup, which includes a funny camro (with basket) byh the first pic's lead Kevin Van Hentenryck.

Rick Herbst stars as Brian, a youngster who's bitten by Elmer the Parasite (film's working title), a centuries-old eel-like monstr being kept alive on animal brains by goofball neighbors Theo Barnes and Lucille Saint-Peter. As Brian quickly learns, Elmer gives his host a periodic jolt of "juice", blue fluid injectged into the brain which provides a psychedelic high.

Brian becomes addicted to this pleasure and carrying Elmer around under his shirt gives the monster access to human victims, whose brains Elmer dines upon. Pic climaxes when Elve4r goes after the heroine, Brian's pal Barbara (Jennifer Lowry).

At every step, Henenlotter makes clear the analogy between Brian's plight and drug addiction, including going cold turkey and radical behavior changes as a tipoff to family (Brian's brother Mike, played by Gordon MacDonald) and friends, etc. Horror format is useful in this regard, heavily leavened by outbreaks of black humor.

Elmer, created by Gabe Bartalos and David Kindlon, is an admirable achievementg, a mobile puppet-like monstr that pays homage to films ranging from "Fiend Withoutg a Face" to "The TIngle". With a wisecracking voice (uncredited, but sounding like tv horror movie host Zacherly) and cute eytes, Elmer is funny as well as scary in context.

Acting is over-the-top and film could have benefited from the casting of name talent in order to cross over to mainstream audiences with its timely thematics. As it is, Henenlotter, cinematograher Bruce Torbe and their team have maintained a harsh, cheap, underground look that fis the picture's cult ambitions. Overuse of blue filters is one drawback, however. Keyboards musical score by Gus Russo and Clutch Reiser is extremely effective.

Largely ignored on its original release but subsequently gathering a loyal cult following over the years, Brain Damage will no doubt appease fans of director Frank Henenlotter's other darkly humorous and outrageously gory works Basket Case (1982) and Frankenhooker (1990). Bringing his trademark sense of humour and mixing it up with lashings of tongue-in-cheek blood-letting, Brain Damage also strives to deliver a message, and is admirable for the anti-drug theme running throughout. With America in the midst of an AIDS and crack panic at the time, Henenlotter paints a very bleak picture of a New York City in crisis, as a parasitic killer searches for unwitting victims.

Average Joe Brian (Rick Hearst) wakes up one morning feeling disorientated, finding his bed sheets soaked through with blood. He doesn't seem to be cut, but when he looks in the mirror he finds a strange parasitic creature on his person. Looking like a turd with eyes and big teeth, it also has a name, Aylmer, and speaks in a dignified foreign accent (voiced by John Zacherle). Injecting Brian through the back of the neck with a blue liquid that gives the unsuspecting goofball a drug-like sense of euphoria, Brian gets hooked on the stuff, and Aylmer exploits his addiction for food. Only Aylmer has a taste for human brains, and so Brian must spend his sober hours searching for human victims. Alienating himself from his girlfriend Barbara (Jennifer Lowry), Brian also faces the threat of the symbiote's former owners, who have been going cold turkey ever since it fled.

Cut to pieces on its original home video release but later restored, it isn't difficult to see why the ratings board demanded the removal of certain scenes. A wonderfully wince-inducing scene in which Brian pulls his own brain out of his ear for what seems like an eternity found itself on the cutting-room floor, as did the uncomfortable scene where a woman is eaten alive while appearing to be performing fellatio in an unnecessarily sexualised moment of pure exploitation that left me genuinely horrified, and not in a good way. The story and characters are engaging enough to keep the film interesting, while the obvious lack of budget means that the acting is sub-par and the special effects are often laughable, if not charming. The main strength is Brain Damage's depiction of a drug addict going to increasingly desperate measures in order to procure his fix, and Hearst is surprisingly good in the role. Fans of Henenlotter should keep their eyes peeled for the appearance of a certain man with a basket.

you know, i just went to see House of Wax the other day, and ten years after scream came out why are the same boring plots with the same boring characters doing the same stupid mistakes our only option for horror these days.

i suggest going back 20 years to the 70's and 80's if you want to find some great horror. horror then was low budget but imaginative. the movies had interesting story lines and were not shy about blood and gore. a good stepping stone for this sub-genre is one of my current favorites, Brain Damage. It starts off on a very surreal note, but mixes its strangeness with an accurate portrayal of a young man hopelessly addicted to the mother of all drugs. his dealer is perhaps the most unique little monster in all of horror, Aylmer (pronounced "elmer").

Aylmer is a purple cucumber shaped alien with a tiny smiling face and a soft warm voice. he finds a host, and injects his host with a blue liquid that comes out of one of Aylmer's fangs. this "brain juice" jacks up its host into a hullucionary state. while the host is in la-la land, Aylmer makes a victim of whoever the host comes in contact with, eating the victims brains.

as vile as all that sounds, it is hard to see Aylmer as evil. he is just such a nice little guy. plus he is unique in his appearance, personality, and attacks, which all go a long way with me in a modern world of horror villains pushed off an assembly line.

this movie is not winning an Oscar. it is strange and campy and violent. but if that is what you desire in a film, this hidden gem may become one of your favorites!

One morning a young man (Rick Hearst) wakes to find a small, disgusting creature has attached itself to the base of his brain stem. The creature gives him a euphoric state of happiness but in return demands human victims.

After "Basket Case", Frank Henenlotter wanted to do a project called "Insect City", but that fell through due to funding and other issues... so he instead went for a twist on 1950s science fiction. He posited the idea: what if someone had a parasite, but one they actually wanted? This is an interesting concept, and was fleshed out to the idea of an "aylmer", this creature that was passed down from great ruler to great ruler for centuries. The story was so well-written that you feel it must have been at least partially based on some legend. Nope, just Henenlotter's genius.

The film is now widely seen as a metaphor for drug addiction, or addiction in general. But interestingly, this seems to be an afterthought. Henenlotter said the idea came to him like this: first, he thought of a creature attached to someone who needs to kill. But then, going with the concept of a "welcome" parasite, he wondered why the host would allow this, so he came up with the drug aspect. So rather than this being a story about the side effects of drugs, it is actually quite the other way around...

And, of course, as a selling point we have Henenlotter gore. While this film ranks beneath "Basket Case" and "Frankenhooker" as far as overall quality, it has some of the best gore... with scenes that had to be cut (for both the MPAA and the distributor!) but have since resurfaced. For those who love extreme films, the alley scene can only be enjoyed uncut.

As a bonus for horror fans, we even have the voice of Zacherle. Interestingly, Zacherle worked uncredited because he was in SAG and could not be in a non-union film at the risk of getting fined or tossed out of the union. His voice being so recognizable, some saw his lack of credit as an insult, but just the opposite was true: to give him credit would have opened him up to great punishment!

The legacy of "Brain Damage" cannot be ignored. Like all other Henenlotter films, it has acquired a cult following. Not as much as "Basket Case", but more so than "Bad Biology". And lead actor Rick Hearst has done well for himself, going from this independent production to becoming the king of daytime television, becoming a regular on no fewer than five soap operas! Quite the change of pace from low budget gore.

But most interesting is probably editor James Kwei, whom most people have never heard of. Kewi had been in horror for a while with "Christmas Evil", "Maximum Overdrive" and others. But after this, he increasingly became associated with the films of Martin Scorsese, including "Goodfellas". While he had already been with Scorsese since "After Hours" (1985), it was at this point (1988) where he really switched gears.

The Arrow Video Blu-ray is crammed fuller than Mr. Creosote. There is a brand new audio commentary by Frank Henenlotter and several featurettes. We have "Listen to the Light: The Making of Brain Damage", a brand new documentary featuring interviews with actor Rick Herbst, producer Edgar Ievins, editor James Kwei, first assistant director Gregory Lamberson, visual effects supervisor Al Magliochetti and makeup artist Dan Frye. There is "The Effects of Brain Damage" with FX artist Gabe Bartalos, and "A Look Back" with assistant editor Karen Ogle.

And still more... "Elmer's Turf: The NYC Locations of Brain Damage", sort of a supplement to the tour Henenlotter gives on the "Basket Case" Blu-ray. The interesting "Tasty Memories: A Brain Damage Obsession" interview with superfan Adam Skinner. A "Brain Damage" Q&A with Henenlotter recorded at the 2016 Offscreen Film Festival. And certainly not least of all, "Bygone Behemoth" (2010), an animated short by Harry Chaskin, featuring a brief appearance by John Zacherle in his final on screen credit.

This is one of my alltime favorites of the horror genre! A great movie to watch.

What i like about this movie is the underlying drug related messages throughout. It's like watching requiem for a dream almost in that drug-related sense.

I don't need to tell much about the plot, since i'm sure many have already explained it.

I am a hardcore horror fan through and through, and i will just say that this movie rocks. It's got a great and interesting story, some awesome gore scenes and some hilarious comedy as well. It's not scary, but it is a gory, funny, bizarre, and original movie that isn't even close to being like anything else out there...you gotta see it to believe it.

10 out of 10 (based on a horror fan's review)