Brain Dead
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Movie Reviews of Brain Dead
Movie Review: I loved this movie! Not very violent- but good!
Summary: 5 Stars
It is a great movie! You'll love it!
Note: Amazon Marked it wrong it's rated "PG-13"
They also messed up on "Pearl Harbor" too. That's "PG-13"
Movie Review: Nicely Done
Summary: 5 Stars
Loved this film.Could get a bit confusing at times but thats what made it so good.It all makes sense eventually dont worry :).Movie Review: One of the best horror flicks of the nineties, criminally overlooked.
Summary: 4 Stars
Brain Dead (Adam Simon, 1990)
When Brain Dead is remembered these days, two decades after its original release, it is remembered mostly for being an early Bill Pullman flick, a few years before he would hit the big time. But this first feature from Adam Simon (The American Nightmare; he also wrote the vastly underrated 2009 flick The Haunting in Connecticut) has much, much more to recommend it than simply another obscure star turn from Pullman, who two years before had been part of what made The Serpent and the Rainbow into one of the best horror flicks Hollywood ever produced. It is oddly common that Hollywood will crank out two movies on the same theme at roughly the same time, with one obscuring the other for whatever reason; think of The Lost Boys getting all the press while Near Dark languished in obscurity. In this case, the overarching film was Jacob's Ladder, which was similarly brilliant but much better marketed. Both are well worth your time, but I'm guessing somewhere along the way you actually saw Jacob's Ladder, while this one fell under your radar.
Plot: Rex Martin (Pullman) is a brain surgeon. His pal Jim Reston (Near Dark's Bill Paxton) is a higher-up muckety-muck on the board of a big corporation. One of said corporation's mathematicians, Jack Halsey (Harold and Maude's Bud Cort, in what may be the best screen turn he ever gave), has gone round the bend and is locked in a mental institution. Reston wants Martin to see if there's any way Halsey can be returned to sanity long enough to complete a big equation he was working on for them. Martin hems and haws, and that's when things get sinister: is Reston suddenly now out to get him, at the direction of the mysterious head of the corporation (George Kennedy)? Seducing his wife (Manhunter's Patricia Charbonneau), getting his funding cut, the works? Or is Martin simply going crazy? Or has he always been crazy?
I haven't even begun to touch on the acting talent assembled for this film; small roles abound for excellent actors like Lee Arenberg (recently part of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise), Kyle Gass, Nicholas Pryor (Ruffian), Brian Brophy (The Shawshank Redemption), Maud Winchester (Birdy), and a host of others. The script is intricate, multi-layered, and ambiguous enough that people are still debating it twenty years after it opened, though if you pause and give it some thought, it's as straightforward as Jacob's Ladder. Simon is a solid director, even in his first effort, and nothing goes horribly wrong here save, arguably, the opening scene (which seems to exist for the sole purpose of putting the "experimental face", which was used in promo materials and poster art, into the movie). It's simple: if you're a fan of the mindgame horror film, you're going to love Brain Dead. You probably missed it the first time around; you'll want to rectify that. ****
Movie Review: Great tale of madness
Summary: 4 Stars
4-1/2 Stars. I love this movie. Found myself so wrapped up in it, trying to figure out what is real and what is fantasy. This movie keeps you guessing and is full of surprises.Movie Review: Three brains out five
Summary: 3 Stars
Bill Pullman, Bill Paxton...What's the difference? Find out once and for all with this movie, Brain Dead, which stars them both!
Adapted from an old Twilight Zone script, this is one is certainly a bit of a tongue twister for your mind featuring Pullman as a brain researcher Rex Martin, who finds himself unable to distinguish between dream and reality after a car accident. We witness Rex's descent into madness as he stumbles through an endless string of dream sequences. Is he the doctor or the patient? Dead or alive?
While the "is this fantasy or reality?" schtick does grow a little tiresome, Brain Dead is a nice little horror gem that transcends its low budget with it's dark comedy and great performances from the two Bill's. The Twilight Zone influence really shines through as well for those familiar with the series.
Not the stuff of classic, but a good time waster for horror/thriller fans.