B-Movie Review: The Brain That Wouldn't Die

The Brain That Wouldn't Die 1962
Doctor Bill Cortner has been illegally experimenting with transplanting severed limbs, with little success. When he and his girlfriend Jan are in a car accident, he keeps her severed head alive in a pan, and then goes looking for a body to put her head on.

Tim's Opinion:

This is what B horror movies are about, bad acting, and little, no, or cheesy special effects. This movie has them all. The actors were either overacting, or underacting (especially in the case of Dr. Cortner). The car crash effects are almost as bad as those in "Orgy Of The Dead". There is a certain suspense as we're left wondering until the end of the movie, just what is in the closet. When it tore Kurt's arm out of it's socket, I thought it might be a Wookie. Wookies have been known to do that, you know. But it turns out his arm was just tucked into his shirt. But it turns out, that the creature in the closet was a bad imitation of Sloth from "The Goonies".
One thing that I was left wondering is how the hell did Jan's head manage to talk without a body or lungs? And is the movie called "The Brain That Wouldn't Die", or "The Head That Wouldn't Die", as stated on the ending title card.

Really, it is the ridiculous acting, and the cheesy horror movie story line that make "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" enjoyable, especially after a beer or two. This is one of those movies that is fun to watch with friends, and just joke all the way through it.

Lisa's Opinion:

The Brain That Wouldn't Die; A masterpiece of B movie horror that has made one of Mystery Science Theater 3000's choices of movies. Filmed in 1962, it stars Jason Ever's as Dr Cortner; a plastic surgeon that is very promising and has used human beings as guinea pigs for his experiments against the wishes of his father; who was also his supervisor. One day, Dr Cortner and his fiance, Jan, were involved in an automobile accident and Jan was decapitated. Confident in his abilities, Dr Cortner was determined to save his beloved by keeping her brain alive in his personal laboratory and replacing her body with that of the local hottie; by the name of Doris Powell, a figure model at a local college that has had her face disfigured. While Dr. Cortner was searching for that "ultimate body" for his fiance, Jan, now a literal talking head, gets aquatinted with a guy, who toward the beginning of the movie, sounds like he had a bad case of food poisoning. We never see this guy because he is locked away throughout the movie, all we know that he sound like something is wrong with him. One day, Jan, the talking head and is sick and tired of it, and the guy with the weird sounds on the other side of the doorway, who we discovered is actually a monster type being that somewhat resembles Sloth from The Goonies, finally escapes.

The Brain That Wouldn't Die is full of certain "special effects" that only B movies poses. .  For example,

The credits themselves read, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" at the begriming of the film and " The Head That Wouldn't Die" at the end.

Right before Jan and Dr Cortner's accident, you may hear the squeal of the tires before you see him actually apply the breaks,

And others....

So, if you are planning an iconic b movie night, The Brain That Wouldn't Die would be a great choice in your lineup.

Great B-Movie Titles

The Incredibly Strange Creatures That Stopped Living And Became Mixed Up Zombies: I think this has to be the longest movie title that I've ever seen. I have not seen this one yet, but how can a movie with such a great title be bad?

Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh: This is proof that a great title doesn't necessarily mean a good movie. This movie didn't suck blood, it just plain sucked.

Hey, Stop Stabbing Me: This is a good example of amateur indie filmmaking. "Hey, Stop Stabbing Me" has got to be one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

Zontar, The Thing From Venus: Another one that I haven't seen yet, but just judging from the title, I need to see it sometime.

The President's Neck Is Missing: Okay, this one doesn't actually exist. This was a made up title of a Troy McClure movie from "The Simpsons".

The Thing That Ate The World: Another fictional movie title. This one was from an episode of "Emergency!", when a screenwriter was following Johnny and Roy around, looking for ideas for a new movie. All I have to say though, if they actually make this movie, I'll see it.

A Nymphoid Barbarian In Dinosaur Hell: Another one that proves that a good title doesn't mean a good movie. The Troma movies that I’ve seen have been hit or miss. This one was certainly a miss.

Cannibal Women In The Avacado Jungle Of Death: This one was actually pretty good. Several clips from this movie were used in making another B-Movie, "Bimbo Movie Bash".

Prehistoric Bimbos In Armageddon City: This one is another amateur indie film. It was okay, but not great by any means. Normally, a movie with the word "Bimbos" in the title suggests gratuitous nudity... not in this one.

Purple Death From Outer Space: Another one that I haven't seen, but I certainly want to. This one is a Flash Gordon movie from 1940. If I'm not mistaken, it was compiled from the Flash Gordon serials.

This is certainly not an exhaustive list of great b-movie titles. There are many, many others, "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter" would be one. These are just the ones that I could think of off the top of my head.

Movie Review: Crucible Of Horror

Crucible Of Horror, 1971

Synopsis:

A mother and daughter plot to kill the overbearing family patriarch. But is he really dead?

Tim's Opinion.

For the most part, Crucible Of Horror really isn't a horror movie. It is more of a suspense movie. I think that it got off to a pretty slow start, but the horror movie music throughout the introduction hint at things to come. I wouldn't say that this was a boring movie, but it also wasn't very interesting. As I said, it got off to a slow start, but I was still intrigued enough to watch the entire movie. The acting is certainly adequate, it was just a bit strange seeing Michael Gough (Batman, Top Secret), playing such a domineering and sadistic character. I'm used to seeing him playing much more gentle characters.

There were some things throughout Crucible Of Horror that made absolutely no sense, or at least were never explained. Why the closeups of the cat? Did the cat have something to do with the murder? What was that smoking stuff that the daughter poured into the atomizer? And what was with the guy watching the daughter and calling her later in the movie? At the beginning of the movie, it seems that all of these things would have something to do with the plot, but they don't.

If you're a fan of British suspense, then you will probably want to see this one. The movie is intriguing enough to make it worth watching, especially the twist at the end. If you're expecting a lot of action, then you may want to skip Crucible Of Horror.

Lisa's Opinion

Huh???????? Alfred!! Say It Ain' So!!!!

Crucible of Horror, a movie made in 1971, stars a somewhat young Michael Gough (Alfred from Batman) playing the sadistic patriarch of a wealthily family. Actually, it should be called, Crucible Of Suspense or even Crucible of Various Strange Scenes That Make so Sense. The beginning of the film shows a typical day in a typical middle to upper class  neighborhood complete with the girl named Jane, her brother Rupert, her mother Edith, her father, Walter, the neighborhood boy who is interested in the young pretty Jane and even the family cat all set to scary and sinister music. However, does this film really a typical family? It is later discovered that the young 16 year old Jane, is Walter's punching bag, Edith is a long suffering artist who gets the idea to kill Walter and had dreams of a floating being with very bad hair.The son, Rupert, is clueless the whole time and the cat, who only makes a few appearances, is just the cat.

One evening after Jane was beaten after supposedly stealing some money from a man that was coming on to her, Edith plans to kill Walter and decides to do so when he goes on a trip to the countryside alone. With a gun in hand and a small bottle of poison, Edith and Jane decided to head out to the countryside to kill him. When they reach the cottage and go inside, they hide the gun and greet Walter before going into a room where he has been listening to a recording of a string quartet that somehow gets cranked up very loud while no one was near the radio nor there was any crescendo indicated in  the quartets music whatsoever. Edith eventually slips the poison in his drink, but neither Jane or Edith use the gun. Which makes you wonder why they took the gun when they didn't even use it on the sadistic Walter. Maybe they were thinking that he would just keel over at the sight of it. However, it looked like the poison did the trick anyway so there was no need for the gun. So, dragging the corpse up the stairs and putting him into bed, Jane and Edith made the perfect cover up; but was he really dead?

What Is A B-Movie?

Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, a b-movie was the bottom half of a double feature. It was usually less publicized than the main feature, and often a lower budget.

These days, with double features mostly gone the way of the dinosaur, a b-movie is generally a low budget film that is not an arthouse film or pornographic, although some b-movies can border on softcore porn.

In some cases, b-movies are made by well known directors, such as Roger Corman or Ed Wood, but they are also made by independent directors and filmmakers.

B-movie doesn't necessarily indicate a bad movie. Often the acting certainly isn't comparable to a mainstream blockbuster, and the plot may leave something to be desired, but sometimes the writing and the enthusiasm make up for that.

I have seen many b-movies that are quite enjoyable to watch, while on the other hand, some of them are just plain bad.

My wife and friends and I always enjoy sitting down on a Friday night to watch a couple of b-movies, and laugh and joke our way through the films. We always look forward to sitting down and watching something like, "Hey, Stop Stabbing Me!", or an old b-horror movie like "The Screaming Skull".

Believe me, a couple of beers and a couple of b-movies is a great way to spend an evening.