Brain Dead (1989)

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Directed by Adam Simon.

Starring Patricia Charbonneau, Bill Paxton, Nicholas Pryor, Bill Pullman, Bud Cort.

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Brain Dead was based on a script by Charles Beaumont, leading some obtuse fans to hail the "return" of that frequent Twilight Zone contributor. Actually Beaumont has been dead since 1967, so this cookie spent a long time in the oven. Stalwart supporting actor Bill Pullman is given star billing as a brilliant brain surgeon who agrees to perform an operation on a psychotic mathematician. This surgery, ostensibly, is to "adjust" the patient's attitude--and, incidentally, to unlock the corporate secrets secreted within the patient's brain. But as Pullman probes about, he begins experiencing first-hand the psycho's fevered, paranoic dreams. Pullman drifts farther and farther from reality, and the audience is implicitly invited to do the same. Bill Paxton also stars in this Roger Corman-style thriller, produced by Corman's daughter Julie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Re: Best Zombie Film Ever
by ottobud in Zombie Obsession

hasn't rated it.

"Here's another vote for the original Dawn of the Dead, which I've seen more times than I can remember. I also love Shaun of the Dead, Dead Alive, Re-Animator and Evil Dead II. I don't consider 28 Days Later a zombie movie, but I liked it too, as well as its recent sequel. " [More]

Re: When I think of GORE, I thi ...
by Puhnner in Gorrible

liked it.

"Peter Jackson! There's certainly something about his maniacal energy and good humor in showing buckets and buckets of gore and flesh flying about. 'Brain-dead/Dead Alive' is a blood and gore besplattered piece of good humor; something that should be distributed from an ice-cream like van with a tinkling bell. ( I am not a big fan of the Lord of Rings cycle, I just couldn't stand looking at the terrible sets of feet).You made a good contrast with the inclusion of Clive Barker. The first 'Hellraiser', which I found with no humor whatsoever, but then, all the better made to creep the dickens out of me. ( If I remember correctly, it came out sometime around Christmas time in my area of the country and I remember taking the members of my office out on a bit of a field trip to see it; I am pretty sure no one really thanked me for my generous offer...)I suppose there's a discussion here, the applicability of good humor, versus having none, in horror movies ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

is neutral about it.

A clever and frightful little chiller that was unfairly ignored upon release in 1990, director Adam Simon's Brain Dead offers an enticingly complex foray into the human brain highlighted by a surreal sense of reality distortion. Scripted by frequent Twilight Zone scribe Charles Beaumont, the story somewhat resembles the darker entries of the classic fantasy series, albeit with a decidedly more gruesome slant. Bill Pullman offers a solid early performance as a brain researcher who is slowly drawn into a patient's psychosis after picking at the request of a slick corporate administrator (Bill Paxton) who hopes the probing will reveal valuable information, and as the troubled patient, Bud Cort (of Harold and Maude fame) offers a memorably giddy schizophrenic. Instead, the doctor finds himself drawn ever deeper into a puzzling world in which reality and fantasy clash in a seemingly unending cycle of psychotic confusion. Sporting a deliciously warped sense of humor that perfectly compliments the film's nightmarish tone, the film may not be entirely gratifying to impatient viewers who tire of its trippy sensibilities, but for those willing to let logic go, it's an interesting journey. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Tags: insanity , brainsurgery , craziness , delusion , ethics
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