The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Starring:Jason Evers, Virginia Leith, Leslie Daniels, Adele Lamont, Bonnie Sharie, Paula Maurice, Marilyn Hanold, Bruce Brighton, Arny Freeman, Fred Martin, Lola Mason, Doris Brent, Bruce Kerr, Audrey Devereal, Eddie Carmel, Sammy Petrillo
Director: Joseph Green (II)
Studio: K-Tel Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Mystery Science Theater 3000 experienced a changing of the guard with this fifth-season episode. Departed series creator and lead Joel Hodgson was replaced by head writer Mike Nelson, playing a hapless temp named... Mike Nelson, who was sent into space to cover for Hodgson's escape. The opening credit sequence and title theme (warbled by Nelson) were also new, but the show's basic premise--poking fun at atrocious B movies--remained the same.

Nelson's debut "experiment" is the delirious 1960 head-transplant horror The Brain That Wouldn't Die. And while Nelson is occasionally stiff, particularly during the invention exchange (a longtime Hodgson staple, and soon to be excised), he and robot pals Crow and Tom Servo rise to the occasion during the film, which is filled with memorable zingers (Crow: "He's keeping her alive with Grey Poupon!"). Rhino's DVD presents the uncut, slightly gory version of Brain with and without the MST3K treatment. --Paul Gaita

Customer Reviews:

Great show, good price.......2007-04-12

Any review of Mystery Science Theater 3000 written by me is boilerplate. MST3K was one of the funniest and most intelligent TV series ever to inhabit the ether. I am proud to possess a copy of every episode (except the missing K0-K3 titles, and you Misties know of what I speak).
The Brain That Wouldn't Die is one of my personal favorites.

Not one of their best..........2006-06-10

First let me say I am a huge MST3K fan and I have been known to record over precious family moments if I had no clean tapes. (Not MY precious family moments but, well, you get the idea...)
My favorites include Catalina Caper, Manos: T.H.O.F., The Screaming Skull, Wild Rebels, any Bert I. Gordon, etc. The list is almost endless. (Notice I say 'almost')
This is Mikes' 'first' film and while he and the bots keep the quips comin' they just are'nt as rapid fire as usaul and it shows. It's like they didn't want to give up on using this cinematic dreck but didn't have enough time or energy to give it a good thrashing.
I really tried to love this one (really, truly I did) but out of all the dozens of episodes I've seen (and I have seen PLENTY), only one or two didn't make my Movies-I-Will-Memorize list. Sadly, this one is hovering right near The Mask of Fu Manchu on the loser list. If you've never seen the show you might like it but as a MST gourmet; I've laughed harder.

Welcome, Mike Nelson!.......2006-06-01

The first of the "Mike" episodes; kind of sad for Joel fans, but Mike has a real zing to the commentary that makes up for his poor acting in the bridge segments. The movie itself - uck - a scientist's girlfriend's head kept alive with hydroponics or some such, really kind of a snoozer. But, if you like MST3K, especially the Mike episodes, you'll enjoy this one.

Mike replaces Joel on the SOL, and hilarity quickly ensues.......2006-03-06

Much to my surprise, I just realized that I apparently haven't gotten around to reviewing this classic episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Not only is it an especially funny episode, it is of great historical importance as the first episode featuring Mike Nelson as the human subject for Dr. Forrester's experiments (Joel Hodgson having bowed out in mid-season #5), thus giving rise to the who's funnier controversy that all of us fans seem to enjoy arguing about so much. The whole show got a makeover of sorts, from the theme song to new theatre doors to a new look to Deep 13. Mike, of course, was no stranger to MSTies, having served as head writer for years and having popped up numerous times in skits. That, plus the fact that Mike is a comic genius totally at home in front of the camera, made a rather traumatic event (Joel was, after all, the heart and soul of the whole show) a celebration rather than a wake. It was the start of a phenomenal run, as some of the show's funniest episodes can be found in Mike's half of that fifth season.

Naturally, Best Brains wanted a slam-dunk movie for Mike's debut, and The Brain That Wouldn't Die (also known - in the movie's end credits, no less - as The Head That Wouldn't Die) was a can't-miss. Any show featuring a talking head in a pan of neck juice is rife for ribbing. You've also got a mutated monster so ugly that even Tor Johnson's mother couldn't love him, an arm-challenged mad scientist's assistant, a doctor whose idea of saving lives involves murder, a stripper catfight, and even a beauty contest. And let's not forget the talking decapitated head, even though said head proves so annoying that many would argue the good doctor should have left the head to burn and saved the body instead.

You think you really know the woman you love - until you take her decapitated head, put it in a pan, and keep it alive with your own special blend of neck juice. Dr. Bill Cortner (Jason Evers), a new-breed doctor who bravely goes where most doctors (at least, those not named Frankenstein) fear to tread, could have just let his fiance Jan (Virginia Leith) die after her head gets chopped off in an auto accident. Instead, he grabbed her head, hustled it up to his personal lab, set it up all nice and neat in his own special recipe of life-maintaining gravy, and went out in search of a new body for the woman he loved. But does Peggy appreciate everything Bill has done for her? Nooooo. Not one bit. All she does is turn into the mouth that wouldn't shut up and makes "you should have let me die" her new mantra. Apparently, all of her nice qualities were located in her torso because she turns into a vengeful little spitfire who proclaims herself the leader of the doctor's army of mutant creations (all one of them). In her defense, Dr. Cortner is one weird dude with a pretty disturbing hairstyle, but she knew that before she dropped 95% of her body mass. Maybe she's just mad that the selective doctor is seeking an upgrade model for her new body, but you can hardly blame the guy for that. Why settle for pancakes when you can have the whole hungry man's breakfast?

No self-respecting MSTie would dare be without this hilarious, historically important episode in his/her personal collection.

Laugh every time!.......2006-02-20

Mystery Science Theater is the funniest dumb show ever created. And this is one of the worst movies they've done! I love it!!!! My 5 year old laughs hysterically and doesn't even get the jokes.

Average customer rating:

Horror Classic
"I THINK I'M GOING OUT OF MY HEAD".....OVER YOU!
The Brain Thant Wouldn't Die
ALPHA DVD VERSION
Still a classic at what it did -- Weird people out.

The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Starring: Jason Evers , Virginia Leith , Leslie Daniels , Adele Lamont , and Bonnie Sharie
Director: Joseph Green (II)
Manufacturer: St Clair Vision
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001GH7M2
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Amazon.com

A scientist is driving around with his gorgeous girlfriend and everything's hunky-dory until he wrecks the car and her head goes flying off. Not to be discouraged, he wraps the decapitated noggin in his jacket and scurries off to his lab, where he keeps the poor woman's head alive in a developing tray with some coils and tubes running in and out of it. With his girlfriend's still-conscious cabeza back at the lab, the good doctor drives around shopping for bodies, ogling women who might make likely candidates for reattaching the head. Finally he finds a model with a gorgeous bod (and leopard print bikini), but a scarred face. He convinces the young woman that he can fix her looks with plastic surgery and convinces her to go back to the lab. Meanwhile, his girlfriend-head (silenced by a strip of duct tape over her mouth) has developed telepathy and a nasty grudge. This movie used to regularly leave late-night TV audiences aghast and scare the bejabbers out of the young'uns. Decades later, it's an indispensable trash classic, complete with a catfight, a pinhead monster, a deformed assistant, and even a spatter of gore. Make no mistake; this incredible, sleazy gem is a must-see for any self-respecting fans of camp cinema. They just don't come any better, and they definitely don't make 'em like that anymore. --Jerry Renshaw

Customer Reviews:

Horror Classic.......2007-06-23

I saw this movie on late night TV when I was around eight years old. I loved it then and I love it now.

I don't know what kind of effects they used on the womans voice (post decapitation) but it still creeps me out when ever she speaks.

I would have given it three stars for the battling voluptuous strippers scene alone. But all in all it's a great low budjet horror film. I still find the talking head to be quite profound in her enlightened view of the world (once again, post decapitation).

"I THINK I'M GOING OUT OF MY HEAD".....OVER YOU!.......2007-05-03

"A cheesy classic, ***BEWARE*** There are some prints that are not complete and are missing a pretty cool gross out part of this film! I'm not sure about the DVD I took the picture from for this list? A one of a kind cheapy that will crack you up!"

The Brain Thant Wouldn't Die.......2007-02-15

The movie is bad it is second only to Howard the Duck. It was so bad that I could not sit through all of it. Don't bother with this one.

ALPHA DVD VERSION.......2006-11-28

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE GENRE FILMS ALONG WITH KILLER SHREWS, GIANT GILA MONSTER, BEGINNING OF THE END, BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS, & KILLERS FROM OUTER SPACE...MAD SURGEON KEEPS GIRLFRIEND'S HEAD ALIVE UNTIL HE CAN SCOUT OUT THE STRIP JOINTS FOR A REPLACEMENT BODY. SLEAZY CAMP AT IT'S FINEST!!! GREAT LINES, COMICAL SITUATIONS, TURGID DRAMA...A MUST DOUBLE-BILL WITH THE EURO-CRAPPER "THE HEAD" FOR THE ULTIMATE DECAPITATED SLEAZE FEST (OR FESTER...).
THE ALPHA DVD IS GREAT!!!!!!! ONE OF THIER BEST TO DATE, CLEAR & COMPLETE, A VERY GOOD SOURCE TRANSFER!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ON ALL COUNTS.

Still a classic at what it did -- Weird people out........2006-08-31

Get the Alpha Video DVD. It has the best sound and print. It isn't missing any scenes. It also has audio at the beginning that none of the other BTWD DVD's have (really creepy to hear when starting the movie). I still give the movie four stars instead of five though because of the talking instead of acting.

Average customer rating:

Horror Classic
"I THINK I'M GOING OUT OF MY HEAD".....OVER YOU!
The Brain Thant Wouldn't Die
ALPHA DVD VERSION
Still a classic at what it did -- Weird people out.

Brain That Wouldn't Die (B&W)
Starring: Jason Evers , Virginia Leith , Leslie Daniels , Adele Lamont , and Bonnie Sharie
Director: Joseph Green (II)
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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The Brain From Planet Arous
The Wasp Woman
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ASIN: B00006SFIT
Release Date: 2002-10-22

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Horror Classic.......2007-06-23

"I THINK I'M GOING OUT OF MY HEAD".....OVER YOU!.......2007-05-03

The Brain Thant Wouldn't Die.......2007-02-15

The movie is bad it is second only to Howard the Duck. It was so bad that I could not sit through all of it. Don't bother with this one.

ALPHA DVD VERSION.......2006-11-28

Still a classic at what it did -- Weird people out........2006-08-31

Average customer rating:

Brain That Wouldnt Die/Wasp Woman
Starring: Brain That Wouldnt Die , and Wasp Woman
Manufacturer: Krb Music
ProductGroup: DVD
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Product Features:

Dolby Digital Souond
Interactive Menus
Standard Full Frame
This Disc is Compatible with all DVD players Worldwide
Color

ASIN: B000EMUZ72
Release Date: 2006-04-04

Product Description

The Brain That Wouldn't Die A boorish doctor who has devised a way to bring the dead back to life gets into a car accident and kills his beautiful fiancee; he takes her severed head back to the lab with him and keeps it alive in a tray of serum. She is unhappy with the situation and begs him to let her die, but he embarks upon a search for the perfect body for his amour, visiting strip clubs and streetwalkers and scouring the city. Meanwhile, the fiancee discovers that a side effect of her current status is telepathy, and she begins to communicate with the doctor's "mistake," which is held captive in a locked room off the lab. With the monster's help, the bodyless woman manages to save the life of the doctor's chosen victim and burn the lab down in the process. Includes A Rocketeers Cartoon The Wasp Woman This fun, intelligent cheapie from King of the B's Roger Corman ranks as the first feminist horror film. Susan Cabot stars as aging cosmetics mogul Janice Starlin, who injects herself with an experimental wasp enzyme in order to restore her fading youth and save her company from going broke. Eccentric scientist Dr. Zinthrop first tries the serum on cats, but when they later sprout wings and stingers, he realizes the formula might not be market ready. Unfortunately, he winds up in a coma before hes able to warn Starlin of the ghastly side effects, and before long she's buzzing around the building at night, attacking and devouring her enemies. What's admirably feminist about the film is how Starlin is portrayed as intelligent, powerful, and sympathetic while her male underlings are condescending buffoons who first dismiss her serum as mere wishful vanity and later find themselves smitten by her newly restored beauty (and later bitten by her wasp alter ego). Barboura Morris plays Starlin's worried secretary, and Bruno Ve Sota is an unlucky night watchman. Cabot is splendid in the title role, reverse-aging beautifully. Includes A Casper Cartoon

Average customer rating:

The Brain That Wouldn't Die

The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Manufacturer: Digiview Productions
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

Product Description

When his beautiful fiance is decapitated in a car accident, Dr. Bill Cortner (Herb Evers), a brilliant surgeon, retrieves her head and brings it back to life in his lab. He then diabolically plots to find a beautiful body that he can attach to his fiance's severed head.

Customer Reviews:

The Brain That Wouldn't Die.......2005-08-21

This movie is in the top 20 of worst movies ever made. It's so bad that free isn't a good enough price for this movie. Minus one star. Your time would better spent sleeping. Count Wolfenstein

[DVD] The Brain That Wouldn't Die from Cult Classics

Average customer rating:

"What's done is done, and what I've done is right..."

[DVD] The Brain That Wouldn't Die from Cult Classics

Manufacturer: Cult Classics
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Brilliant but borderline psychotic surgeon does secretive, experimental work with limb transplants and tissue rejection drugs, much to the chagrin of his surgeon-father. When he crashes his car and his fiancee is decapitated, his research - far from complete - is put to the test. His focus then becomes finding an appropriate donor body to make his fiancee whole, while the current and failed experiments in his basement laboratory grow restless. (Summary found on IMDb, written by Alan Brewster.)

Customer Reviews:

"What's done is done, and what I've done is right...".......2005-05-02

There are some movies that are gloriously bad and "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" (a.k.a. "The Head That Wouldn't Die", which is the better title because, after all, we are talking an entire head not just a brain) is one of the classics in that particular category. You can get a hold of this film hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, or skewered by the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" crew, but you will have no problem appreciating this example of bad science fiction cinema. This is a movie that should be on every fan's list of the 10 Worst Science Fiction Movies Ever Made.

Dr. Bill Cortner (Jason call me Herb Evers) is unhappy with the outdated surgery practice by his father, Dr. Cortner (Bruce Brighton), who warns him about higher laws and other nonsense. Bill has a fiancé, Jan Compton (Virginia Leith), who keeps talking about how she cannot wait for them to get married. So when they are in a car accident he rescues Jan's head and takes it back to his private laboratory. There his assistant, Kurt (Leslie Daniels), who has a transplanted arm that has not exactly taken from one of Bill's earlier experiments and who also rails against the doctor's plan to find his fiancé (now the infamous "Jan in a Pan") the perfect body. Bill only has 48-50 hours (you have to love the specificity) to come up with a new body and heads for the nearest strip club. When that does not pan out (hehehehe) he starts stalking women on the street and finds his way to a Beautiful Body contest. But Bill will accept nothing less than the best for Jan and that ends up being Playboy Playmate of the Month for June 1959, Marilyn Hanold.

Meanwhile, Jan would rather be dead than be a detached head; besides, she has some questions about the soundness of the whole procedure, which she discusses with Kurt. The rest of the time she carries on a one sided conversation with whatever is on the other side of the bolted door in the basement (Kurt will not let the cat out of the bag, but we know it is pretty bad and that it is another result of Bill's insane desire to play god). In the bloody climax of this film, the situation comes to a head...

Oh, you just cannot have too much fun at the expense of this film. Director Joseph Green and producer Rex Carlton came up with the story, and you have to admit that any movie that combines a talking disembodied head, a monster behind a locked door, and exotic dancers is a movie that is going to be made. Green even gets a bit creative with the camera in the car accident sequence. However, the dialogue and the strong sexual subtext are what really stand out for me in this film. It is amazing that the actors could say some of these lines with straight faces, but it is rather surprising that the sexuality of the film could be so overt. It is very easy to read this film being all about lust: Jan is ready to make Bill very happy and when he is left with just her head he insists on getting what is clearly an even better body so that they can consummate their destiny.

I will go out on a limb...and say that "The Head That Wouldn't Die" is one of the two worst Science Fiction movies that you have to see, along with "Plan 9 From Outer Space." Certainly they are the only 5 star ratings I have ever given to "bad" films because the enjoyment level so completely transcends the inherent value of the film.

Indestructible Man/The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Average customer rating:

Indestructible Man/The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Starring: DVD Cult 2 Movies Classics
Manufacturer: DVD Cult Classics
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002Q9VB6
Release Date: 2004-07-27

The Brain That Wouldn't Die/Amazing Transparent Man

Average customer rating:

Horror Classic
"I THINK I'M GOING OUT OF MY HEAD".....OVER YOU!
The Brain Thant Wouldn't Die
ALPHA DVD VERSION
Still a classic at what it did -- Weird people out.

The Brain That Wouldn't Die/Amazing Transparent Man
Starring: Jason Evers , Virginia Leith , Leslie Daniels , Adele Lamont , and Bonnie Sharie
Director: Joseph Green (II) , and Edgar G. Ulmer
Manufacturer: Diamond Ent. Corp.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Killer Shrews
The Brain From Planet Arous
The Wasp Woman
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ASIN: B00004ZEQZ
Release Date: 2003-01-01

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Horror Classic.......2007-06-23

"I THINK I'M GOING OUT OF MY HEAD".....OVER YOU!.......2007-05-03

The Brain Thant Wouldn't Die.......2007-02-15

The movie is bad it is second only to Howard the Duck. It was so bad that I could not sit through all of it. Don't bother with this one.

ALPHA DVD VERSION.......2006-11-28

Still a classic at what it did -- Weird people out........2006-08-31

The Brain That Wouldn't Die / Horror Hotel (Double Feature) (Digitally Remastered)

Average customer rating:

The Brain That Wouldn't Die / Horror Hotel (Double Feature) (Digitally Remastered)

Manufacturer: DigitalDisc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE: A scientist keeps alive the decapitated head of his fiancee....HORROR HOTEL: Atmospheric and genuinely scary, Horror Hotel not only stars the inimitable Christopher Lee, but boasts the direction of John Llewellyn Moxley, who later directed episodes of classic TV shows: The Avengers, Hawaii Five-O, Charlie's Angels, Magnum P.I., and Miami Vice. Plot: Nan finds that the hotel boarders are witches and that she is about to become their annual Candalmas Eve sacrifice!

Beast From Haunted Cave/The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Average customer rating:

A Corman produced quickie and the great "Jan in the Pan"
Entertaining Movies and the Horrors They Endure
Amazing Film, But...
Bad movie vs. good movie
Beautiful!

Beast From Haunted Cave/The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Starring: Michael Forest , Sheila Noonan , Frank Wolff , Richard Sinatra , and Wally Campo
Director: Monte Hellman , and Joseph Green (II)
Manufacturer: Madacy Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Cult Classics: Earth vs. the Spider/War of the Colossal Beast

ASIN: B00005A07M
Release Date: 2001-03-20

Customer Reviews:

A Corman produced quickie and the great "Jan in the Pan".......2005-07-20

I rarely comment on the print quality of a film, so that when I tell you "Beast From Haunted Cave" is in sad shape, you need to know that it is pretty bad if I am actually inspired to complain. The audio track bothered me even more than the picture quality, because I was having a hard time understanding what the characters were saying for most of the film, but since I did not especially care it was not a great loss. This 1959 film is a quickie produced by Roger Corman and is the first credit for Monte Hellman ("Two-Lane Blacktop") as a director. Filmed during winter at a ski resort in South Dakota, the story is about a group of thieves whose big plan is to cover their robbery of gold with a bomb exploding in the mine, but end up tangling with a monster.

Frank Wolff is Alex, the head of the gang, with Sheila Carol as his hard drinking moll Gyspy, and Wally Campo as Byron and Richard Sinatra as Marty, the dimwitted henchmen. Michael Forest, who will go on to some small measure of fame as the god Apollo on the original "Star Trek," is Gil Jackson, the local ski instructor who is hired by the gang to take them on a cross-country ski trip to an isolated cabin where a ski plane will show up and fly the gang and the gold to Canada. But the plan gets off track when Marty takes Natalie (Linné Ahlstrand) the barmaid to a cave (in winter) for some hot action while he sets up the bomb (otherwise he could find a more comfortable place for the desired hot action). Marty discovers a strange egg and then Natalie is attacked and killed by a strange beast. Is it an insect? Is it an octopus on dry land? What IS that thing? Driven from its cave by the explosion, the Beast (now "Formerly from Haunted Cave") trails the gang on their trek and starts picking them off.

You will have no problem figuring out which two people will be left alive at the end of this one, although you might be surprised when suddenly the movie is over. The acting is not bad for this kind of film, and if they did a better job of blending together the disparate types of music in this one it probably would not seem as tacky. It would still be nice not to have a problem understanding what everybody is saying and maybe there are better prints of "Beast" out there that would justify giving it higher marks.

When it comes to gloriously bad movies you are not going to find anything besides Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space" that is on the same level with "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" (a.k.a. "The Head That Wouldn't Die", which is the better title because we are talking an entire head not just a brain). Dr. Bill Cortner (Jason call me Herb Evers) is unhappy with the outdated surgery practice by his father, Dr. Cortner (Bruce Brighton), who warns him about higher laws and other nonsense. Bill has a fiancé, Jan Compton (Virginia Leith), who keeps talking about how she cannot wait for them to get married. So when they are in a car accident he rescues Jan's head and takes it back to his private laboratory. There his assistant, Kurt (Leslie Daniels), who has a transplanted arm that has not exactly taken from one of Bill's earlier experiments and who also rails against the doctor's plan to find his fiancé (now the infamous "Jan in a Pan") the perfect body. Bill only has 48-50 hours (you have to love the specificity) to come up with a new body and heads for the nearest strip club. When that does not pan out (hehehehe) he starts stalking women on the street and finds his way to a Beautiful Body contest. But Bill will accept nothing less than the best for Jan and that ends up being Marilyn Hanold, Playboy Playmate of the Month for June 1959.

Meanwhile, Jan would rather be dead than just be a detached head; besides, she has some questions about the soundness of the whole procedure, which she discusses with Kurt. The rest of the time she carries on a one sided conversation with whatever is on the other side of the bolted door in the basement (Kurt will not let the cat out of the bag, but we know it is pretty bad and that it is another result of Bill's insane desire to play god). In the bloody climax of this film, the situation comes to a head...

Oh, you just cannot have too much fun at the expense of this film. Director Joseph Green and producer Rex Carlton came up with the story, and you have to admit that any movie that combines a talking disembodied head, a monster behind a locked door, and exotic dancers is a movie that is going to be made. The dialogue and the strong sexual subtext are what really stand out in this film. It is amazing that the actors could say some of these lines with straight faces. It is very easy to read this film being all about lust: Jan is ready to make Bill very happy and when he is left with just her head he insists on getting what is clearly an even better body so that they can consummate their destiny.

Also included on this double-featured DVD are trailers for both of the films plus Corman's "The Little Shop of Horrors," with a Popeye cartoon for intermission. Obviously I think everybody should experience "Jan in the Pan" at least once and while it is out there in lots of versions, as part of a double feature is not a bad way to go. We are not talking a stellar print, but it is much better than "Beast."

Entertaining Movies and the Horrors They Endure.......2003-02-05

While looking for Creature From Haunted Cave, a Corman movie listed in the annals of my movie-watching past as something akin to a giant insect feature, I happened upon this double set of it and The Brain That Wouldn't Die, an absolute classic. Now, both of these movies are something worth watching, The Brain that Wouldn't Die a bit more than the almost monster-devoid Beast From, and both rank right up there in the cinema hall of fame that sprouted from the B-movie halls of shame. Still, since both movies have been covered in depth here and on there separate movie pages, I'll focus my attention on the DVD at hand (Killer Creature Combo) and the utter lack of quality it has so you'll perhaps go and buy a better version of both.

Its truly a shame to see these movies cast in the green haze of Killer Creature films as it eats away at the black and white and makes certain scenes wretched and vacant. The darker aspects of the screen sometimes disappear altogether and sometimes the brighter scenes seem to be overcast, ruining the effects of many a movie that would have otherwise been a lot better and killing the moods when monsters decide to drop in and wreak havoc. Added to this is the sound quality of the most abysmal variety, where voices fade in and out and sometimes become so low that one can't hear them, and the fact that the menu to this DVD is an utter annoyance.

If you decide to buy these films, which are both worth a watch, you should definitely spend a little more and go for a transfer that has been remastered. Otherwise, you'll be disappointed when scenes disappear along with your patience!

Amazing Film, But..........2003-01-25

"The Brain That Wouldn't Die" is a masterpiece of the kind of filmmaking that's so bad that it's great, but there are many incomplete prints of this film which cut out the best scenes, including one of a pinhead tearing the arm off the mad doctor's assistant.

Since I have no idea whether or not the Mystery Science Theatre version of the film, for example, is complete, but knew that Madacy had a rather complete copy of the film with a bonus feature tagged onto it, I decided to give this cheap version a try despite the adage that you get what you pay for.

When Madacy does things right, they put out great deals. The thing with Madacy however is that they do not go to the expense of remastering films or tracking down the best film elements. Sometimes they have great prints, and it is unrealistic to expect perfect prints of any of these old turkeys which nobody made any effort to preserve in the first place. Even some of the ones which are slightly degraded have a fun midnight movie feeling to them with their scratches, etc. And for an apparently complete cut of "The Brain..." I was even willing to lower my standards. However, the picture quality of this print of "The Brain..." is particularly terrible. The print is all washed out and there is very little black and white contrast or detail. Watching this version, I believe I have a good idea of what it is like having a cataract.

Well, I was willing to take a gamble because the disc is cheap and contains a second movie, and usually at least one film on Madacy's double features is worthwhile. But "Beast From Haunted Cave" is merely boring. There are only approx. 5 minutes of the film that are interesting when the aforementioned beast, a character apparently added to the film as almost an afterthought, is on the screen, but this isn't enough to make the film worthwhile.

I still enjoy owning what seems to be a complete cut of "The Brain That Wouldn't Die", but I would recommend looking into the running time of other releases as it is worth some extra cost to get a better complete print (the complete cut is usually listed as running approx. 92 minutes), especially since the extra feature of "The Beast From Haunted Cave" provides no incentive to buy this version.

Bad movie vs. good movie.......2001-10-11

The Beast from the Haunted Cave is a terrible movie. Besides the film being all washed out, the plot is long and drawn out. I could hardly stay awake for this snoozer. The beast is seen for a total of about maybe 10 seconds the entire film, and is genuinely scary looking; but not good enough to redeem the movie.

The Brain that Wouldn't Die, on the other hand is a perfect B-movie horror flick. It's just so bad, it's good. You've got to see this one! A mad scientist-type loses his main-squeeze in a firey auto accident, but manages to salvage her head from the wreckage! He keeps the head alive, while scouting out the babes for a suitable body to attatch the head to! Hilarious! Although the sound quality is pretty poor, this is one classic that you CAN'T afford to miss.

Skip the Beast, and buy this just for the Brain!

Beautiful!.......2001-09-14

Ah, the joys of found footage! It is truly a lost art form. Beast:
Anyone that can take footage from their ski vacation and turn it into a movie deserves an Oscar. Just goes to show how corrupt Hollywood is, I guess.

There is a certain charm in watching these people try to act as if they are in a ski resort by bumbling about in front of projected footage. But the kicker is watching them depict warm breath by, get this, stealing drags off of cigarettes and blowing the smoke out while they talk! Yep, a classic.

Brain:
Wow, stunning. The world has never seen special effects like this before, and probably never will again. If silly tubes and vials filled with percolating fluid and dry ice are your idea of a mad-scientists lab, you're in for a real treat. There are a "few" plot holes that you could probably drive a Mack truck through, but why would you watch this for deep meaning? Kick back, grab some popcorn, and prepare to laugh yourself silly.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Ed Sullivan Presents the Beatles

Timeline: 1937 : DVD

The Dead Next Door [1988]

DVD: Field of Dreams (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

Various Artists - Das Beste aus der ZDF Hitparade, Folge 3