nightshade071
Around the time I first saw Wes Craven's "The Serpent and the Rainbow," I became enamored with Bill Pullman as an actor. This ended up as a gateway through which I would ravenously hunt down as many early movies of his as I could, Brain Dead included...Some might say this movie is downright bizarre. Well, I can't disagree with that. It's twisted, confusing, and surreal, all the while managing to be darkly humorous (although I have my doubts as to whether or not certain moments of hilarity were intended to be so). The whole thing plays out like an exaggerated fever dream and, as a result, makes it very difficult to give an accurate rating for this weird little movie.While not a cinematic masterpiece by any means, it is not a bad movie - provided you can pay attention long enough to grasp what's going on! If you enjoy it enough, Brain Dead may warrant subsequent viewings. I have watched it around five or six times and always notice some new little oddity that I hadn't caught the previous time around. Bill Pullman plays his role to nerdy perfection. Meanwhile, Paxton is the slightly skeevy business associate who may or may not be lusting after Pullman's wife (played by Patricia Charbonneau, who looks suspiciously like Sigourney Weaver these days. Hm...) Far from perfect but highly entertaining, Brain Dead is a lost gem of the 90's that must be seen to be believed.
Michael_Elliott
Brain Dead (1990) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Dr. Rex Martin (Bill Pullman) is a top neurosurgeon who is asked by an old friend (Bill Paxton) to look at a co-worker who was once a brilliant mathematician but now seems to be suffering from some brain issue. At first Martin doesn't want involved but he finally gives in and this is where the fun starts. Elements from BRAZIL and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE are mixed in Charles Beaumont's screenplay, which starts off incredibly slow and confusing but once it gets going the film actually manages to deliver a pretty interesting story. Again, I think most people are going to hit the ten or fifteen-minute mark and then consider turning the picture off but this is actually where the film starts to get interesting. I'm not going to say what happens as it would be a major spoiler but we're taken on a pretty fun adventure that will make you think as well as keep you guessing about what's going to happen next. The film offers up a couple big twists towards the end of the picture and they actually work very well and not once do they feel like a cheat. Beaumont, who worked on the original The Twilight Zone, manages to make the story move very well and I liked some of the dark humor that was written into the story. Another major plus is having someone like Pullman in the lead role. He's certainly very believable as the doctor and when the twist happens the actor still manages to make you believe what you're seeing. Paxton is also fun in his supporting role and we even get George Kennedy in a brief role. BRAIN DEAD still has plenty of problems, including some questionable direction and there's also no doubt that a bigger budget was needed to fully get everything in the story. Still, the film is a rather interesting mix of horror and science fiction and for the most part it works.
Sandcooler
Everyone knows you can't judge a book by its cover, but Adam Simon's "Brain Dead" (not to be confused with the superior Peter Jackson comedy) isn't a book so I figured I'd be fine. However, it isn't nearly the Z-grade extravaganza I had expected it to be, though it has some elements that could steer it in that direction. You have your cheap sets, you have your silly-looking props, you have your sound that appears recorded through a tin can and you most definitely have your hammy horror acting that brings images of dopey campfire kids with flashlights to mind. What you don't have however is a decent story, it's really just one uninspired hallucination after the other. The movie never really seems to go somewhere, it seems satisfied with playing out like a third rate "Eraserhead". Nothing wrong with a third rate "Eraserhead" of course, but there are so many more entertaining ways to completely waste your evening. What is real and what is fake in this movie? The makers don't care, neither should you. The early 90s brought us many B-movie gems, this just isn't one of them.
Vogler
The advantage of making a movie about madness is that you can sell almost ANYTHING as long as it's all confusing. From this point of view, Brain Dead is brilliant. However, if you expect to find a solution in the end, you will be disappointed.My interpretation of Brain Dead is that you can never tell what is reality and what is imagination of the main character (Bill Pullman). I even doubt that the brain surgeon story at the beginning is real. During the movie we learn that you can never tell who Pullmans character really is - Rex Martin, Dr. Halsey, who ever? Is he really a brain surgeon, or is that his own imagination, too? Or is he himself the mad-gone maths employee? Or is he just an insane patient suffering fear of somebody messing with his mind?I think that the brain surgeon story is a very clever move to confuse the audience, because it seems to be the clue for what is going on, but at the end, it isn't. It reminds me of the psycho-drug story in Jacobs Ladder, which isn't real, either. However, I'd have liked to see a clever explanation for all that weird stuff at the end.
AD
