Brain Dead (1990)
Wow, this movie is a TRIP and a freaking HALF. I’m taking it again!
About a week or so ago, I sat down to watch anything on AMC that sounded remotely horror-y to review. Brains dying sounded awfully scary, so I went with that. Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy. Well….it’s not horrifying, not technically, but I can guarantee you that it embarks you on a journey through insanity and circumlocution itself. Surprisingly, Blind Guardian’s not on the soundtrack.
Dig this: Dr. Rex Martin (Bill Pullman), a brilliant brain surgeon (yeah, I wrote that), is your run-of-the-mill nice eccentric, often seen talking genially to his captive audience of disembodied brains. However, when his old college rival, corporate shark Jim Reston (Bill Paxton…odd no? this is a pattern) tempts him with an opportunity to try out his revolutionary ideas on a living human, Rex just can’t say no. The patient in question is Dr. Halsey, a clinically-paranoid math genius who hides the secret to a frightening, powerful new technology somewhere amid the pleats and divots of his anguished mind. Shortly after betraying his own ethics by mindscrewing Halsey, Dr. Martin takes the first plunge into…madness? YOU figure it out 
Premise: 5/5
This was really well-conceived material…here is a film unafraid, surreal, and dynamic. IMDB credits it as being co-written by one of the original Twilight Zone writers, and the tone and theme really reflect that. An early, strong moral foundation begins slowly, surely to crumble as the action progresses, or rather DEVOLVES, into nonlinearity and then something approaching the subtle gestalt of life. I was put in mind of What Dreams May Come and similar surrealist works. Very nicely, believably executed.
Cast: 3/5
Yeah, well, it had Bill Pullman too.
Bill, I’ve never really liked you. Remember in the 80s when you played that one part to perfection? Well, Lone Star, Mel Brooks was playing a little joke on you. You’re not GOOD, Bill. You weren’t good as the President of the United States, you weren’t good as a quirky detective, and you’re not good as, well, WHOEVER YOU ARE in Brain Dead either. I dunno if you’re trying too hard or not trying period. That I don’t know which isn’t good, Bill.
No, not you, Paxton. Total dicks are easy to play and you did fine.
I can certainly say that Pullman, well, he pulled the movie down a bit. I’ll stoop to pick up the pun there. Although not nearly as apropos as Keanu playing Neo, his complete, constant lack of emotive range almost works for him. It just doesn’t work for me in Brain Dead though. There’s too much of a demand on this actor to exhibit paranoia, incredulity, and every nuance of Kafkaesque angst–and Pullman acts fairly sure he’s got his lines memorized. Blah. You suck, Bill. I’m addressing you again.
Rex’s wife is hot and managed pretty well by me. Tertiary characters were also acceptable. Tellya what, though. It’s all about the HALSEY. “Bud Cort” played the sun-touched mental patient with all the self-absorbed wackiness of any of the patients in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. His paranoid antics livened up what could easily have been a listless, yet still meaningful, narrative.
Visuals: 4/5
Usually I dub the 3rd category “FX/Cinematography,” but that doesn’t really apply here. I’m trying to express my admiration for this film’s ability to do more with less. The camera and the overall look is very dated, certainly. I reflect on all the backgrounds and choices of location, though, and I have to praise their use here. The mundane plays a major role in the world of the film, very handily captured by Dr. Martin’s laboratory and Halsey’s mental hospital, where we spend most of our time. These places just LOOK right. I also applaud the noticeable lack, by and large, of surreal effects that could easily have spoiled the surreal payload throughout. No Creepshow Insano-Vision cutaways here! Another movie focusing on madness, Secret Window, also comes off melodramatically in comparison. Really, though, I can’t even recall a “watch out!” horn blowing, or stringed instrument cuing us to be disturbed, etc. Brain Dead doesn’t need ‘em. Instead, you’ll probably get an equal amount of enjoyment from wondering, every ten minutes or so, what HAS happened, is happening NOW, and WILL happen. Nice.
Meriting special mention is Reston’s corporate conference room. I hear they don’t all come standard with an operating theatre for impromptu lobotomies.
Popcorn Factor: uhhhh…..3/5
Hahaha. Right. You’ll watch this movie with POPCORN. How’s that extra butter taste? Oh, you went with the Kettle Corn? That’s a good choice. Eat up.
BEFORE YOU GO LIMP-LIPPED INSANE!
This is not your typically “fun” movie. It’s almost anti-fun, but its native joy in teasing you to discern the ever-evolving plot/theme/climax is too strong for me to want to make that claim. That said, I can’t say as I was engaged every moment, which was somewhat pleasant, really. Means it did its job conveying the banality and occasionally-gentle laziness of being batshit nuts. The passive-aggressive (dare I say schizophrenic? apparently I do dare) tone also aids the overall theme of the circular, the ever-returning, the ineffable.
So yeah, I greatly enjoyed Brain Dead, and after the haze lifted a bit with analysis, I decided to throw it on my rentals list for a 2nd viewing. Certainly up my alley, this one, even if it is a pain to try to tackle it to the ground long enough to stick a rating up it. If you end up checking it out, go ahead and let me know what you thought in the “Comments” section.
*cue The Scary Door theme song*