Title: The Brain That Wouldn't Die: Special Edition
Region: One
Genre: Horror
Stars: Herb Evers, Virginia Leith, Leslie Daniel, and Eddie Carmel
Writer: Joseph Green
Director: Joseph Green
Feature length: 85 minutes
Extras: Theatrical Trailer and a Still Gallery
Languages: English Mono
Subtitles: N/A
Packaging: Keep Case
Chapter Stops: 16
Sound: Two Channel Mono
Year of Theatrical Release: 1959/DVD Release: 2000
Theatrical Distributor: American International Pictures
Home Video Distributor: Synapse Films
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
"How can you make of her an experiment of horror?" Actually the film's opening line where we hear the decapitated head of Jan, (Virginia Leith) pleading "Let Me Die…" is far more disturbing than the quote I chose, but when I think about the time in which this film was produced I am quite surprised at the audacity this cult B film has. This is not the greatest cult horror film from the late 50s, but it is far from the worst. In fact, without the bad elements this film would be quite incomplete. Thank you Don May Junior and the folks at Synapse Films for recognizing the jewel in the rock and giving "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" the special edition treatment with a restored and uncut version of the film for the first time on DVD where the results are pretty damn good considering the degraded versions of the film that have appeared on television and video in the past.
If I were to hold Elite Entertainment's "Night Of The Living Dead: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition," which Co-founder and then partner Don May Junior produced complete with a THX certified transfer, as the benchmark for restoring horror films, I think viewers will agree that Synapse Films' uncut and restored special edition of "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" comes close to being one of the best looking transfers of a B horror film on DVD. The film features a windowboxed transfer that presents more of the film than has ever been made available on home video.
This effect is visible on computers with DVD-ROM drives, but may require special calibration on televisions. The image has a great gray scale and image quality while providing a solid English two channel mono soundtrack. The dialogue along with some of the unintentionally comic scenes adds to the enjoyment of this exploitation film. There are no captions or subtitles encoded on the DVD. There are a lot of scratches that can be seen momentarily on this print, but I did not find them bothersome nor do they detract from the overall high quality digital transfer this film has received, but rather I think they add to the film's demented charm.
The story is rather simple, a mad surgeon obsessed with organ transplant experimentation, uses his fiancée's decapitated head after an auto accident and then goes on the make to find a sexy body to match the re-animated head, which has developed a telepathic link with a literal monster in the closet, both unforeseen and horrific side effects bent on revenge for their current condition on their maker.
The DVD includes a theatrical trailer that will make appreciation of this new digital restored transfer quite obvious upon comparing the picture quality. A short still gallery is also included as is a well-written essay by horror film historian and author, Bryan Senn within an insert inside the DVD keep case. The interactive menus are standard stills and easy to navigate.
Though some may not acknowledge it, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" has clearly had influence on later horror films, most recognizably Stuart Gordon's "Re-Animator." You will gasp, you will laugh, and you might even be horrified, but you will definitely enjoy this horror flick if you already are a genre fan and are open-minded.
© Copyright 2000 By Mark A. Rivera