The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) User Reviews

Works for sheer audacity, shameless conviction of its aims.

[roger-212 · 6/10 · 12 July 2004]

For what this is (a rather over-heated horror sci-fi stew), it works for its sheer audacity and shameless full-bore conviction of its aims. Mad scientist movies end up resorting to long shots of people in white lab coats talking in sterile sets. But this one has a woman's head in the tray, fighting with the doctor, yelling at the monster in the closet, and engaging the assistant in metaphysical questions usually not heard in such low-budget potboilers.

Nice dynamic that it's his fiancé that he wants to save...but she has become so bitter since becoming a disembodied head in a tray of water. I remember watching this for the first time on TV in the early 70s and being amazed they used to make movies like this.

Better than average camera work, also, trying to get a sense of vertigo and movement throughout. This film with its hell-bent-for-leather pace is a fever-dream that works because it doesn't let go, or tip you to the fact that the makers thought it was ridiculous as it certainly is.

Be sure to get the restored version with the monster in the closet finally grabbing the doctor's arm and making a bloody mess at the end. A great cathartic bloody end to this near Shakespearean morality play about how man should not meddle in god's business.

'60s Schlockfest

[ReelCheese · 5/10 · 12 September 2006]

The opening credits bear the title THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. Some 80 minutes later, the same film is strangely billed as THE HEAD THAT WOULDN'T DIE in the end credits. That gives you an idea of how much effort went into this '60s schlockfest.

But that doesn't mean it's not worth watching if you're in the right mood. Jason Evers (who would later lend his considerable talents to such memorable efforts as A PIECE OF THE ACTION and A MAN CALLED GANNON) stars as a wacky doc who thinks it'd be just super to keep his fiancée's head alive in his laboratory after her untimely decapitation in a car accident. He's understandably not content marrying a head, so he seeks out an appropriate (though not necessarily willing!) body donor.

Much of the "action" takes place in the mad doc's basement lab (likely marking one of the final times the traditionally cheesy horror film lab set was put to use). Jan Compton (Virginia Leith), or Jan in the Pan as she's called, spends an awful lot of time yapping and whining. Another IMDb reviewer wasn't far off when he likened her to THE HEAD THAT WOULDN'T SHUT UP! Can you blame her? She's understandably not content to live this sort of life. But what's really holding her interest (and mine... there, I admitted it) is the doctor's other monstrous creation, which keeps trying to pound its from behind its single-doored prison. Will our hero find a body for his woman? Are the authorities on to him? Why am I enjoying this so much? Those are just some of the questions you'll find yourself asking.

THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE comes to us in the tradition of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS, though it's not quite on par with those films in terms of "so bad it's good" appeal. As incredible as it sounds, the picture is legitimately able to hold the viewer's interest with its outrageous plot and suspense built up over the creature behind the door. Sure it goes on a bit too long and sure there are dull moments, but what did you expect?

Admit it. If you haven't seen this one, at least part of you wants to. It's probably that part that yearns for pure, unadulterated stupidity from grown men and women from time to time. So indulge that inner glutton with THE BRAIN THAT WOULD'T DIE.

Underrated

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 3 August 2006]

The unethical surgeon Dr. Bill Cortner (Herb Evers) is developing a technique of transplantation of organs and members using a serum against rejection. When he has a car accident with his girlfriend Jan Compton (Virginia Leith), he saves her head only, and tries to find a woman with a beautiful body to transplant Jan's head against her will.

I found the low budget movie "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" very underrated in IMDb. The story is not so bad, and certainly inspired "Frankenhooker" and "The Man with Two Brains". The acting and the direction are very reasonable, and there are some mistakes of edition (for example, when Dr. Bill Cortner is having a conversation in the car with his friend on the sidewalk), but these errors just contribute to make the movie funnier. The make-up of the creature is great. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Cérebro Que Não Queria Morrer" ("The Brain That Did not Want to Die")

Classic Ham and Cheesecake

[Zen Bones · 28 May 2002]

This is wonderful over-the-top entertainment for fans of sleaze cinema. Some people apparently don't like this film because everyone in it is evil. Thankfully, that is true. There's nothing more boring than all those nice, bland heroes and heroines. Yecchh!! Our cast here is totally over-the-top "bad". Leslie Daniels in particular as the doctor's Igor-like sidekick puts on his best (or should I say worst?) Richard III impression, complete with withered hand and drawn out Shakespearean rant. A classic ham! And there's cheesecake for everyone with busty babes bursting out from every corner (as long as the doctor has to find a new body to crown his girlfriend's head on... well, who wouldn't pick the creme de la creme?). There's even a fabulous (meee-owww!) cat fight between two strippers that probably levitated a lot of audiences back in 1960. And ... RE-ANIMATOR fans will love the similarities of the angst-ridden head in the tray trying to seize a little power. So, how can anyone say this film is bad in a bad way? You want "good", go watch DONOVAN's BRAIN, a very competent but forgettable little film made several years earlier. This film is a like a mad, campy Halloween party. Leave your attitude behind, and try to enjoy it!

Don't watch it alone! Have friends over and laugh together!

[onedayatatimect · 4/10 · 10 March 2005]

This one hearkens back to the days of the matinée, when kids with nowhere else to hang out took their dates to the balcony after dumping their younger siblings below. It didn't matter what was on the screen - the little kids would sit through it and the big kids would ignore it. The adults, of course, would never see it.

But they put it on video, anyway, along with most of the other creaky, low-budget "B" horror flicks of the golden age...of television. This film's inherent and unintentional humor is derived from stale ideology (the "bad girls" harvested to replace poor Jan's crushed body - they had it comin'), overused plot (a mad scientist, trying to play God), violent yet conscientious monster (whose presence in the heretofore-normal-seeming scientist's rural lab is never fully explained), and acting that polarizes at wooden or over-the-top.

This is a great party film, assuming your guests enjoy adding dialog and commentary to otherwise abominable cinematic exploits. In fact, should you or your guests prefer more passive entertainment, this film is also available on video in its "Mystery Science Theater 3000" treatment, in which the host and puppets of the cult TV series make the necessary additions for you.

Loved it when I was a kid....

[preppy-3 · 1/10 · 12 December 2003]

A scientist and his girl friend are out driving when his speeding causes a car crash. He escapes unharmed but she is decapitated. He saves her head, brings it to his house and keeps it alive (!!!!). He then proceeds to search out models and strippers for the perfect body for the head. His crippled assistant watches over the head which starts talking and has a telepathic (or telepathetic) link to a deformed monster kept in the closet....

As you can see, this is pretty stupid stuff, but I had a certain fondness for it. When I grew up in the late 1970s, a local TV station showed this movie about 20 times each year (no exaggeration). They showed it always on Saturday afternoon TV--uncut. Seeing this on TV back then was great! Explicit blood and gore along with a gruesome monster and sleazy sexploitation--who cares if it was good? Seeing it now I realize how lousy this really is.

The acting is perfectly wretched, the production values are nonexistent, the script is pretty dumb and (aside from the still pretty disgusting gore) this is dull stuff. There's also a mild cat fight between two women and the admittedly great monster at the end. Also add in an ending which leaves tons of loose ends. On one hand this is an interesting example of a 1960s exploitation film. On the other its utter trash. Either way, it's not a good movie but is a must-see (for one time only) for horror and gore fans.

Also the head's laugh is pretty creepy. Note the end credits which gets the TITLE wrong (calling it "The HEAD That Wouldn't Die")!

"You May Be Just What I'm Looking For"

[davidcarniglia · 5/10 · 19 May 2019]

A unique premise definitely. A variation on the Frankenstein theme, with Dr. Cortner (Jason Evers) endeavoring to find a nice body for his girlfriend Jan's (Virginia Leith's ) accidentally-severed head. It's a none-too-happy head, being slightly handicapped by living in a deep-dish pizza pan. If that's not enough of a hook, there's a sort of mutant leftover failed-experiment guy lurking around.

No time wasted as we get experimental surgery on a corpse in the first scene. I shouldn't be too particular about the crash that results in Jan's decapitation--but how can she move her arm if her head's already cut-off? Anyway, the suspension of disbelief with the actual head simulation works pretty well. The mutant guy in the closet should put in an appearance at this point, but all we get is some snarls from him.

Some think that Cortner's cruising the strip joint, beauty contest, and photo session is distracting. True, a lot of the limited runtime is used up this way, but the scenes makes sense in that he presumably wants the most exotic body for Jan. The very creepy, lurid quality of his quest makes it all the more horrific; he obviously enjoys the 'window-shopping'. "You may be just what I'm looking for" he tells the blond at the club. He fixates on Doris (Adele Lamont), an Elizabeth Taylor look-alike.

Meanwhile, Jan's head is kept going by nifty serum and a few dry-cell batteries. There's some suspense created, as Jan communicates and plots with the mutant, and the lab assistant Kurt (Anthony La Penna). The literal talking head is certainly played for dramatic effect--it looks plenty creepy just floating there. Interestingly, She's developed a sort of telepathy/mind-control (that's some serum...). Finally the mutant gets into action, ripping Kurt's good arm off.

Cortner reassures Doris "Do I look like a maniac that goes around killing girls?" She doesn't think so quite yet. Ok, now he's set for the ultimate operation--but mutant-guy does a very gross zombie assault on Cortner, and saves an intact Doris before the obligatory lab fire consumes Jan and Cortner. Not a bad ending.

But there's too many plot holes and missed opportunities. The mutant should've been active much sooner--maybe he escapes, but Cortner is able to use him to fetch corpses or something. His gigantic head is pretty grotesque and he could add a lot of interest. The accident scene really should lead the cops right to Cortner; Jan's body would provide any amount of identifying marks, i.e., fingerprints. And it's Cortner's car. But there's no follow-up whatsoever.

And why would Doris trust him? She seems to very guarded at first, then just gives in. Although there's a lot going on in the movie, it seems very slow. The Brain That Wouldn't Die is worth a look for the novelty factor, and for some good scenes. 5/10.

"Very well, the corpse is yours, do what you want to do."

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 10 August 2005]

Bill Cortner (Jason Evers) is a maverick doctor who steals limbs from amputee victims in his quest to create new life; nurse Jan Compton (Virginia Leith) is his frisky fiancée who just can't wait to get married. The good doctor maintains a country home where a medical assistant keeps watch over his less than ethical experiments, and also houses a terrible secret behind a locked door. Well the door is locked, but the eye level hatch door is usually kept unlatched so Cortner's creation can have some fun every now and then.

This is probably the closest I've ever seen a horror film turn into a comedy, scene for scene the action approaches comic absurdity on all levels. Heading out to the country home with his fiancée, Cortner drives so recklessly that he crashes his car, claiming Jan as a fatal victim. The doctor manages to retrieve the inexplicably dismembered head with the idea that he'll find a suitable body to replace the one left behind. This quest brings him to a number of likely places - a strip club, a makeshift beauty contest, and a private photo shoot where frantic photographers can't get enough of the "best body in the world". Are you still with me?

About forty years ahead (a head?) of it's time, I found Jason Evers' portrayal of the leering Dr. Cortner to be particularly prophetic. He looks exactly like he's impersonating Darrell Hammond impersonating Bill Clinton, biting on his lower lip in an expression of mock sincerity - it's hysterical!

The film offers some well conceived dialog as well. In a scene where Jan in the Pan contemplates on the creature behind the door, she remarks with a straight face - "I'm only a head, you're whatever you are." Somehow, with the help of the doctor's adreno serum, she's gained telepathic powers, and is able to communicate with Mr. Gruesome. We're finally offered a treat when the creature makes a grab for the doctor through the peep hole, he breaks the door right off it's hinges to reveal a bit of a Swedish Angel knockoff, a hideously deformed mutant who does in the doctor as the lab itself is about to go out in a blaze of glory.

"The Brain That Wouldn't Die" is one of those films you have to experience at least once in a lifetime. It will also leave you with plenty of unanswered questions, like the scene in which Jan in the Pan is shown on the lab table with a completely clear view of the empty space below the table. How'd they do that?

Yours might, though, if you keep watching this

[guitaramore · 1/10 · 15 November 2016]

Ironically, brain activity is what you feel dropping the most as you watch "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."

The plot, if anyone would dare call it that, has a doctor losing his fiancée in a car accident - well, most of her anyway. He manages to keep her severed head alive, even though, obviously, this limits her professional, family-planning, and dancing options rather harshly.

From this sound premise, things proceed logically.

Doc then searches for a female body that pleases him to transplant his fiancee's head onto. One ethical foul ball that is skimmed over way too quickly - all these bodies are still attached to live people.

As either a tribute to voyeurism or a need to pad things out, the doc spends way more time looking over numerous options than seems really necessary. He also spends more time trying to look cool smoking cigarettes than seems needed, but by then such a point seems kind of small. After passing on several voluptuous types who saunter around slowly while smoky jazz music plays, he picks a small brunette with a huge chip on her shoulder, another in a long series of points that don't seem to make much sense.

The dialogue seems to have been written by someone very distracted. I would guess the writer owed rent, and the entire time he wrote this his landlord was banging on the door, yelling loudly.

Almost all the acting is just as bad, so there is a special kind of synthesis there.

The fun and games of watching a low-grade turkey come to a screeching halt when a monster in the basement dismembers the doc's helper, who smears his dying blood all over the walls in what seems like a special effort to make the audience feel depressed. It succeeds. When are these mad doctors going to figure things out - you can't keep your severed-head prisoner close to the monster you keep locked up? Egged on by the woman whose wardrobe needs have been reduced to nothing but hats, the monster breaks out and kills the doc, probably mistaking him for the movie's author.

A Little Head, Any One?

[gftbiloxi · 7/10 · 11 June 2007]

THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE was considered so distasteful in 1959 that several cuts and the passage of three years was required before it was released in 1962. Today it is difficult to imagine how anyone could have taken the thing seriously even in 1959; the thing is both lurid and lewd, but it is also incredibly ludicrous in a profoundly bumptious sort of way.

The story, of course, concerns a doctor who is an eager experimenter in transplanting limbs--and when his girl friend is killed in a car crash he rushes her head to his secret lab. With the aid of a few telephone cords, a couple of clamps, and what looks very like a shallow baking pan, he brings her head back to life. But is she grateful? Not hardly. In fact, she seems mightily ticked off about the whole thing, particularly when it transpires that the doctor plans to attach her head to another body.

As it happens, the doctor is picky about this new body: he wants one built for speed, and he takes to cruising disconcerted women on city sidewalks, haunting strip joints, visiting body beautiful contests, and hunting down cheesecake models in search of endowments that will raise his eyebrow. But back at the lab, the head has developed a chemically-induced psychic link with another one of the doctor's experiments, this one so hideous that it is kept locked out of sight in a handy laboratory closet. Can they work together to get rid of the bitter and malicious lab assistance, wreck revenge upon the doctor, and save the woman whose body he hankers for? Could be! Leading man Jason Evers plays the roguish doctor as if he's been given a massive dose of Spanish fly; Virginia Leith, the unhappy head, screeches and cackles in spite of the fact that she has no lungs and maybe not even any vocal chords. Busty babes gyrate to incredibly tawdry music, actors make irrational character changes from line to line, the dialogue is even more nonsensical than the plot, and you'll need a calculator to add up the continuity goofs. On the whole THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE comes off as even more unintentionally funny than an Ed Wood movie.

Director Joseph Green actually manages to keep the whole thing moving at pretty good clip, and looking at the film today it is easy to pick out scenes that influenced later directors, who no doubt saw the thing when they were young and impressionable and never quite got over it. The cuts made before the film went into release are forever lost, but the cuts made for television have been restored in the Alpha release, and while the film and sound quality aren't particularly great it's just as well to recall that they probably weren't all that good to begin with.

Now, this is one of those movies that you'll either find incredibly dull or wildly hilarious, depending on your point of view, so it is very hard to give a recommendation. But I'll say this: if your tastes run to the likes of Ed Wood or Russ Meyers, you need to snap this one up and now! Four stars for its cheesy-bizarreness alone! GFT, Amazon Reviewer

bad B-movie to camp

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 31 January 2020]

Skilled surgeon Dr. Bill Cortner is looking to do experimental transplant work despite his father's objections. He recklessly gets into a car accident which decapitates his girlfriend Jan Compton. He saves her head and keeps it alive in a laboratory in his country mansion. He needs a body to quickly transplant the head onto but she would rather be dead.

The head is an iconic B-movie visual. The oddest part of that visual is when it's done from behind which is pointless. This is mostly a bad B-movie. The girlie show is complete 50's cheese. The cat fight is pure cheese. This movie is so cheesy. Transplantation is a good sci-fi subject matter although this movie is not very scientifically sound. The head is talking without any lungs. It has it all for a bad cheesy B-movie. It fits the idea of camp when some of it is so bad that it's funny.

Good, Old-fashioned Fun

[BaronBl00d · 8/10 · 4 September 1999]

I had a heck of a good time viewing this picture, and was splendidly surprised at its more erudite features. First off, the film is undeniably cheaply-made with its cardboard sets, limited settings, and creative scientific props. The acting ranges from very poor(the two strippers), barely professional(Herb Evers as the leading man), gothic overstatement(Leslie Daniels as the assistant Kurt)to first-rate with Virginia Leith in the title role as the headless victim alive against her will for the benefit of science and her fiancee's lustful passions. The scripting though is very good and the dialogue is fantastic for a movie of this ilk. Issues abound about what role science and medicine have in our lives and what their boundaries should be. This film is a thinking film in many ways. However, don't be too fooled by its real intent. It is a sleazy story about a man obsessed with his aptitude in medical science who wishes to fuse together his dead girlfriend's head with the perfect body, thereby creating the perfect woman for a man with the best of both body and soul. One other very bright aspect of the film is the sax music which resonates strongly every time the doctor scours town for female beauties.

Hey, it ain't that bad

[playground_swing · 7/10 · 15 July 2004]

This film is an absolute classic for camp. That is why it was an Elvira and MST3000 classic. Everyone knows the story. Scientist keeps his girlfriend's head alive in a lasagna pan in his basement while he cruises town and tries to find her a body by checking out the local chicks. Finally he finds a real hourglass body with a scar-faced chick's head on top. The severed head makes friends with the failed experiment in the closet and the conehead comes out of the closet and rips off the assistant's remaining "good" arm (his other is not right from a scientist's earlier failure), and the whole place burns down.

The movie scared us so much as kids that my friend wouldn't go into his basement for a year after seeing it. As kids we ranked the scariest movies of all time and this one was number four. Only one of those scary movies was really any good (the Original "The Haunting".)

I had to give this movie a seven rating for the tremendous amount of entertainment value it offers. Its eerie effect because of the crappy production and the weird sexual angle when the scientist looks for the bodies (complete with porno sound track) scares the hell out of innocent children, while the ridiculous aspects make it prime material for watching talking and laughing. I could watch this film tonight and enjoy it while I'd rather go to the Dentist than watch "Chicago" again.

Seven is the most I can give it, because its entertainment value is mere luck. The film , as cinema, is a disaster.

Iconic, but not all that good of sci-fi horror film about a disembodied head on a table

[a_chinn · 4/10 · 29 October 2018]

Iconic campy sci-fi/horror film about a mad scientist who keeps his girlfriend's head alive following a car crash. The next step, of course, is to find a new body The film is nowhere as scary as a Val Lewton horror film and is nowhere as engrossing as say "The Fly," but it's undeniably entertaining to listen to the severed head on a table verbally spar with the mad doctor. It's almost a grind house version of "Death and the Maiden." The film's blatant pandering by including extreme, for it's time, levels of sex and violence (besides the severed head, there's a stripper fight and also a "camera club" scene). Oh, and the mad scientist also keeps an earlier experiement gone wrong locked up in his laboratory, which looks like a taller slimmer version of Sloth from "The Goonies." Badly acted, badly written, and badly directed, but there's something undeniably watchable about this terrible film.

A 1950s Mens Magazine version of a movie

[jameselliot-1 · 14 July 2004]

With all the "teasecake" in Brain (shot in 1959 but released in 1963), the locations (a loner wandering through strip clubs, swimsuit contests, a model's studio, in a convertible following and picking up women on the street) and the wolfish emphasis on full-length shots of near-naked stacked women, the movie has the sensibility and style of the men's magazines of that time (with symbolic titles like Rogue, Knave, Dude, Bachelor, Caper, etc.). It's surprising that it hasn't been remade and updated, even if only for the cable or home video market, like Not of This Earth, Little Shop of Horrors, How To Make A Monster and other B programmers. Sure it's a cheap little film but that's the fun of it.

A rather odd film

[tom_koopa · 5/10 · 20 July 2009]

The Brain that wouldn't die tells of a doctor and his wife riding in a car on their way to.. someplace. An accident happens and the poor wife loses her head! The doctor quickly takes the head and keeps it alive (miraculously) using some kind of serum he invented. Now he goes out and tries to find a new body for his wife's head and he only has about 48 hours before the head dies forever!

Quite a story wouldn't you say? For the time, I have to admit that it's creative. And I'm sure it was scary back then.

However, the Brain that wouldn't die didn't scare me that much. It did leave an impression on me. It IS a very strange movie.

Worth a watch if you are a fan of strange stories. But don't expect a masterpiece. This movie has been spoofed and parodied countless times. I think that means something.

5 out of 10 stars.

Sci fi Camp

[billcr12 · 3/10 · 12 July 2019]

This is the ultimate in sci-fi camp. Bad acting, a ridiculous story line, horrible soundtrack and a terrible script make this one of the worst films that I have ever seen. A doctor running experiments with body parts has the great idea of keeping his fiance's head alive in a pan of liquid while he searches for a body to attach it to. This leads to a silly scene at a 1950's strip club and ensuing cat fight between two dancers. Viewed as a comedy it ranks as a three out of ten. A bit of trivia for me as i live in Westchester County and the movie was shot in Sleepy Hollow NY.

Decent Premise. Subpar Product

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 5/10 · 26 April 2022]

This is one that I feel like I knew of or heard the title long before seeing this movie. It did appear in the Horror Show Guide encyclopedia of movies that I'm watching. I'll be honest though, that first viewing, I wasn't the biggest fan. It had been some time since I saw it though. I will also say that I did see the remake that took this into comedy at a film festival a couple years ago. After seeing that, it made me intrigued to revisit this one. This movie is about a doctor experimenting with transplant techniques keeps his girlfriend's head alive when she is decapitated in a car crash and then goes hunting for a new body.

We start with doctors in surgery. In charge of this is Dr. Cortner (Bruce Brighton). Helping him is his son of Bill (Jason Evers). The patient doesn't survive so they call it. Bill asks if he can use his experimental treatment that he thinks will save him. He is allowed to. He stimulates the patient's brain with electricity while Dr. Cortner massages his heart. The patient comes back to life and survives the surgery.

Afterwards, they meet back in the room and Dr. Cortner tells his son that he can't always take the chances with experiments like he did today. It isn't safe and it is raising concern with the board of the hospital. There's also talk about missing limbs and body parts. They are then joined by Jan Compton (Virginia Leith), who is dating Bill. Dr. Cortner also doesn't like that Bill goes up to the country house as much as he does. He wants to sell the place ever since his wife and Bill's mother passed away. Bill tells him he can't and there is a tinge of panic. His father leaves to make a plane to go a conference. Bill then gets a call from a Kurt, telling him he needs to come to the country house at once. Bill asks if Jan wants to join him and see what he's working on.

He is driving and going too fast. He doesn't pay attention that there is a curve up ahead and he gets into a car accident. Bill is thrown from the car, but he survives it. Jan doesn't seem as lucky. He takes something and flees from the car. At the country house, we meet his assistant, Kurt (Anthony La Penna). Bill took the head of Jan and has set it up with equipment to keeps it alive. There is a serum that he made that is keeping her that way.

This isn't the first experiment he has done, but it is his most successful. One of the early ones was on Kurt and giving him a new left arm. It did takes and the hand has shriveled up. There is also something alive behind a locked door that Bill has created from amputated parts that he has taken over time. What is behind the door is strong and angry. Bill ignores this for now as he has limited time to find a new body for his girlfriend. When she wakes up and sees the state she is in, she is different too. She is jaded and has a new power that allows her to communicate with what is in the locked closet.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introducing us to the characters a bit. Where I want to start is that this film is quite interesting. This one comes out an intriguing time. It is well after the Universal classics and is even late for the boom of science fiction of the 1950s. We are getting a transition here of incorporating those elements with what we would get in the late 1960s into the 1970s where humanity is more of the monster. For this one, we get an odd tone that is shlocky at times while also being grounded as well.

To delve a bit more into what I've referenced, I want to start with the character of Bill. We get an odd introduction to him. This movie is variation on the Frankenstein mythos. Dr. Cortner is old school. He does things by the book. He doesn't like losing his patient, but his methods are within what they're allowed. Bill is arrogant. He does something that is outside of the lines of what has been approved. The more we get to know him though, the more we see he is our villain. He would also fall into that mad scientist category. He is also a predator, which is where I'll go next.

Bill isn't dumb. He is out looking for someone to be a replacement body. This takes him to a cabernet show where he is considering strippers. He goes to a beauty contest and then to a model he knew in school. Bill knows what he is doing is wrong. He gets thwarted a few times when someone will recognize him or who is picking up. He doesn't want to be seen by anyone as the last person with whoever goes missing. That is creepy. It does work though as I think it develops him into our villain and how far he will go to be right. Evers was good in this role. He fit what was needed to portray this.

Moving from there, I don't want to harp on this too much, but I'm going to go into the science a bit. Keeping the head alive like it is probably wouldn't work, but I do like the fact that they tried to make that as realistic as they could. It is interesting that at the time of this film, transplants were still relatively new. It does seem that Re-Animator took this idea for what they do with Dr. Hill. I can go with what the movie is doing though as it works in the logic of the movie and I can't necessarily disprove anything.

Then the last part of the story I want to go into is Jan's plight. I find it fascinating. She doesn't want to live and Bill won't let her die. She doesn't want him to kill anyone to keep her alive. There is a question if the serum changes things to bring them back, like Re-Animator or Pet Semetary. She just seems bitter, but I can't blame her either. I do think Leith does a good job there. It is interesting as well that there was a creature that was made, like Frankenstein's Monster. It makes it more realistic that Bill practiced this before Jan was injured. What I will say as well is that this feels less like he truly wants to help her and more about proving his experiment by the end.

That is about the extent for the story I wanted to delve into. I've already said that I liked Evers and Leith's performance. Everyone else does come off a bit robotic if I'm honest. La Penna is fine, but he gets so angry about things quickly. The women in the movie were attractive for the era. Marilyn Hanold plays Peggy Howard who is the model that Bill visits. She has a scar on her face that didn't look great, but I can forgive that. I did like Brighton in his minor role. Other than that, the rest of the effects were fine. There should have been more blood from wounds, but I recognize the era. The creature we see later doesn't look great either. The cinematography is fine. It isn't doing anything too out of the ordinary. It is mostly static.

Now with that said, I wouldn't recommend this film unless you are a fan of the era. This would be better to be watched from Mystery Science Theater, with their commentary would make it hilarious. To give credit, we are getting an interesting blend of horror and sci-fi. It comes out in a transition period. Evers and Leith are solid with the rest of the cast being a bit robotic for the most part. It was a little bit boring and that hurt it for me. It isn't the worst or the best from the era. I did enjoy this more than the last time around. This movie is quite average though. I had more problems than good things so I'm coming in as it being just below that middle mark.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 10.

A B-Movie with some good ideas!

[gporcelli-41235 · 5/10 · 29 June 2018]

I want to be honest with this one. I was attracted by the movie's concept (it's a sort a romantic drama with some sci-fi horror features). "The brain that wouldn't die" (or "The head that wouldn't die"?) tells the story of a brilliant mad doctor which desperately tries to save his girlfriend's life after she looses her head during a car incident. The doctor keeps his girlfirend's head alive witha bizzare machine and starts his quest to find a new body for her. But his girlfriend doesn't want to allow him to do so since the doctor has to kill a girl in ordre to acquire a new body for her. The first 30 minutes are good, I mean, the script stands up pretty well then it becomes trashy. After 30 minutes the movie becomes ridicolous, awkwardly directed and unintentionally funny. It's such a shame since the movie could turn in a really good one. It's a missed opportunity. Thankfully there's another movie "Eyes without a face" which shares some of "The brain that wouldn't die" good elements but without the trash. I think this movie deserves a remake or a second chance because I'm sure it has the potential for a great horror.

Final verdict 5/10 (mediocre)

The concept was good, some elements were good, the first 30 minutes are good. "The brain that wouldn't die" is a missed opportunity. I think you have to watch it without too many expectations in order to enjoy it.

Disturbing for all the wrong reasons, but nonetheless interesting

[mstomaso · 4/10 · 11 December 2006]

The Brain (or head) that Wouldn't Die is one of the more thoughtful low budget exploitation films of the early 1960s. It is very difficult to imagine how a script this repulsively sexist could have been written without the intention of self-parody. And the themes that are expressed repeatedly by the female lead, Ginny Leith - a detached head kept alive by machines, I-Vs and clamps - seem to confirm that the film was meant to simultaneously exploit and critique gender stereotypes. Shades of the under-rated Boxing Helena.

The genderisms are plentiful, and about as irritating as an army of angry ants. The dialog is hyperbolic, over-dramatic and unbelievable, and the acting is merely OK (but not consistent). Why have I given this film a 4? Because some thought clearly went into it. I am really not sure what point the film was really trying to make, but it seems clear that it strives for an unusually edgy and raw sort of horror (without the blood and guts today's audiences expect).

Another unique and interesting aspect of the Brain is that there really are not any heroes in this film, and none of the characters are particularly likable.

All considered, this is a fairly painful and disturbing look at early 1960s American pop sexuality, from the viewpoint of a woman kept alive despite her missing body after what should have been a fatal car crash. Her lover is threatening to sew a fresh, high quality, body onto her and force her to continue living with him. She is understandably non-plussed by all of this and forced to befriend a creature who is almost as monstrous as her boyfriend. Oh, there are also some vague references to the 1950s/60s cliché about the evils of science run amok.

Recommended for B sci fi buffs and graduate students in gender studies. O/w not recommended.

Was the monster that guy in the Diane Arbus photo?

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 8 September 2005]

We might call "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" a B-movie, but it actually wasn't too bad. Granted, the concept was pretty outlandish, but the movie is worth seeing (if only for sci-fi fetishists). The plot of course has Dr. Bill Cortner (Herb Evers) keeping lover Jan Compton's (Virginia Leith) decapitated head alive. The head befriends a monster (Eddie Carmel) in the closet.

Sound far-fetched? It is, but the movie's pretty cool. And I remember that Diane Arbus titled one of her photos "Jewish Giant Visiting His Parents in Brooklyn", and I think that it was Eddie Carmel in that photo. The things that we see in life...

More like "The Mouth That Wouldn't Die"

[logz14 · 2/10 · 23 August 2000]

It was bad. It was real bad. It stung, Mommy. But what made it worse was that she was really nice before being dismembered. But afterwards, she was a real bitch! Her hubby didn't even try to explain what he was doing for her. She wouldn't shut up either! Somehow she talked without any vocal cords, too. AAARRRGGH!

Excellent, atmospheric shocker made for the pre-1977 world

[joekohlertrenton · 10/10 · 24 May 2012]

This is one of those movies that puzzles today's audiences. They're so jaded with mega-million dollar budgeted, hyperactive action films, they have no idea what movies were like before "Star Wars" ruined the market for drive-ins and one-screen sidewalk theaters.

"Brain That Wouldn't Die" is a personal favorite of mine. I grew up seeing it occasionally on Detroit's WKBD-TV50 Saturday night Chiller Movie Double Feature during the 1970s. It was the perfect thriller to watch late at night (in those days stores closed and people went to bed early), after a long sunny week in school and playing outside. There were no computers, cellphones, video games, cable TV or videos back then. You had three or four channels and they signed off after the news. If you were still up after 11:30pm, you felt like the last person on earth; the perfect setting in which to watch this type of picture.

The film sets a nightmarish tone immediately with its moody, creepy score and grim B&W cinematography. Yes, it's a low-budget independent film produced by people mostly just starting out. Given that it was most of the production's first screen credit, it is outstanding.

Despite the comedy relief stripper scenes, the film was one of the more violent, gory and shocking at the time and for years that followed. Everyone's stomach turned over at the arm tearing out scene and my mother used to excuse herself from the room at that point, she found it so disturbing.

Like Abbott & Costello before them--and MST3K after them--the Medved brothers ruined films like this by burlesquing them in their 1980 book, "The Golden Turkey Awards." This and the post- "Star Wars" culture have doomed these movies to an eternity of sneering contempt from a younger audience weened on endless laser blasts, propane explosions and hyperactive CGI effects.

Happily, I got to see and enjoy "Brain That Wouldn't Die" while it was still considered relevant. Every kid on the block used to know and love this movie--and I was one of them.

Awesomely awful fun

[lynpalmer1 · 7/10 · 18 May 2020]

Watched this is a kid on Friday Fright Night Theatre. I still watch it every time it's on. Sleazy,tawdry,ridiculous, gruesome,sexist(I'm a woman) but who cares. It's so much fun and one of the best examples of cheap horror fiction from the 50's and 60's.

Experiment...Experiment...Experiment

[kilgore2345 · 3/10 · 12 May 2004]

I would have enjoyed this movie slightly more had not been for Jason (Herb) Evers constant harping on experiment. Many early reviewers of The Seven Samurai accused Toshiro Mifune of overacting. Yet, as more and more critics viewed that film they saw it as being purposefully done. Jason Evers is obviously not Toshiro Mifune, and his overacting is exactly that.

Most of the actors in this B classic were rather good actors, minus Evers and the showgirls. If you watch this movie, you would have noticed Evers shouting almost every line, that is until he is smoking and blowing the smoke coolly out his nose.

The special effects were par for the course in a B movie such as this one. In hindsight, there isn't much that stands out in my mind as fantastically good or bad for this movie.