Thursday August 11, 2011 at 8:03
THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE (1962)
Written and Directed by Joseph Green
Impatient doctor/research scientist Bill Cortner (Herb - later Jason - Evers) is in such a rush to get home that he crashes his car into the guard rail, decapitating his fiancee Jan Compton (Virginia Leith). He takes her head home and keeps it alive while he searches for a new body for her. Jan ain’t too happy about things, and begins a telepathic relationship with the mutant in the closet (Eddie Carmel). One of the creepiest, most sleazy, and (for its time) graphically violent films ever made. Dr. Cortner spends most of the film’s running time ogling models and strippers, looking for just the right one for his honey’s new bod. He finds it in Doris Powell (Adele Lamont), who has a gorgeous body but a scarred face. He tricks her into believing he’ll fix her face. His assistant Kurt (Leslie Daniels) was deformed by an unsuccessful operation performed before his boss had perfected his methods, and, sadly, he gets his good arm ripped off when the Thing in the Closet escapes from his confinement. Evers smirks and acts superior to everyone, appropriate for the character but limited as an acting choice. Virginia Leith may be most famous for playing “Jan in the pan”, but she also acted in films for Richard Fleischer, Gerd Oswald and Stanley Kubrick, so give the woman her due: she was an actor with talent, who makes the whispering, demented Jan an unforgettable presence. And THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE is an unforgettable movie. (Viewed on Elvira’s “Movie Macabre” in a surprisingly good, uncut print.)
Written and Directed by Joseph Green
Impatient doctor/research scientist Bill Cortner (Herb - later Jason - Evers) is in such a rush to get home that he crashes his car into the guard rail, decapitating his fiancee Jan Compton (Virginia Leith). He takes her head home and keeps it alive while he searches for a new body for her. Jan ain’t too happy about things, and begins a telepathic relationship with the mutant in the closet (Eddie Carmel). One of the creepiest, most sleazy, and (for its time) graphically violent films ever made. Dr. Cortner spends most of the film’s running time ogling models and strippers, looking for just the right one for his honey’s new bod. He finds it in Doris Powell (Adele Lamont), who has a gorgeous body but a scarred face. He tricks her into believing he’ll fix her face. His assistant Kurt (Leslie Daniels) was deformed by an unsuccessful operation performed before his boss had perfected his methods, and, sadly, he gets his good arm ripped off when the Thing in the Closet escapes from his confinement. Evers smirks and acts superior to everyone, appropriate for the character but limited as an acting choice. Virginia Leith may be most famous for playing “Jan in the pan”, but she also acted in films for Richard Fleischer, Gerd Oswald and Stanley Kubrick, so give the woman her due: she was an actor with talent, who makes the whispering, demented Jan an unforgettable presence. And THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE is an unforgettable movie. (Viewed on Elvira’s “Movie Macabre” in a surprisingly good, uncut print.)
— Robert Deveau, The Doomed Farmer
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