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A Movie A Day: BRAIN DAMAGE (1988) This is the start of your new life. A life of colors, music, life and euphoria…
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the newest October special horror run of A Movie A Day!
[For the entirety of October I will be showcasing one horror film each day. Every film is pulled from my DVD shelf, recorded on the home DVR or streamed via Instant Netflix and will be one I haven’t seen. Unlike my usual A Movie A Day or A Movie A Week columns there won’t necessarily be connectors between each film, but you’ll more than likely see patterns emerge day to day.]
Ah, this is more like it. Cheap, bizarre, trippy, outrageous, odd and darkly funny… must be Henenlotter.
Say what you want about Frank Henenlotter’s films they are never anything less than entertaining and BRAIN DAMAGE is certainly that.
Falling in-between BASKET CASE and its sequel, BRAIN DAMAGE seems to give Henenlotter a bit more to play with and play he does.
The story centers around Brian (Rick Hearst) who is randomly picked by a hungry brain-eating talking, singing, smart-ass worm-like parasite who pumps a hallucinogenic liquid into Brian’s brain through a needle-like fang in his mouth. This parasite, named Aylmer, doesn’t want to eat Brian’s brain. Where’s the fun in that? It’s so much easier on him to get someone hooked on this narcotic-like substance and then withhold it until they bring the food to him.
And human brains only, please.
It feels a bit weird to say this, but Frank Henenlotter’s BRAIN DAMAGE has a lot going on below the surface. The easy connection is the drug addiction angle. Brian quickly gets to the point where he’s willing to do anything for a fix and helps this little bastard get his brains.
Below that is showcasing just how a serious addiction can ruin relationships. Brian’s a good guy, but after he gets his first taste of “the Juice” he lets that take priority, shunning his girl and brother.
The first stage is embarrassment, that’s why he keeps those closest to him at a distance while he tries to figure out just what this creature is and what it’s pumping into his brain. That quickly turns into a self-preservation instinct once Brian starts bringing Aylmer his food.
And, as serious drug addiction tends to do in real life, Brian ends up alone after alienating his friends and family to the point where they give up. His only friend is his pusher and his pusher could really give a shit who he is as long as payment keeps arriving on time.
In other words, this movie had a lot more going on than I expected going into it, but yeah… it still has signature Henenlotter insanity anchored by Aylmer himself. This thing is clearly a puppet, but the feeling I get is that Henenlotter would have gone full Muppet, showing the rods that move him around every once in a while. It doesn’t matter that Aylmer’s clearly an effect, it’s his personality that matters. If you buy into this worm thing you are in for the long haul.
And that haul gets rewarded with many things, including a first for me… There’s one scene where a barslut it literally killed because she tries to blow Brian. Instead of getting his worm in her mouth, Aylmer jumps in while the unawake Brian thrusts his pelvis (and Aylmer) into her mouth graphically until Aylmer gets to her brain through her mouth.
That’s the first, and probably still best, holy shit moment in the film, although I will say it has a hell of an ending that goes a lot darker than I expected.
The production value isn’t exactly Kubrick level, but the photography and set dec suits this movie, especially when Brian decides to kick his habit and pits his ability to go cold turkey against Aylmer’s patience. Brian locks them both in a cheap hotel and suddenly felt like I was in the middle of TRAINSPOTTING, but instead of a dead baby crawling on the wall we get a singing phallic puppet that lives in the hotel sink.
This is a weird movie, guys and it’s not for everybody. What movie is, right? I get it, I et it. I’m in danger of overusing that sentence. Sorry about that. But I mean it. I can see people love up on this movie something for all its insanity and decent, dense plot.
Final Thoughts: Aylmer will win you guys over and would be worth watching the movie just for him. All the acting’s fine, even the naked, oiled up muscleman bohunk in the shower scene. Yes, it’s disturbing. Yes, it goes psychedelic for parts, but it’s all well executed. Super fun and it might actually make you think a tad even while watching a death-by-fellatio scene.
I’m falling asleep at my keyboard as I type this. I had a very long day touring Northern Ireland (absolutely breathtaking country) and a long day ahead of me tomorrow. I gotta get some sleep, but I do have to point out the pairing I’d do with this movie even if I don’t give it a full on review.
There’s a point where Brian, with Aylmer attached to his body, boards a subway car and is eyeballing the passengers. One doesn’t bat an eye him… and that guy is Kevin Van Hentenryck. This is a bit of cross-over from Mr. Henenlotter. If you don’t know get it yet, all I gotta say is that Hentenryck starred in Henenlotter’s first feature.
Yep. And not only does Hentenryck show up as a silent passer he’s playing Duane Bradley and he’s carrying a lugging a large basket case that I’m positive concealed Bilial, Duane’s evil freak mutant twin.
I hate to just do a gloss-over piece on Basket Case, but I wasn’t kidding when I said I was falling asleep at my keyboard and I’m starting to make some sloppy mistakes as my eyes loose focus and I start to nod off. I will say that Basket Case was another USA Up All Night hall of famer for me and is actually one I haven’t revisited in a few years. I plan to hit it up when I get back.
So, not only is BASKET CASE a good tonal match for BRAIN DAMAGE it features the lead actor crossing over. And Amazon has the DVD for under $5. No lose scenario.
Here are the next week’s worth of AMAD titles:
Wednesday, October 7th: BRAIN DEAD (1990)
Thursday, October 8th: VISITING HOURS (1982)
Friday, October 9th: MACABRE (1980)
Saturday, October 10th: PRIVATE PARTS (1972)
Sunday, October 11th: ROAD GAMES (1981)
Monday, October 12th: DEAD END DRIVE-IN (1986)
Tuesday, October 13th: PSYCHIC KILLER (1975)
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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AMAD Halloween Spectacular 2009:
October 1st: Nothing But The Night (& The Wicker Man)
October 2nd: Beware! Children At Play (& The Devil Times Five)
October 3rd: Cameron’s Closet (& Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood)
October 4th: Afraid of the Dark (& The Lady In White)
October 5th: The Pit (& The Gate)
Click here for the full 215 movie run of A Movie A Day!
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Thanks for revisiting my youth. Demented as it might be.
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Are two of the most freakiest horror movies, I have ever seen. Apparently, Frankenhooker, is just freaky as well.
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Watched this at the local mall back in the day. A true grindhouse flick.
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I'm so there!
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Oct 06, 2009 7:39:21 PM CDT
these two will most probably be a first time for me
by t 1000 xp professional
unless they're somewhere in my 80s soaked prechildhood subconscious, which wouldn't count anyways. :D Grat - si!
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... is a man of vision! There needs to be more like him.
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STREET TRASH. Wheres the street trash love up in this piece!
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mutants, mutants, mutants
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I definitely need to see this one. Basket Case is a whole lot of fun. I need to check out the sequels of that one too apparently. Also I second the Street Trash love though I think Quint is already a fan of that one if I am not mistaken.
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When I watched BASKET CASE 2, my only thought was "Oh, god, _EW_! How do they WASH themselves? EWWWW! Do they brush their teeth? EWWWWWWWW!"
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Waiting two years to see it, however, is not. You all wanna know why we didn't see this Halloween Horror gem in theaters? The real fuckin' reason? It has kiddie death in it. It's a Horror movie you fucking fucktards at Warner Bros. and the MPAA! The moviegoing public has been denied this awesome as hell movie because of antiquated sensibilities!
I hope all the people involved with delaying the release of Trick 'r Treat get a heaping dose of Mr. Wilkins' candy! Those bastards!
Oh no, the fictional child characters are in danger! We must prevent the world from viewing this!
Fuckin' bullshit! -
Though, this is a Henenlotter thread, and the man deserves his due respect. All of his flicks are great (though Bad Biology is just okay, but I don't hold it against him because a rapper wrote it, not him). If you haven't seen them, track them down and watch them all. Even the Basket Case sequels... all so worth owning. The one thing is the performances - the best being James Lorinz in Frankenhooker (he's also in Street Trash).
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...is much more of a Sci-Fi, in fact, I'd say it's just as much a horror film as Road Warrior...
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What the hell? I can ditch my shash riddled VHS?
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31 Days of Nightmares.
Ok, maybe it is a little bit too much of a bad pun. -
God, what an ugly. ugly movie....
BUT Martin Scorsese did watch it and saw Tony Darrow in it, whom he cast in GoodFellas as "Sonny Bunz", the night club owner that Joe Pesci beats up and smashes a bottle over his head. And from there he went on to appear in BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, MIGHTY APHRODITE, ANALYZE THIS, and of course THE SOPRANOS were he played "Larry Boy Barese".
So I guess some good came from STREET TRASH other than hobo gang rape and pick with a severed penis. -
that was my only grip with the movie.the rest was awesome,although the acting could have been better.
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with shia as Belial
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That Visiting Hours poster gives me nightmares; I haven't slept in days!
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...is Bad Taste the movie where the guy shoots a rocket launcher and it goes through a house and explodes a sheep? That is the FUNNIEST thing I've ever seen.
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Hahahahah.
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I'd like to direct you to this youtube video http://tinyurl.com/yacgy35
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Of totally gross, and messed up films, from the 80's, none's more sicker, more twisted, more depraved, than the cult film classic, Xtro.
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This makes me want to start pulling out boxes of VHS tapes and going old school. The Evil Deads. Re-Animator and From Beyond. Luther the Geek. Dead Alive and Bad Taste. Maniac Cop. Waxwork and Sundown. Bloodsucking Freaks. But Basket Case really was one of my favorites. For something really scary, listen to the commentary on the Synapse release. They talk about the terrible neighborhood they were filming in, and some guy who was hanging outside the buildings buying used condoms from hookers and drinking the contents.
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Haven't seen it in years. This sat really well alongside stuff like From Beyond, Reanimator, Street Trash and so on. Classic stuff!
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Retribution (1987) ? that movie is very rare,not even Amazon has it.i have found it in 2 torrent sites,but unfortunately they are private.i can give my email if someone has info about it,i desperately need to find it.
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i must find it. its a title i've heard a lot over the years but reading the review, it dont ring a bell. maybe its time again to abuse that 2 week free trial of canada's version of netflix....just for halloween. :P
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Why the surprise that this is a serious take on addiction? Don't you believe in good horror movies? It's not all blood and body parts, ya know. Well, not if you're doing it right.
Brain Damage is one of my favorites- so much so that I have a loaner copy to make sure no one takes mine. And it has a few miles on it. The later release from Synapse (with the silver border on the cover) has a better transfer than the older one. -
I have that poster framed on my wall. Awesome movie!
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The great horror host was the voice of Aylmer.
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