The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)

A doctor experimenting with transplant techniques keeps his girlfriend's head alive when she is decapitated in a car crash, then goes hunting for a new body.

Director:

Joseph Green

Writers:

Rex Carlton (original story), Joseph Green (original story),

Stars:

Jason Evers, Virginia Leith, Leslie Daniels

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jason Evers	...	Dr. Bill Cortner (as Herb Evers)
Virginia Leith	...	Jan Compton / Jan in the Pan
Leslie Daniels	...	Kurt (as Leslie Daniel)
Adele Lamont	...	Doris Powell
Bonnie Sharie	...	Blonde Stripper
Paula Maurice	...	Brunet Stripper
Marilyn Hanold	...	Peggy Howard (as Marlyn Hanold)
Bruce Brighton	...	Dr. Cortner
Arny Freeman	...	Photographer
Fred Martin	...	Medical Assistant
Lola Mason	...	Donna Williams
Doris Brent	...	Nurse
Bruce Kerr	...	Beauty Contest M.C.
Audrey Devereal	...	Jeannie Reynolds (as Audrey Devereau)
Eddie Carmel	...	Monster

Storyline

Dr. Bill Cortner has been performing experimental surgery on human guinea pigs without authorization and against the advice of his father, also a surgeon. When Bill's fiancée Jan Compton is decapitated in an automobile accident, he manages to keep her brain alive. He now needs to find a new body for his bride-to-be and settles on Doris Powell, a glamor model with a facial disfigurement. Jan meanwhile doesn't want to continue her body-less existence and calls upon the creature hidden in the basement, one of Bill Cortner's unsuccessful experiments, to break loose.

---

Plot Keywords:

head | laboratory | transplantation | brain | doctor | 

---

Taglines:

Alive... without a body... fed by an unspeakable horror from hell!

---

Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 August 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Black Door

Filming Locations:

Tarrytown, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$62,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rex Carlton Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min 82 min (uncut) 70 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed in 1959 but, due to various legal and censorship problems, not released until 1962.

---

Goofs

When Dr.Cortner finds Kurt dead in the laboratory, the doctor is shown loosening his necktie as he walks away from Kurt's body toward Jan. The camera angle then changes to a close-up of the doctor looking at Jan, and the doctors necktie is now tight. In the next shot the doctor walks back over to Kurt, and the doctors necktie is loose again.

---

Quotes

Dr. Bill Cortner: Oh, come on now, Doris. Do I look like a maniac who goes around killing girls?

---

Crazy Credits

At the beginning, the title is given as "The Brain That Wouldn't Die." The end title card lists the title as "The Head That Wouldn't Die."

---

Connections

Edited into Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Hellbound, Flesh-Eating Subhumanoid Zombified Living Dead, Part 3 (2005)

---

Soundtracks

"The Web"
Theme Music
by Abe Baker and Tony Restaino
Composed by Tony Restaino (uncredited)
Performed by Abe Baker (uncredited)
By Permission of Laurel Records

User Reviews

Was the monster that guy in the Diane Arbus photo?

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...