The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)

User Rating:

3.3/10   

Director:

Joseph Green

Writers:

Rex Carlton (story)
Joseph Green (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 August 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Head | Laboratory | Transplantation | Doctor | Car Accident

Cast

Jason Evers	...	Dr. Bill Cortner (as Herb Evers)
Virginia Leith	...	Jan Compton / Jan in the Pan
Leslie Daniels	...	Kurt
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
Eddie Carmel	...	Monster

Also Known As:

The Head That Wouldn't Die

Runtime:

82 min (uncut version) | USA:70 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:R | UK:R | USA:Unrated | Canada:G (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Tarrytown, New York, USA

Company:

Rex Carlton Productions

Trivia:

One of the men snapping photos of Doris in her studio is Jerry Lewis imitator Sammy Petrillo, who co-starred in Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952).

Goofs:

Continuity: In the close-up of Kurt holding his withered hand close to his body, the cuffs on his lab coat are the type that have buttons, and both cuffs are unbuttoned. However, in the next wide-angle shot, the cuffs on his lab coat are the type without buttons.

Quotes:

Kurt: You're nothing but a freak of life! And, a freak of death!

Movie 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)

Experiment...Experiment...Experiment

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.