The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)

User Rating:

3.3/10   

Director:

Joseph Green

Writers:

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

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:

This film has never been officially released in the UK. It was rejected by the BBFC in 1961 and has never been submitted for a re-rating.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Dr. Cortner goes to see Doris, she is finishing up a photo shoot. He sits down on the right side of the sofa. A customer comes up to her to ask about a private photo shoot. The camera is centered on them but you can see Dr. Cortner in the background. In three shots the Dr. switches from the right side of the sofa to the left and then back again to the right.

Quotes:

Blonde Stripper: [hands on hips] You lousy tramp! Once in a blue moon I liken to a guy with class and *you* mess it up!
Brunet Stripper: Eh! What makes you think you had him? He wouldn't have you on a bet!
Blonde Stripper: [hands still on hips] Says who?
Brunet Stripper: Says me! What's a guy like that want with *leftovers* for?
Blonde Stripper: *Leftovers*?
[blonde stripper goes to slap the brunette stripper and a man's hand appears on screen slapping the brunette stripper]
Brunet Stripper: [puts hand to face in shock] Why you cheap third grade stripper!
[catfight ensues between the two strippers]
Brunet Stripper: Ow! Let go!
Blonde Stripper: Don't you ever call me that again! Oooh!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way (2002) (VG)

Soundtrack:

The Web

Works for sheer audacity, shameless conviction of its aims.

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.