The Brain Machine (1977)

Director:

Joy N. Houck Jr.

Writers:

Christian Garrison (story)
Joy N. Houck Jr. (story)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Several people volunteer for a scientific experiment about mind-reading and memory, but the experiment goes horribly wrong. |

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

James Best	...	Rev. Emory Neill
Barbara Burgess	...	Dr. Carol Portland
Gil Peterson	...	Dr. Elton Morris
Gerald McRaney	...	Willie West
Marcus J. Grapes	...	Judd Reeves
Doug Collins	...	Dr. Roland Roth
Ann Latham	...	Minnie Lee Parks (as Anne Latham)
Thomas Hal Phillips	...	The General (as Thomas Phillips)
Christian Garrison	...	Garrison
Stocker Fontelieu	...	Saxon
Tom Dever	...	Bodyguard
Stuart Lancaster	...	Senator
Zephirin Hymel IV	...	Dr. Krisner (as Zephirin Hymel)
Sam Sherrill	...	A Guard
Stephen C. Burnham	...	Williams--Engineering

Also Known As:

Gray Matter (USA) (video title)
Grey Matter (USA) (video title)
Mind Warp
The E-Box
Time Warp

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violence and sexual content.

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Mississippi, USA

Company:

Howco Productions Inc.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: In the scene where the computer first fails, the boom mic is clearly visible in the center of the top of the screen after the close-up of the technician.

Rage against the Brain Machine...

Ouch, what a painfully BORING Sci-Fi movie! And that's especially saddening because the opening 15 minutes were so action-packed and full of potential! During the intro, we follow a bunch of nervous security officers and hired hit men as they chase a doctor who escaped from a mysterious laboratory with a briefcase full of top-secret files. As he's about to reveal the supposedly horrible & inhuman events that take place in the lab, he's executed. Figures… From then on, the 'action' swifts back and forth between two locations, the aforementioned laboratory and the rural mansion of a corrupt senator (or something), and it quickly becomes clear that the experiments are actually the complete opposite of disturbing. More like dull, pointless and vague. Scientists selected four random persons without living relatives and it's really really really really important that they speak the truth even though a giant machine reads the content of their minds, anyway. They all hide dark secrets from their pasts and people suffer when get revealed; yet I fail to see how these tests could ever result in a humanity-threatening device. Perhaps I missed something, but I doubt it. The interactions between the patients and doctors are even less interesting to follow, as really none of them have personalities. So basically, "The Brain Machine" just handles about a bunch of lame people living in an awfully decorated room. The film also could have been half an hour shorter if it weren't for a THOUSAND stagnant shots of buildings! The relocations from the lab to the villa and vice versa are indicated EVERY SINGLE TIME by a five-second shot of the places. Either the makers really needed the padding or they just assumed that all Sci-Fi viewers are morons unable to notice a change of location by themselves. Staring at a forsaken pool with a mansion in the background for the tenth time in only five minutes becomes quite annoying, I assure you. James Best's performance as the reverend with mental issues is rather decent, but one man definitely can't save this thing from being an absolute waste of time. Avoid!