BrainWaves (1983)

After a traffic accident Kaylie is in coma for months. Her doctors want to try a new procedure on her: to regain her consciousness, they stimulate her brain with neural patterns of a woman ... See full summary »

Director:

Ulli Lommel

Writers:

Buz Alexander (additional dialogue), Ulli Lommel,

Stars:

Keir Dullea, Suzanna Love, Vera Miles

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keir Dullea	...	Julian Bedford
Suzanna Love	...	Kaylie Bedford
Vera Miles	...	Marian Koonan
Ryan Seitz	...	Danny Bedford
Percy Rodrigues	...	Dr. Robinson
Paul Willson	...	Dr. Schroder
Tony Curtis	...	Dr. Clavius
Eve Brent	...	Mrs. Simpson (as Eve Brent Ashe)
Nicholas Love	...	Willy Meiser
Corinne Wahl	...	Leila Adams (as Corinne Alphen)
Phillipe Carr	...	Doctor
Roger Burgraff	...	Speech Therapist
Michael DeFrancisco	...	George
Jason Fong	...	Grocery Clerk
Diane Doucette	...	Therapy Nurse

Storyline

After a traffic accident Kaylie is in coma for months. Her doctors want to try a new procedure on her: to regain her consciousness, they stimulate her brain with neural patterns of a woman who just died. It works, and Kaylie seems to be ok again. However in her dreams, she lives the last day of her savor - and realizes that she's been killed! Together with her husband she tries to find out what happened.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | doctor | accident | coma | hospital | 

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Taglines:

They have violated the human mind.

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

August 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Shadow of Death

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

CinAmerica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

John Huston was originally casted in the role of Dr. Clavius, but he became ill, so after that there was talks with Rock Hudson, but he wasn't available. Eventually Tony Curtis was cast.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Dr. Schroder: The new arrivals: heart... liver... brain.

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Connections

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005)

User Reviews

Glossy but slow

Glossy looking but very slow and ponderous 'thriller'.

A young accident victim receives a "transplant" of deceased accident victim's brainwaves in an innovative new procedure. Before long she begins to experience flashes of the other woman's memory that indicate the death was more than an accident, and which identify the perpetrator.

The main problem with the film is that the plot is just too thin. The story is very straightforward, is predictable, and lacks any twists or surprises. It plays like an episode of television's "Quincy", or perhaps even "Murder She Wrote", but even those shows packed-in more twists and unexpected plot developments.

Certainly it appears a lot of footage was shot in all sorts of interesting San Francisco locations and we are treated to a constant repetition of these establishing shots throughout the movie. The camera-angles do look nice, but the heavy use of these travelogue sequences slow the film's pace down to a deadly level. There is also a lot of unnecessary character development; we learn all about the lead couple and their son and the grandmother but these details are all irrelevant to the plot. And Vera Miles' character of the grandmother (named Marion!) is utterly superfluous. She gets one good dialogue scene (though it is irrelevant to the plot) and basically provides background chit-chat in the various family scenes.

Many viewers may feel they need their brainwaves revived after sitting through this one.