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IMDbPro

Brainstorm

  • 19831983
  • PGPG
  • 1h 46m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
12K
YOUR RATING
Brainstorm (1983)
Watch Trailer
Play trailer3:21
1 Video
59 Photos
Sci-FiThriller
Researchers develop a system where they can jump into people's minds. But when people involved bring their personal problems into the equation, it becomes dangerous - perhaps deadly.Researchers develop a system where they can jump into people's minds. But when people involved bring their personal problems into the equation, it becomes dangerous - perhaps deadly.Researchers develop a system where they can jump into people's minds. But when people involved bring their personal problems into the equation, it becomes dangerous - perhaps deadly.
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
12K
YOUR RATING
    • Douglas Trumbull
    • Bruce Joel Rubin(story)
    • Robert Stitzel(screenplay)
    • Philip Frank Messina(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Christopher Walken
    • Natalie Wood
    • Louise Fletcher
    • Douglas Trumbull
    • Bruce Joel Rubin(story)
    • Robert Stitzel(screenplay)
    • Philip Frank Messina(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Christopher Walken
    • Natalie Wood
    • Louise Fletcher
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 102User reviews
    • 49Critic reviews
    • 57Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 3:21
    Watch Trailer

    Photos59

    "Brainstorm," Natalie Wood. 1983/MGM.
    "Brainstorm," Natalie Wood. 1983/MGM.
    Natalie Wood and Christopher Walken in Brainstorm (1983)
    Natalie Wood and Christopher Walken in Brainstorm (1983)
    Christopher Walken in Brainstorm (1983)
    Christopher Walken in Brainstorm (1983)
    Christopher Walken in Brainstorm (1983)
    Natalie Wood and Christopher Walken in Brainstorm (1983)
    Natalie Wood and Christopher Walken in Brainstorm (1983)
    Christopher Walken and Louise Fletcher in Brainstorm (1983)
    Christopher Walken in Brainstorm (1983)
    Christopher Walken in Brainstorm (1983)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Christopher Walken
    Christopher Walken
    • Michael Brace
    Natalie Wood
    Natalie Wood
    • Karen Brace
    Louise Fletcher
    Louise Fletcher
    • Lillian Reynolds
    Cliff Robertson
    Cliff Robertson
    • Alex Terson
    Jordan Christopher
    Jordan Christopher
    • Gordy Forbes
    Donald Hotton
    Donald Hotton
    • Landan Marks
    Alan Fudge
    Alan Fudge
    • Robert Jenkins
    Joe Dorsey
    Joe Dorsey
    • Hal Abramson
    Bill Morey
    Bill Morey
    • James Zimbach
    Jason Lively
    Jason Lively
    • Chris Brace
    Darrell Larson
    Darrell Larson
    • Security Technician
    Lou Walker
    Lou Walker
    • Chef
    Stacey Kuhne-Adams
    • Andrea
    John Hugh
    • Animal Lab Technician
    Ira David Wood III
    Ira David Wood III
    • Barry
    • (as David Wood)
    Keith Colbert
    • Dr. Ted Harris
    Jerry Bennett
    • Dr. Janet Bock
    Mary Fran Lyman
    • Realtor
    • (as Mary-Fran Lyman)
      • Douglas Trumbull
      • Bruce Joel Rubin(story)
      • Robert Stitzel(screenplay)
      • Philip Frank Messina(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      When Natalie Wood died near the end of principal photography, studio executives tried to kill the film and claim the insurance, saying that director Douglas Trumbull could not complete the film. However, Trumbull's contract gave that decision to him, and he insisted on completing it, using a stand-in and changing camera angles for the few remaining shots of Wood's character. The resulting hostility between Trumbull and the studio executives meant that this would be Trumbull's last Hollywood film. He has since devoted his efforts to effects work for IMAX films, theme park rides and the like.
    • Goofs
      There is no possible way that any assembly line could have been remotely programmed to have gone haywire and crazy at it did by Karen, and there is no way that a remote access terminal could override a direct power shutoff at the factory.
    • Quotes

      Dr. Michael Anthony Brace: [whispers to statue] That's the girl I'm gonna marry.

    • Crazy credits
      After the final credit has rolled, 'TO NATALIE' appears for a couple seconds
    • Alternate versions
      In the psychotic episode sequence when Michael's (Christopher Walken) son Chris (Jason Lively) wears the headset, there's a slight difference between the 70mm version and 35mm version. In the 70mm version of Chris's hallucination when Michael flips a lever presumably sending an electrical current to Chris's head, the camera cuts to and remains on a shot of a circular device with electricity running through it, as Michael is heard to say, 'Now you're gonna find out it's mine!' In the 35mm version, the shot arrangement is the same except that it cuts back to a closeup of Michael saying the line 'Now you're gonna find out it's mine!'
    • Connections
      Edited into Trumbull Land (2018)

    User reviews102

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    10/10
    About exploring experience, life, love, even death, from the point of view of others.
    Everyone knows this was Natalie Wood's last film, and that some of her scenes were filmed after her death with a stand-in you only see from behind. Director Donald Trumball, best known for his special effects work in Blade Runner, Close Enounters, and Star Trek, chose this time to build his story on plot and character development, a good choice given the enormous talent he had to work with. Trumball's battle with studio execs to finish the film after Wood's death, rather than claim the insurance proceeds and call the film off, ended his career in Hollywood, but assured that this gem would not be lost. It is somewhat ironic that Natalie's swan song should be a sci-fi movie, since she was hardly known for work in the genre, but she brings a grace and charm, as well as depth and beauty, to the genre that is usually lacking.

    Most sci-fi films based on technology don't age well, and there are times where this is no exception. The idea of recording on tape, let alone making tape loops, must seem like wax cylinder recordings to today's MP3 generation. The tapes themselves were props borrowed from a film being shot nearby, and that film was itself a dismal failure. But the concept is timeless, and so well done that, all in all, the film still works as well as it did in 1983.

    Lesser screenplays would have been content with the main story line; scientists invent a way to record brainwaves and play them back for a real life out of body experience, and for just such a stinker, check out Strange Days. But then along comes the incomparable, utterly fabulous Louise Fletcher, who, as one of the co-inventors of the aforementioned device, records her death when she suffers a heart attack while working late one night. For the rest of the film, people are either trying to play the tape or prevent others from playing it. Meanwhile, the technology gets hijacked by two-dimensional government lackeys trying to exploit the weapons potential of the invention.

    One can easily pick out scenes of this movie to vilify or exalt, all these years later, and any object viewed over time eventually has a vanishing point. The almost slapstick scene where the assembly robots go berserk is one example of a scene that, while consistent with its contemporaries, is silly today. The death scene, though much maligned, is equally misunderstood, and provides the metaphysical underpinnings that elevate Brainstorm above mere gadget flicks. Brainstorm is about exploring experience, life, love, even death, from the point of view of others, and Academy Award winner Louise Fletcher allows us to do so through her consummate skill in presenting a death scene of sufficient awe and wonder to warrant exploration.

    If you want to find out what else happens, watch the film, but when you do, don't ignore the beautiful, delicate interplay between Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood. Their careening relationship seems somehow tied to the invention they helped make, and there are sequences so beautiful that I sometimes take out the DVD just to marvel at them.

    Despite changing styles in special effects, this is a timeless and beautiful story that transcends the genre and, with Walken, Wood and Fletcher, becomes more than just a story about shiny gold tapes that record brain waves. It's more about immovable objects and irresistible forces and what happens when they collide. Intrigued? Good. Go watch it.
    helpful•133
    12
    • budmassey
    • Dec 2, 2003

    FAQ1

    • What horror film was being viewed by some of those monitoring view screens?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 30, 1983 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA
    • Production companies
      • JF Productions
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
      • SLM Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 46 minutes
      • Color

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