Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52117 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-08-30
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Running time: 83 minutes

From Amazon.com
A scientist is driving around with his gorgeous girlfriend and everything's hunky-dory until he wrecks the car and her head goes flying off. Not to be discouraged, he wraps the decapitated noggin in his jacket and scurries off to his lab, where he keeps the poor woman's head alive in a developing tray with some coils and tubes running in and out of it. With his girlfriend's still-conscious cabeza back at the lab, the good doctor drives around shopping for bodies, ogling women who might make likely candidates for reattaching the head. Finally he finds a model with a gorgeous bod (and leopard print bikini), but a scarred face. He convinces the young woman that he can fix her looks with plastic surgery and convinces her to go back to the lab. Meanwhile, his girlfriend-head (silenced by a strip of duct tape over her mouth) has developed telepathy and a nasty grudge. This movie used to regularly leave late-night TV audiences aghast and scare the bejabbers out of the young'uns. Decades later, it's an indispensable trash classic, complete with a catfight, a pinhead monster, a deformed assistant, and even a spatter of gore. Make no mistake; this incredible, sleazy gem is a must-see for any self-respecting fans of camp cinema. They just don't come any better, and they definitely don't make 'em like that anymore. --Jerry Renshaw

Review
Hokey, overwrought, and poorly paced, this venerable creature feature still commands a sizable following on the basis of its campy, low-grade special effects, its T&A exploitation, and its many pseudo-philosophical soliloquies. Virginia Leith gives a spiteful, glamorous performance that's limited to the neck up for most of the film. God only knows how someone without a windpipe would be able to talk, but oh, how she does. Swathed in bandages, soaking in a tray of serum, she hisses epithets and makes pronouncements about Nature, Injustice, and Evil while co-star Jason Evers trawls the city's houses of ill repute looking for a babe with a killer enough bod to provide his sweetie-pie with a new lease on life. A fixture of Saturday-afternoon horror matinees, the film often has its more flimsily clothed moments excised on TV. Seen complete on video or DVD, the picture's horror elements may seem like just an excuse to show scantily clad ladies of the night showing off their wares and getting into catfights. The finale does, however, provide some fairly effective monster makeup and some lurid bits of grisly mayhem. For some viewers, the most horrifying moment may come when Evers tapes Leith's mouth shut to keep her from talking. Never fear, feminists -- the blowhard doctor gets what's coming to him, and this collection of macabre male fantasies ends with the sinister laughter of its put-upon title character. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Synopsis
An arrogant scientist brings his fianc�e back from the dead in this vintage cult horror film. Dr. Bill Cortner (Jason Evers, here billed as Herb Evers) performs medical experiments despite the trepidation of his surgeon father (Bruce Brighton); transplantation is Bill's main area of interest, but he's also had some success using electric shock to restore life to the recently deceased. When Bill causes a car crash that decapitates his fianc�e, Jan Compton (Virginia Leith), he spirits her head off to his secret laboratory and keeps it alive with the help of an experimental new serum. Soon, the doctor begins scouring the dives, strip clubs, and suburban streets for an attractive woman whose body he can steal to restore his lady love to her full, ambulatory glory. Meanwhile, back at the lab, Jan grows to hate Bill for refusing to let her die. Developing telepathic powers that allow her to communicate with one of Bill's failed experiments -- a snarling creature kept locked up under the stairs -- she begins to plot her revenge. Things come to a head when Bill returns to the lab with his intended victim: a bitter, disfigured, man-hating figure model (Adele Lamont). The promotional tagline for The Brain That Wouldn't Die was "Alive...without a body...fed by an unspeakable horror from hell!" The film helped provide the inspiration for '80s horror/comedy director Frank Henenlotter's Frankenhooker and Basket Case 2. The former includes a decapitated woman restored to life by her lover, while the latter features both a cameo from Brain star Jason Evers and another character who looks like the twin brother of the monster under the stairs. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Customer Reviews

Man, I wish they still made movies like this - it's schlock-tastic
You think you really know the woman you love - until you take her decapitated head, put it in a pan, and keep it alive with your own special blend of neck juice. Dr. Bill Cortner (Jason Evers), a new-breed doctor who bravely goes where most doctors (at least, those not named Frankenstein) fear to tread, could have just let his fiance Jan (Virginia Leith) die after her head gets chopped off in an auto accident. Instead, he grabbed her head, hustled it up to his personal lab, set it up all nice and neat in his own special recipe of life-maintaining gravy, and went out in search of a new body for the woman he loved. But does Peggy appreciate everything Bill has done for her? Nooooo. Not one bit. All she does is turn into the mouth that wouldn't shut up and makes "you should have let me die" her new mantra. Apparently, all of her nice qualities were located in her torso because she turns into a vengeful little spitfire who proclaims herself the leader of the doctor's army of mutant creations (all one of them). In her defense, Dr. Cortner is one weird dude with a pretty disturbing hairstyle, but she knew that before she dropped 95% of her body mass. Maybe she's just mad that the selective doctor is seeking an upgrade model for her new body, but you can hardly blame the guy for that. Why settle for pancakes when you can have the whole hungry man's breakfast?

The Brain That Wouldn't Die is everything a campy cult classic should be, with its radical experimental medicine, bloody amputations, a talking decapitated head, a deformed monster, and a really cheap set. It even features some nice point-of-view shots that earn it bonus points in my book. The filmmakers may have had a hard time even remembering the name of the film (it's listed as The Head That Wouldn't Die in the end credits), but The Brain That Wouldn't Die is nothing less than schlock-tastic. Don't buy the regular DVD of the film, though, not when you can get the original film itself included alongside the hilariously heckled version on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD release.

So bad, it's good!
This was a GREAT "B" movie! Not only does it contain some cheesy special effects, bad acting, and a script that is just laughable, it's one of the WORST movies I've ever seen! Low-budget has never been this bad! I LOVE IT!!! Herb Evers plays the role of mad doctor Cortner who is illegally experimenting with transplant surgery. But when his girlfriend (Virginia Leith) is killed in a gruesome car accident, Cortner takes her disembodied head and keeps it alive with a special serum which he made himself. Unfortunately, the head takes a mind of it's own and forms a special bond with a hideous monster, another failed experiment of the doctor, while he's out searching for a new body for her. Plenty of shocking blood and gore which was edited out of the television version, this 1962 B&W horror flick is good for it's time and gore buffs of today will still not be disapointed. If you're looking for an award-winner though, this is NOT the movie for you! This turkey will probably only please the average "B" movie buff. IT'S SO BAD, IT'S ACTUALLY GOOD!

A Perfect Storm Of Schlock!
To me, THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE is the perfect horror movie. It has my three favorite elements: Mad scientists, experiments / organ transplants gone wrong, and zombies. In this case, the mad doctor and his wife get in a car crash, severing her head from her shoulders. The doctor rushes her dome to his lab, where he keeps it alive in a tub of chemicals. He then attempts to locate and kill a beautiful stripper to provide a body for his spouse. Meanwhile, Mrs. mad scientist's head has decided that her husband is crazy and needs a lesson in "head-side" manner. She befriends a strange zombie / monster in a closet made of her hubby's other botched experiments. She's the brains and it's the brawn, so to speak. Together, they take care of the mad doctor and his lab. A classic schlock-o-rama! Highly-Highly recommended...