Only now does it occur to me... THE BRAIN (1988)

Only now does it occur to me... that THE BRAIN is a weird, late '80s mutation of THEY LIVE, THE SHINING, and David Cronenberg, but mostly David Cronenberg. It's that dreary brand of '70/'80s Canadian horror, blanketed in overcast skies, drenched in seasonal affective disorder, and playing out within dystopian concrete spaces punctuated only by ugly primary colors.

I'd still like to eat at that restaurant, though––"Jay's Pit: Steaks & Burgers." Also note the closed captioner's choice to label the music as "afflicted." I love it.

And here, too: "Bitter synth music." That's just terrific. O Canada!

 

The plot, as it is, involves REANIMATOR's own David Gale running a Scientology-adjacent religious pseudoscience TV show/reeducation center called "Independent Thinking."

The secret––revealed in the first ten minutes––is that said broadcasts are powered by an enormous alien brain monster capable of hypnotizing/brainwashing the populace,

a process which is only made possible with the assistance of its human collaborators, both witting and unwitting.

This is probably where the THEY LIVE comparisons come from, and because I am a diehard fan of that film, it's been the major reason THE BRAIN has been pitched to me by friends over the years. Despite a general anti-authoritarian stance, THE BRAIN never quite delves into the razor-sharp satire I craved (though there are some good lines like "Dr. Blake wouldn't be on TV if he wasn't good," said by a clueless parent; or said of a power-abusing cop, "[He] needs a shrink, but they give him a badge and let him tell us what to do.").

Mostly, though, it's interested in having some fun in a Cronenbergian universe, and it can hardly be blamed for that.

Our teenage hero Jim (Tom Bresnahan) is an incorrigible prankster whom we first meet while flushing a block of pure sodium down a toilet

and causing antics of the "explosive plumbing" variety. It is for these crimes that he is sentenced to this form of delinquent conversion therapy, which, at times, feels like a cross between VIDEODROME and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

His therapy in the above scene involves assistance from lab assistant Janet (Christine Kossak), who for all intents and purposes is the "Debbie Harry from VIDEODROME" of this movie. The background there even looks like the wall in the Videodrome torture chamber, and the monstrous/sensual breathing sounds heard throughout are certainly plucked from that film as well.

"Come to me, Max"/"Come to me, Jim"

The Kubrick influence can also not be understated, as THE BRAIN very much adheres to the coldness and sterility of his aesthetic. One particular scene involves our hero hallucinating in an Overlook-esque storeroom

as he imagines blood bubbling and spurting from some canisters therein, a sort of poor man's version of the gushing elevators from THE SHINING.

There are some solid, artistic tableaux along the way,

and David Gale loses his head during a presentation, which feels equally a nod to his legendary headlessness in REANIMATOR as well as to the gory ends to the corporate/scientific exhibitions in SCANNERS, THE BROOD, and VIDEODROME.

Big 'Barry Convex energy' here is what I'm saying.

In the end, my favorite thing about THE BRAIN just might be the closing credits. Before we can even get to the cast and crew, the movie apologizes to us for the sodium prank which kicked off the movie, and it warns us not to try it in real life. Aww, thanks, THE BRAIN––you're so responsible!