The Brain That Wouldn't Die
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| The Brain That Wouldn't Die | |
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 A promotional film poster for "The Brain That Wouldn't Die." |
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| Directed by | Joseph Green |
| Produced by | Rex Carlton Mort Landberg |
| Written by | Rex Carlton Joseph Green |
| Starring | Jason Evers Virginia Leith Leslie Daniels Adele Lamont Bonnie Sharie Paula Maurice Eddie Carmel |
| Music by | Abe Baker Tony Restaino |
| Cinematography | Stephen Hajnal |
| Editing by | Leonard Anderson Marc Anderson |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 10 August 1962 |
| Running time | 82 min |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $62,000 (estimated) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Brain That Wouldn't Die, also known as The Head That Wouldn't Die, is a 1962 science-fiction/horror film directed by Joseph Green and written by Green and Rex Carlton. A scientist develops a means to keep human body parts alive. When he unexpectedly must use his discovery on someone close to him, events do not go as planned.
This film has fallen into the public domain and can be freely downloaded from the Internet Archive.
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[edit] Plot outline
Dr. Bill Cortner is a successful scientist with a beautiful fiancée named Jan Compton. After a horrible car accident decapitates Jan, Dr. Cortner collects her severed head and rushes it to his laboratory, where he revives it and manages to keep it alive in a liquid-filled tray.
Dr. Cortner now decides to commit murder in order to obtain an attractive new body to attach to his fiancée's head. As he hunts for a suitable specimen, Jan begins to hatch some murder plans of her own. Filled with hatred for Cortner because he won't let her die, she communicates telepathically with a hideous mutant in the laboratory cell, telling it to kill the scientist.
[edit] In popular culture
The monster in the closet is played by Eddie Carmel in his first "cinematic role". Carmel was a well-known Palestine-born circus attraction who worked under the name "The Jewish Giant". He is the subject of a photograph by Diane Arbus entitled "The Jewish Giant at Home with His Parents in the Bronx, NY, 1970".[1]
The Brain that Woudn't Die was the first movie watched by Mike Nelson in Mystery Science Theater 3000 (episode 513). The film was also featured in the Steve Martin comedy The Man with Two Brains, along with Donovan's Brain.
In 2006, the movie was adapted into a live stage production by Last Rites Productions, a Portland, Oregon theatre company. The company had previously adapted "Manos" The Hands of Fate, a subject of another Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode.
In the video game No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way, two guards turned into "man crates" are having a conversation. One of them quotes the movie most famous line ("Like all quantities horror has its ultimate and I am that!") and the other recognizes it and adds "I never thought I would ever relate to Jan In The Pan".
In the third issue of the comic book Madman The Brain That Wouldn't Die is seen on a double billing with Carnival of Souls at a shut down drive-in theatre.
[edit] DVD releases
- The film has been released by multiple studios as a 'bargain bin' disc.
- The MST3K version of the film (along with the uncut version, included as a bonus feature)was released by Rhino Home Video.
[edit] References
- ^ "The Jewish Giant". SoundPortraits.org. Retrieved on 2007-10-26.
[edit] External links
- The Brain That Wouldn't Die at the Internet Movie Database
- Free Download from Internet Archive
- http://www.heavy.com/video/9300 Sarcastic mockucommentary by Sasha Tane from Accent On Film.
- The Brain That Wouldn't Die at Google Video
