Thursday, April 28, 2011

Review: Brain Damage


Brain Damage inevitably falls into the so bad it's good category ala Troll 2 or say The Toxic Avenger. This splatter piece is brought to us by none other than director Frank Henelotter of Basket Case cult fame. The effects are cheesy and the acting terrible, but it does have a loveable little villain and plenty of blood. So it does have some endearing qualities to it after all.


                                     The face of horror and comedy


*Spoilers Ahead*

The film starts off with an old couple who arrive home with some brains from the butcher shop. What for you ask? Well none other than our pint sized villain Aylmer. See they've been keeping him in their bathtub and feeding him animal brains (which by the way he needs to survive), while he takes care of them. Namely with a drug he secrets and it keeps them high as a couple of kites. Quite an addictive little substance I must say. Although it doesn't quite make sense that he looks like a little brain / slug and yet he needs brains to survive? Isn't that like saying humans need to eat humans to survive? Oh well. Who cares. Any who, the old lady goes to feed him and lo and behold, he's gone. She quite humorlessly screams over and over again. Geez! Calm down old bag. In the next, and quite hilarious scene, the old couple then proceeds to tear apart their own apartment whilst looking for the beloved Aylmer. All while screaming. Ok then. We then shoot on over to their neighbors apartment, Brian. His annoying girlfriend shows up so they can go to a concert, but Brian isn't looking or feeling to well. She goes off, with his brother  while he decides to get some rest at home. That bitch! Well he's in for a treat, because he wakes up in a pool of blood and starts hallucinating. He then finds a strange little hole on the back of his neck. Strangely, this hasn't freaked him out yet, because he somehow knows someone or something is in the bathroom with him. Then bam! Our little turd shaped villain Aylmer shows up. slaps on the charm, and has himself a new and quite dumb host.


                                        Does she like what she sees?


The movie basically revolves around these two and their symbiotic relationship. Brian gets the drug, while Aylmer gets the brains. See, I guess he likes real human brains rather than the animal stuff. Kind of like vampires and rats right? Right. They wander around the city and many gruesome and comically long deaths occur. One such death is the famous fellatio scene at the Goth club. He got some head and so did Aylmer. You'll just have to watch and see. It all starts going downhill when Brian starts getting suspicious about bloody clothes and not being able to remember much. Not necessarily a sign of a good night. Brian's girlfriend and brother  are trying to help him, but will they be able to save him? Can he resist the cute little Aylmer's overtures for brains? You'll have to watch and see.

            
                                Brian be tripping on some brain juice ya'll

I must say that all in all it's not too bad. But, I think one needs plenty of booze, pot, or just a great sense of humor to enhance the psychedelic feel of this flick. The acting and dialogue is generally terrible, but we still have Aylmer. He is the shining star of this film. His smile, his singing. Yes, singing, are all very endearing. Unfortunately the death scenes go on far too long. Although nice and gory, it could have worked better with slightly less time consumed, and maybe more on who or what Aylmer is. The old man explains a little, but it still makes no damn sense. The effects, as I said before, are pretty cheesy, and are actually probably pretty good for the time and budget.  Also there is a nice cameo from Duane Bradley of Basket Case fame. I liked it and would definitely recommend this film be watched at least once. 3/5 skulls gore lovers.


                                   This French poster is way cooler in my opinion.