Review of The Brain from Planet Arous (1957) by Craig L — 27 Jan 2009

Pure cheese and a shining example of so-bad-it's-good 50's B film making. There's a plot about an evil alien criminal brain that escapes the planet Arous and winds up possessing heroic scientist John Agar. Of course, another good alien bounty hunter brain comes a-lookin' fer him (and shouldn't the film be called "The Brains from the Planet Arous" since there are two of them.) Brain 2 appears to Agar's girlfriend and explains all, and all agree that the best course of action would be for Brain 2 to possess the dog so he can keep an eye on Brain 1 inside of Agar.

There's some nonsense about luring Brain 1 into solid form so he can be killed, and there's some axe swinging aimed at the Fissure of Roland or Orlando or something like that in the brain. This is apparently the weak spot. I was too busy watching the extremely visible black wires flying the brain around to worry about the plot. But who cares? This movie is so bad, so cheesy, that it's fun. Everyone plays the movie absolutely straight, except for Agar as Brain 1. His evil acting is so over the top, it make Iago look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.

I have to mention Walter Greene's score. It is very effective, and is unexpectedly sophisticated for the genre. Listen for the sax music underlying some of Agar's quiet scenes with Joyce Meadows. I wish this were availble on CD.