|
|
|
The
Brain From Planet Arous
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
6
|
|
 |
|
5 |
|
10
= Highest Rating |
|
|
One
of the most beloved sci-fi schlock films of the '50s comes to
DVD.
Cult fave John Agar (Tarantula,
Invisible Invaders)
gets the chance to step out of his well-worn hero shoes in this
one. As a scientist possessed by an evil alien intelligence,
Agar shoots down airliners with his mind and fries people with
a glance, laughing maniacally. Now that's entertainment!
Dr. Steve March (Agar), a nuclear research
scientist in southern California, is picking up strange bursts
of radiation on the instruments at his desert lab. He and his
young assistant, Dan Murphy (Robert Fuller of TV's Emergency!),
can't think of a rational scientific explanation for the phenomena.
These radiation bursts appear to be emanating from the befittingly
named Mystery Mountain, only 30 miles away in the desert. Steve
and Dan decide to go to the mountain and check things out, but
not before chowing down on some tasty burgers grilled by Steve's
dutiful fiancιe, Sally (Joyce Meadows).
It will prove to be Dan's last supper. When
the pair find a strange cave at the mountain's base that wasn't
there before, they naturally go spelunking for answers. A giant
floating brain with eyes appears in the cavern, knocking
Steve unconscious and burning Dan to death with some kind of
mental power ray. The brain (actually, the balloon) then
takes possession of Steve, transferring itself inside his body.
When Steve returns to visit Sally, he explains to her that he
and Dan found nothing at Mystery Mountain. Dan has taken off
for some R and R in Las Vegas.
Sally ain't buying it. Steve just isn't acting
himself. She definitely realizes something's amiss when he practically
almost rapes her on the patio lounger. (Well, "rape"
as far as '50s movies go... By the way, Agar really gets into
his
role here.) Sally asks her father John (Beginning
Of The End's
Thomas B. Henry) to approach Steve but the scientist throws
his future father-in-law out of the
lab in a tirade. Determined to get to the bottom of Steve's
weird behavior, Sally and her dad go out to Mystery Mountain
and poke around. The discovery of Dan's burnt body seems to
confirm the worst. Then they, too, are startled by the appearance
of a giant floating brain only this time there is no danger.
The brain speaks to them, explaining that it is named Vol, from
the planet Arous.
Vol is here on Earth to capture Gor, a criminal
brain that escaped from his home world, and take him back for
punishment. Gor wants to enslave humanity as absolute dictator.
He "voided" Dan and took possession of Steve's body
as the first step in this scheme of conquest. Vol asks for John
and Sally's help in stopping Gor. To do this they must keep
silent about Vol's existence. All precautions possible will
be taken to keep Steve unharmed when taking on Gor. Sally and
John agree to help Vol nab the evil gray matter that has Steve
under its control.
So Vol goes undercover... in the body of
Sally's faithful dog George! While Vol waits for the right moment
to make his move, the possessed Steve blows up an airliner for
fun with his mind and again tries getting in Sally's pants.
(Gor taunts Steve with his lust for Sally: "She gives me
a strange, new elation.") He also threatens a conference
of generals and scientists with wholesale destruction of cities
if his demands for total capitulation are not met.
Like Invisible
Invaders,
this flick is one big tasty hunk of 100% American-made sci-fi
cheese. The special effects are hilariously bad; check out the
baldly visible wires holding up the brain balloons. (The best
by far, though, is the explosion of the second airplane destroyed
by Gor-Steve... It blows up, but a big piece of one wing remains
airborne swinging back and forth on a string!) The
chief pleasure here is Agar's over-the-top performance when
his character is possessed by Gor. Playing the villain this
time, he gets to cut loose like his typecast "by-gosh-we'll
make-it, ma'am" heroes never could.
|
|
|
| The
Image DVD is another entry in the Wade Williams Collection.
Picture quality is the best I've ever seen for this film, though
grainy and with a ragged tear in one scene. (There's print damage
during the opening credits as well.) Sound is a bit more problematic
as there's some crackly static evident at times nothing too
distracting, though. The only extra is a very worn trailer. Thankfully
the disc can usually be found for under ten bucks. 5/22/01 |
Home
| Reviews | Top
|
