Purely Joyful Movie!

Just perfect...

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

This is a very good, creepy, "horror" movie. Very little credible gore. I enjoy movies where one never really knows whether what they are seeing is real or not?Not altogether unlike Jacob's Ladder...another fave of mine...one can only truly enjoy this movie the first time he watches it. Once one figures out "the twist" the movie loses a bit.Essentially, early on in the film, the brain surgeon is hot by a car...and killed. Everything that happens afterwards is a dream (or rather, a nightmare) of his disembodied brain.

Dr. Rex Martin (Pullman) is a brain specialist who is asked by his good friend Jim (Paxton) to help him with a matter at his corporate job. A man named John Halsey (Cort) who at one time worked for the company may have murdered his entire family and it is Dr. Martin's job to get some key figures from the man. Dr. Martin gets pulled in and is soon sharing the same paranoid and delusional visions Halsey is suffering from. Some of these bizarre visions include a creepy looking man who is splattered in blood who is following them around. Is this weird state of reality really happening, or not? No doubt Director Adam Simon wants to keep the audience off balance, but the film shifts reality so often it gets too confusing. Simon's direction is sharp, and all though it is confusing as hell, it remains interesting and entertaining for the audience. This movie features two future big stars in Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton who are early in their careers and provide strong acting in this well made and original chiller. The gore is minimal minus a few shots of some heads being cut open for brain examinations. This film isn't designed for jump scares but the bloody stranger haunting the two characters delivers some chills. 'Brain Dead's' biggest problem is its confusing narrative and ends up being a little too weird for its own good.

Everyone knows you can't judge a book by its cover, but Adam Simon's "Brain Dead" (not to be confused with the superior Peter Jackson comedy) isn't a book so I figured I'd be fine. However, it isn't nearly the Z-grade extravaganza I had expected it to be, though it has some elements that could steer it in that direction. You have your cheap sets, you have your silly-looking props, you have your sound that appears recorded through a tin can and you most definitely have your hammy horror acting that brings images of dopey campfire kids with flashlights to mind. What you don't have however is a decent story, it's really just one uninspired hallucination after the other. The movie never really seems to go somewhere, it seems satisfied with playing out like a third rate "Eraserhead". Nothing wrong with a third rate "Eraserhead" of course, but there are so many more entertaining ways to completely waste your evening. What is real and what is fake in this movie? The makers don't care, neither should you. The early 90s brought us many B-movie gems, this just isn't one of them.

Even worse than the worst David Lynch "confusathon", "Brain Dead" makes no sense whatsoever. Shamefully wasted talent (Bill Pullman, Bill Paxton), bounce around like they are in a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon on acid. There is negligible character development. It simply starts climbing the "strange scale", until climaxing in total chaos. Do not get sucked into this because of the above fine actors. They are given nothing to work with, and you will be wondering what's going on throughout the entire, unbearable 85 minutes. I highly recommend avoiding "Brain Dead" at all costs, unless you are into scattering your brain with what amounts to total nonsense. - MERK