SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is a low-budget 70's film which stems from the cinematic crazes of both the 'evilly-implemented mind control' ('The Manchurian Candidate' and 'The Ipcress File') and 'paranoia about government conspiracy' sub-genres that were fervently expressed in the Vietnam/Watergate era of American cinema. For me, growing up watching James Best as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in 'The Dukes of Hazzard', it was intriguing to watch him here, as a priest selected as one of 4 paid volunteers for an experiment supposedly run by the ECC, an environmental organization. It ends up that it's just a cover to test an experimental mind-control 'Brain Machine' that the U.S. government wants, in order to keep it's citizens in line, in the name of 'keeping social order'. Admittedly, when one of the directors says that the future is surveillance, I couldn't help but shudder at the parallels to society today, in this post-9/11 era. Unfortunately, the more time that passes, the closer these Orwellian cinematic views of civilization and its discontents come to mirroring the way life has become.No spoilers, but the machine forces the person to tell the truth. Growing up, I have learned that honesty is not always the best policy. In fact, life has to endure the 'little white lie' in order to have things run peacefully. While no cinematic masterwork, this film more than suffices as Exhibit A for evidence. Definitely worth a watch, especially if you can handle 1970's, TV-movie-style filmmaking.

Celibated with friends last night so we got out the camcorder and made fun of another movie. We chose this one. It was hilarious. Anytime you get to talk like Roscoe P. Coletrain has got to be fun. Here's a shout out to Hippie, Shampoo, Bald Black Dave and Silent but deadly Scot. We've been making fun of movies for years. . Gerald McRaney is in this too but he looks so young and nothing like he did on Simon & Simon, Major Dad or Deadwood. It's a weird weird movie. Boom Mike makes an appearance too. See if you can spot him. The story is very dull. I wouldn't watch it unless you wanted a laugh. There are lots of huge computers w screens that show nothing. Room to make fun of Tandy computers and comparing today's iPod to room sized computers.

This film is actually better than most commentators have suggested, if you approach it with the right viewpoint. The climax sequence is particularly well paced and interesting and, although a bit hard to follow (the characters themselves seem to share this confusion), actually has three competing influences effecting the experiment which involves 4 subjects- first the main actors at the lab are doing some type of environmental experiment, second the government interloper/conspirators are attempting to override the experiment with some mind control experiment of their own. Third, the computer "controlling" the experiment perhaps sensing this conflict seems to have ideas of its own and apparently goes haywire with everyone complaining about computer errors and their failure to achieve their desired ends. All three are entwined in a rapid fire climax that shows walls closing in, an attempted escape by the subjects, and a last minute attempted government cover-up (pre-watergate).Perhaps the filmmakers were themselves disputing the type of movie plot they want in an on-the-fly improvisation with one faction wanting a government intrigue film and the other interested in some film about environmental ethics, computer malfunctions or whatever. If so, the film stands as a testament to their conflict and attempt for a resolution. Whether intended or not, the conflict presented is quite interesting. Loads of dramatic irony in this one.All in all, a rather entertaining film. Mainstream movies are generally too slick and unwilling to experiment to be able to achieve this level of free wheeling improvisation.

I hereby give this film a 5. It's not as bad as the other commenters would have you believe, but it's no masterpiece either.The problem here really is that the filmmakers bit off far more than they could chew. I believe they had ambitions to make a high class sci-fi thriller with a bit of social commentary thrown in. Some great ideas under the surface here. But the people behind this film fell far short of their ambitions, with occasional awkward dialog, (yes) somewhat imprecise editing, and acting that's either too hammy or too underplayed. I am grading on a curve here: this was obviously a low budget production with great ambitions which did a decent job with limited resources.The word "boring" used by other commentors, I feel represents a failed attempt by the filmmakers to build tension. The film as presented is confusing, but it is meant to be a somewhat complicated thriller, deciphered only after a bit of thought and perhaps more than one viewing.I'll give you a brief synopsis of the plot as I have come to understand it. I think I have a handle on it, in spite of its confusing presentation. At a government research facility, some sinister things are happening. On the surface, they are performing benign research experiments. And the scientists that work there are in fact, benign.But some shadowy figures are trying to hijack these experiments for their own means, without the scientists or their subjects knowing about it. These include "The General", possibly a CIA chief or similar, and his enabler, an unnamed Senator. A furtive guard at the facility (supported by various stooges) is their point man.One of the scientists, Dr. Krisner, finds out about this infiltration. He takes off with documents that will prove the illegal infiltration, but he is killed in short order.Therefore, the project is "tainted" and The General and his underlings cannot use this Doctor's work to test their own device: The Brain Machine, a mind control device designed to pacify enemy populations, or, more chillingly, our own citizenry here in the USA.So, they move on to infiltrate "The E-Box" experiment, headed by Dr. Roth. Again, they will use this experiment for their own nefarious purposes without the scientists in charge knowing what is really going on. In this experiment, supposedly used as a simulation of the effects of overpopulation, four test subjects (selected by the fact they have no immediate family and each one has a horrible secret) are placed into a small room which will get smaller and smaller as the experiment goes on, and the subjects are grilled about their shameful secrets of their past, until they breakdown and confess. The importance of telling the truth, "the real truth" is mentioned over and over.While this is going on, the sinister forces of The General, are installing and testing this "Brain Machine" on the subjects, to the confusion of the scientists and pain of the subjects. I should mention that this machine seems to work by remote control, so they are never in contact with the experiment, and are viewing the results by remote cameras. There's lots of yelling, screaming, fighting and accusations from the four subjects, and electrocutions. Each one of the subjects is also a classic stereotype: the questioning clergyman, the intellectual, the working man, and the blue-collar woman.Though the IMDb lists a date of 1977, the film bears a copyright date of 1972. This puts the film clearly in a post-Altamont, pre-Watergate period of utter cynicism about the intentions of our government.** SPOILER !! ** This bears itself out in the film's ending: every single one of the "heroes" are killed, their painful deaths easily swept under the rug by the unseen puppet masters. The "Brain Machine" is proved to work and is last seen on a truck headed for Anytown USA...maybe yours! Only during this short time period in American history (post Easy Rider, also, I might add) could such a "downer ending" be conceived and accepted. Then again, maybe today is the perfect time for a remake, with stories of domestic spying and political retribution in the air. Maybe The Brain Machine is not some stupid little B-movie, but a prophetic document with more to tell us about today than we even realize...