Brain Damage (1988)

Fresh and Exciting

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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

I'm so glad that i found Frank Henenlotter cause his movie has been entertain me non-stop for the past few days.Brain Damage is a horror movie gem in the late 80s that i encourage many people see it cause it not just another cheesy over the top horror movie but also a powerful social commentary about drug abuse.After a tired day the main character Brian get infected by a worm like creature called Aylmer.With the voice smooth like silk it drug Brian with some blue juice produce by itself and start eating brain of people around him.The plot is as crazy as it can get when it featuring many trippy images,the weirdest oral sex scene ever and a nice cameo with Bradley while holding his brother Belial from Basket Case.It suck when the director doesn't get the attention he deserves but fan like me will never forget

Brain Damage (1988)*** (out of 4)Brian (Rick Herbst) is just your typical guy until one day he wakes up not feeling too well. He soon discovers blood coming from the back of his neck but that turns even worse when he realizes that some sort of parasite has attached itself to him. Soon the parasite is pumping a drug into Brian's brain but it get worse as the brain needs to eat... people.Frank Henenlotter's BASKET CASE was released six years before this film, which would be the director's second movie and I think most people would agree that this here is probably his best picture. If you're a fan of the exploitation movies that were playing 42nd Street during the 1970s then you'll see where the director's inspiration came from as both BASKET CASE and BRAIN DAMAGE are certainly unlike any other movies that came out during the 80s.If you're looking for some sort of art film or something to sip tea to then this certainly isn't going to be for you. What I enjoyed most about this film is the fact that it has a rather silly concept but it know what the people watching it are going to want and that's bizarre death scenes and gore. And I assure you that there's plenty of both. The highlight of the film has to be the sequence where a girl wants to get a little sex on with Brian but when she digs into his pants she gets something that soon eats her up.Just about every death scene here is quite memorable and there's plenty of gore and blood to go along with it. I thought Herbst was good in the lead role and he at least made for a character that you could enjoy watching and feel for. The special effects for the parasite are obviously cheap but they work and yes, you begin to like the little creature. BRAIN DAMAGE isn't a masterpiece but if you're a fan of low-budget horror films then it certainly has a lot to offer.

What a hilarious film this is. There are basically 2 main characters in the film. One is Aylmer, a 12 inch worm who needs to feed on brains (preferably human) to survive. The other is Brian, a young man who becomes addicted to a drug that Aylmer injects into his brain. During this drugged state, Aylmer uses Brian as a host to find victims so that he can consume their brains.The special effects are decent, especially during the kill scenes. Unfortunately, most of the death scenes are very repetitive. They consist of Aylmer leaping from some hidden location and attaching himself to a victim's forehead, where he munches through their skull into their brain whilst they flop about in agony. There is one notable exception however: In the film's best sequence, Brian has just been drugged by Aylmer. He stumbles into a club suitably named "Hell". There he meets a pretty but incautious hooker. They dance for a while. Brian, stoned out of his mind, is lured by the girl into the club's basement. Brian begins to pass out and the hooker leans him up against a wall. She grabs Brian's crotch and remarks "feels like you got a real monster in there" not knowing of course that the "monster" is in fact Aylmer hiding in Brian's crotch area. Excited, the girl decides to perform oral sex on Brian. She soon gets more than she bargains for. She gets down on her knees, unzips Brian's pants, and just as she opens her mouth, Aylmer burst from the pants and into the girl's mouth. Aylmer forces himself down the girl's throat, and she basically chokes to death as Aylmer burrows through the back of her throat into her skull.After that the rest of the film is a bit of a let down (how could it not be?) but there are still some good sequences, including one scene where Brian pulls his own brains out through one of his ears (very gory). The acting throughout the film is quite campy, and the music is actually very good.The ending is rather down beat as virtually every character in the film dies, with the exception of Brian's room mate brother. There are also very few like-able characters in the film. Vicki Darnell, who plays the hooker, is one of the few sympathetic (!) characters in the film. Props to her for putting up with this perverted director's crap, as I've heard shooting the scene mentioned above was a nightmare for the actors involved.Overall it is an enjoyable, although at times unpleasant, little movie. I prefer it over Basket Case, and it is miles ahead of anything Frank H. has done lately.

I consider myself a pretty well adjusted horror fan. Most gory body shocks don't bother me, except decapitation, gratuitous ugly violence and torture, stuff involving the eyes, what's between the legs, the spine-and the brain! This movie's metaphors and allegories have got to be the most obvious ever. I don't usually care for that."This is a metaphor for that, that is a social commentary on this." Boring! I'm very literal minded and don't watch films that way. Probably don't have the brains for it, truth be told. A lot of people in the movie sure don't! But with this movie it's so perfectly done that I quite like it. Like with Basket Case I liked the grittyness, although Brain Damage looks a tad nicer than that film and it is an entirely different kind of 80's. And then of course there is that sweet special magic that I've only ever seen with Henenlotter. He had such a wonderful talent with people, of bringing out and expanding on the qualities of pretty much ordinary people and making them seem like such, freaks! I like his lack of style! I once watched this when I was about 13 and I found it so stupid that I had to turn it off. Just goes to show how one's perspective can change. The colour blue is definitely a theme here, just like purple with Frankenhooker. Everyone knows the plot. Elmer and Brian meet, and they do make a connection, there's what you could call a full on chemical reaction, it's(if Bob Martin's anything to go by) possibly brought by some kind of dark divine intervention, although Elmer is definitely no shining li-ight! Heh. Yo Elmer, juice me! The "awe inspiring famous one" is so small and cute you'd think he wouldn't be able to hurt a fly. You'd be dead wrong! When you first watch the movie and first see Elmer, for a horrible few moments he looks really silly, but then you hear those deceptively lovely tones and he becomes something much more. One of the best evil laughs(I believe it's called a chortle)I've ever heard. All my favourite scenes in the movie are the twisted back and fourths between him and Brian. Particularly the "cold turkey" scene. For me it is so good to see Elmer finally die at the end, after all the death and misery the evil little b*****d has been causing for who knows how long... I love that ending! What with the juice-overloaded Brian with a little electric blue storm crackling above what's left of his head, looking quite serene. An epiphany, he burns so pretty... It lingers on the ethereally beautiful image for a few seconds and then-bzzm! The movie ends with a little blip of a sound like a TV going out, or Brian's life... On the DVD commentary Bob Martin talks about his book of the film. I've got one. Bob is supposed to be Frank Hennenlotter's good friend, so you may as well take the following as official canon. 6 Things about the Elmer you never knew: 1 "Said to have the power to make a king out of a commoner, and a conquerer of a king." 2 His juice can make the host age much slower. 3 Elmer can read people's minds. 4(oh god, this is really sad!) It's skin feels like a slimy sponge. 5 The reason it can get through a human skull so fast is because it's fangs secrete a bone dissolving acid. 6 "A water dweller, without it, it will become dormant and become something like a shard of driftwood, or a tight leather shell. It can stay this way for centuries if it needs to, until water gives it life again." Apart from a vague reference to it being meditated into existence, there is no definite answer as to what the Elmer is and where it comes from. I thought this sounded right: "A creature that is partly made from the earth and partly made from dreams, hallucinations and nightmares. He is only what you dream him to be-a devil who sells you what you already own at the price of your soul." When Brian sees Dwayne on the train he can sense something different about him and his basket, and Dwayne can feel the same thing. After Brian dies he goes to some kind of bizarre blue Elmer-type afterlife and sees a giant god-like version of Elmer, glaring balefully and triumphantly down at him. They touch and he becomes a part of it forever. Also, Beverly Bonner's bit character is the same one from Basket case! Hope someone got a kick out of all that, that was for every fan of the movie who said they wished to know more about Elmer. This is a great movie, it's Henenlotter's silver to the gold that is Basket Case!