The Brain Eaters (1958)
A huge, alien structure resembling an inverted cone, appears in the woods outside a small rural town. Sent from Washington to investigate the origin of the mysterious object, a team of investigators discovers that intelligent parasites from inside the "cone" can attach themselves to humans' nervous systems and control their minds, taking control of the authorities and workers, making communication with the outside world impossible, and leaving the responsibility of stopping the invasion up to seven people who have thus far been able to avoid possession by these creatures from parts unknown.
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Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.
it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
A couple driving home discovers a metal structure in the woods 6 miles south of Riverdale, Illinois. Mysterious occurrences and murders are reported. Two days later, word has reached Washington and an investigation led by Senator Walter Powers is secretly sent. Alien parasites have taken over some of the town's population. Powers leads a group of survivors. They try to communicate but the operators have been taken over.This is a low grade copy of many other sci-fi fantasy. The acting is bad and the production is poor. The direction is basically people standing around spouting bad dialogue. The logic of the parasites doesn't make sense. First they're from space. Then they're from below. Also it's the easiest detection method possible. Just take off your shirts! It's also notable for Leonard Nimoy as an ethereal presence inside the cone.
Terrible low budget science fiction/horror flick about alien parasites invading a small American town and taking over people's minds. A small band of brave uninfected individuals tries to stop their hostile take-over. Lousy story, boring execution and mostly non-existent visuals, courtesy of schlock production studio American International Pictures (AIP), specializing in only the cheapest of horror and science fiction flicks to provide drive-in theaters with content to show to teenagers who aren't watching anyway because they're engaged in other activities. Noted science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein sued the producers (including Roger Corman, an expert in producing this type of quick, cheesy, cheap cinema of the late fifties) for stealing the plot of his book 'The Puppet Masters'. Otherwise this movie is only noteworthy for featuring Leonard Nimoy (of Star Trek fame, obviously) in one of his earliest roles, playing the host to the Brain Eater Overlord: unfortunately his last name was misspelled as 'Nemoy'.
What is there to say about this movie? Not an awful lot really. It's a standard (almost cliché) black-and-white movie about parasites latching onto the necks of people, controlling them and eventually making them die.The acting is mediocre, the story develops slowly and the effects are ... well, 'okay' for it's time. If you are a fan of movies from this age, then go ahead and watch it. It's only an hour long though.One thing I should mention is Leonard Nimoy (you know, Mr. Spock?). Barely recognizable, but he is indeed in this movie.I give this movie 6 out of 10 stars, since it has all the charms of a movie of it's age. Enjoyable for the fans, but not really outstanding.
Funny movie. Mystery Science Theatre 3000 material all the way. I would guess, due to the rough and shoddy editing, that the movie was originally longer than 60 minutes.Interesting that there are two scenes that escaped the censors of 1958 -A see through peignoir and the cop's hairy chest shown when his shirt is ripped open during a fight. I personally love these old B movies and while this one was not up to the usual "standards" of early horror films, it had some truly giggity moments. (Heavy breathing by the brain eaters and the pipe stem antenna where great touches.) I rated it a 7 due to the abundance of truly bad acting, dialog and editing. It doesn't get much worse than this which is what makes it so good.