The Brain Eaters (1958)

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'.

Were it not for the presence of two men who scored great success later on television, Ed Nelson on Peyton Place and Leonard Nimoy on Star Trek, The Brain Eaters would have no reason to be remembered. Then again with your half eaten cerebrum it would be impossible to remember this film anyway.It's not monsters from Outer Space, but a collective of Borg like parasites, speaking of Star Trek, from the Earth's core who've come to the surface in rural Illinois and start invading the populace of Riverdale. When they take over the police authority and cut communications from the outside, our intrepid heroes led by a US Senator of all things have to deal with them on their own.Ed Nelson and Leonard Nimoy play two of the scientists. But the saving grace of the film if it has any is the performance of Cornelius Keefe as the blustering United States Senator who is most aware of the prerogatives of his office and ain't gonna let no aliens, parasites, whatever stand in his way.Leonard Nimoy's name is misspelled in the credits and for reasons of posterity he probably considers it a blessing.

**SPOILERS** The only thing new about this aliens from space movie is that the aliens, or as their called in the film parasites, don't come from other space at all they come from deep down in the earths core.It take's a while for Dr. Paul Kettering, Ed Nelson, and the person put in charge of this pressing matter by the US Department of the Interior Senator Warren K. Powers, Cornelius Keefe,to realize what exactly their up against. These strange brain-eating creatures are in fact 200 million year old amoeba-like brain-suckers who emerged from their home deep down in the earth's crust. The creatures are planning to take over the human race by destroying their victim's brain cells after they took over their bodies. They, the Braineaters, plan to accomplish this feat by first taking over the brains of the unsuspecting humans in the little town of Riverdale. Turning the town's population into mindless zombies the parasites then plan go on to the next town city and then country until the entire human race is no longer a factor or obstacle to their eventual conquest of the earth!With little money on hand the film "The Braineaters" lacks the very things that would make it worth watching decent, not spectacular , special effects. The "spaceship" that the parasites came from is nothing but a 50 feet tall aluminum tepee with a hole in it's nosecone. The Braineaters themselves are nothing but sponge-like creatures with pipes sticking out of them. These pipes are used to latch on to their victim's necks and then, after taking over their bodies, suck their brains out and cause their victims to die within 24 to 48 hours.It's after the town chief executive Mayor Cameron, Oville Sherman, flips out and goes bananas and is shot and killed by the police, whom he's in charge off,that Dr. Kettering realized that he was in fact taken over by some strange creature, the underground parasite, who had him do its bidding. Little by little the parasites take over a number of the townspeople including Dr. Kettering's girlfriend Alice Summers, Joanna Lee, making it almost impossible to know who's the good guy or parasite.It's only when it's discovered that there's a number of persons inside the "spacecraft" that the truth comes out to what exactly is going on. One of the men inside the craft turned out to be Prof. Helsingman, Saul Bronson, who mysteriously disappeared five years ago. Helsingman lived just long enough to tell Dr. Kettering what the real purpose of these strange creatures really is: To take over the earth's surface.Later going into the craft Dr. Kettering is confronted by the also long missing Dr. Cole, Leonard Nimoy, the late Prof. Helsingman's close friend and associate. Dr. Cole, looking like the old man of the mountain,tells the astonished Dr. Kettering that he and his fellow humans should just lay down their arms and give up, resistance is futile Dr. Cole tells him, to their superiors the parasites.Of course Dr. Kettering is not at all impressed with Dr. Cole and his army of brain eating parasites and comes up with a fool-proof plan to put them out of business: 60 to 80 thousand volts of electricity. It , Dr. Kettering's plan, was just about to be put into operation when an unexpected glitz developed at the very last moment! The sudden appearance of of girlfriend the brain damaged, and parasite controlled, Alice Summers! Predictable ending with Dr. Kettering unable to do what he at first planned to do in ridding the earth of the underground parasite invasion. It took the sharp-shooting ability of the late Mayor Cameron's son Glenn, Alan Frost, to in the end finish the job that the reluctant, in not being able to off his parasite-controlled girlfriend Alice, Dr. Kettering was unable to do.

The Brain Eaters starts with the newly engaged Glenn Cameron (Alan Frost) driving his lucky fiancé Elaine (Jody Fair) to the small American town of Riverdale in Illinois to break the good news when they see a sudden bright flash. Glenn & Elaine stop to investigate & discover a large metal cone that's 50 feet tall by 50 feet across at it's widest. In Washington Senator Walter K. Powers (Cornelius Keefe as Jack Hill) takes full responsibility & flies out to Riverdale where he is met by Glenn who just happens to be the Mayor's (Orville Sherman) son, Glenn informs Senator Powers that his Father has mysteriously disappeared & there has been 3 unsolved murders in the area recently. Glenn takes Senator Powers to the cone where Dr. Paul Kettering (Ed Nelson), Dr. Wyler (David Hughes) & their assistant Alice Summers (Joanna Lee) are busy running all kinds of tests on the unidentified object. Kettering informs Senator Powers that he is baffled by the cone, eventually they all end up in the Mayor's office who has suddenly reappeared. After some macho rubbish between the Mayor & the Senator about who is in charge the Mayor pulls a gun out & makes a run for it but is shot by a cop. Kettering & a somewhat unemotional Glenn examine the body & discover two holes in the back of his neck. Kettering performs an autopsy & discovers that the Mayor was being controlled by an alien parasite previously unknown to man, Kettering puts two & two together & comes up with the startling theory that these parasites have come from the cone. But since the parasites got to the Mayor who else is being controlled? The mystery deepens even further when an expert in bio-chemistry , Professor Helsingman (Saul Bronson), who has been missing for the past five years turns up out of the blue. Kettering & his team face a race against time to stop the parasites before they take over the entire human race!Directed by Bruno VeSota The Brain Eaters is nothing to get excited about. The script by Gordon Urquhart supposedly based on Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Puppet Masters fails to make the most of it's obvious potential, the potential for paranoia is wasted. The film makes it perfectly clear who is controlled by a Brain Eater & who isn't. Film's like John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) & Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) brilliantly uses the mistrust between characters to heighten tension & make us, the viewer, question who we should believe & put our faith in. The Brain Eaters has none of this which hurts the film badly as it's very predictable & doesn't even attempt to try & pull any surprises. The dialogue is clunky, awkward, static & feels dated as is often the case with 50's Sci-Fi but there are a few laughs to be had if you listen closely enough. To give it some credit it moves along like a rocket, there's no boring exposition here even going as far as having a few scenes narrated rather than try & condense the information into an ordinary conversation & at only an hour long it doesn't outstay it's welcome. The Brain Eaters themselves are rarely seen & when they are they look like wigs with antenna's. There's no blood, gore or violence & the special effects are generally poor as you would expect. The acting is very wooden & everyone looks & sounds like they're reading their lines from cue cards, & yes Leonard Nimoy does make an appearance even if it's hard to make him out you'll definitely recognise his voice. Director VeSota fails to bring any scares, atmosphere, style or originality to the film as a whole. Overall I thought The Brain Eaters was an OK way to pass an hour but could have been more & at the end of the day fails to distinguish itself from any other 50's black & white Sci-Fi film of which there are many better ones available. One to watch only if your desperate.