The Brain Eaters

The Brain Eaters is a 1958 independently made American black-and-white science fiction-horror film, produced by Ed Nelson (and Roger Corman, uncredited), and directed by Bruno VeSota. The film stars Nelson, Alan Jay Factor, and Joanna Lee and includes a brief appearance by Leonard Nimoy (name misspelled in film credits as "Leonard Nemoy").[1] The Brain Eaters was distributed by American International Pictures as a double feature with either Earth vs. the Spider or Terror from the Year 5000 in different markets.

The Brain Eaters
Theatrical release poster
by Albert Kallis
Directed byBruno VeSota
Written byGordon Urquhart
Based onThe Puppet Masters
by Robert A. Heinlein (uncredited)
Produced byEd Nelson
Starring
CinematographyLawrence Raimond
Edited byCarlo Lodato
Music byTom Jonson
Production
company
Corinthian Productions
Distributed byAmerican International Pictures
Release date
  • 1958 (1958)
Running time
60 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$26,000

Plot

In Riverdale, Illinois, a man carrying a lighted glass container bumps into a pedestrian. The container is broken, a fight ensues, and a hissing sound is heard.

Returning home from announcing their engagement, Glenn Cameron and his fiancée, Elaine are distracted by a bright light. They stop to investigate in nearby woods and find three dead animals before coming upon a large spiral metal structure resembling a rocket nose cone.

Two days later, in Washington, D.C., a flying saucer investigation committee reviews classified army footage of the object. The metal object stands 50 feet high and has a base diameter of 50 feet. The nature and origin of the object is unknown. Dr. Paul Kettering is the chief investigator. Also noted is the murder of several people in the nearby town. Sen. Walter K. Powers and his assistant Dan Walker fly to Riverdale to investigate and are met by Glenn Cameron, whose father, the mayor, is missing. The three drive to the object's location. Alice Summers, the mayor's secretary, assists Kettering by recording test results. The senator climbs scaffolding erected around the spiral cone to question Kettering and his assistant, Dr. Wyler. Kettering explains that the cone appears to be indestructible. Its interior is a complex maze of small, winding tunnels. They later learn that the mayor has returned to his office.

Mayor Cameron acts as if possessed. He takes a pistol from his desk drawer and struggles to point it at his head. Kettering, the senator, Alice and Glenn arrive at town hall. The mayor is hostile and angry, even towards his son. Kettering notices an odd mound near the mayor's neck, under his suit coat. The mayor pulls the pistol on the group. Kettering asks him about the mound, and the mayor strikes his son while attempting to flee. As he does, Kettering hits the mayor, who discharges several gunshots. The mayor is shot and killed in the hallway by a deputy.

During the autopsy, the doctor and Kettering find a dead creature of unknown origin attached to the mayor's neck; it injected a toxin into his nervous system. Even without being shot to death, he would have died within 24–48 hours.

While driving toward the metal object, the sheriff sees a man lying on the road who attacks him as the sheriff gets out of his patrol car. Nearby, another man, holding a lighted glass container, watches the fight. The sheriff is knocked out, and the two men remove something from the container. The sheriff revives and the three drive off in the patrol car.

While working with Alice in the lab, Kettering experiments with a piece of the creature taken from the mayor's body. It attaches itself to his arm just like a parasite, but he is able to free himself by burning it. Wyler calls Kettering at the lab, and they drive out to the metal cone. Along the way, they discover an abandoned electric company utility truck. A call to the sheriff from Sen. Powers goes unanswered as the sheriff struggles with being possessed. Three groups are organized to search for other strange metal objects. Kettering and Alice find the body of the truck's driver with two puncture wounds on the back of his neck. While searching, Glenn and Elaine are locked inside an empty cabin. Someone tries to set the cabin on fire, but Glenn shoots at the arsonists. He and his fiancée manage to escape. The three groups later reassemble at the mayor's office. There, they discover two glowing containers holding more parasites. The senator calls the telegraph office to send a warning to the governor. The telegrapher takes down the message but, being possessed, does not send it.

Three men drive to Alice's apartment and plant a parasite in her room. She is taken over and joins the men in their car. Paul and Glenn later discover that she is missing. They drive back to the spiral cone and discover a dying man who they recognize as Prof. Helsingman, who vanished five years earlier along with a scientific expedition. They discover marks on his neck and take him to hospital. Kettering questions the professor, who only utters the word "Carboniferous", referring to a geologic time period millions of years ago. Sen. Powers tries to make several calls and is consistently told that the lines are busy. Glenn and Paul go to the telegraph office to find out if the warning was sent to the governor's office. They are attacked but manage to subdue their assailants and flee.

Kettering climbs the metal object's scaffolding to check on his equipment. He realizes the two deputies on guard are now possessed, and both are shot and killed. Kettering and Glenn crawl inside the cone and discover a room filled with a heavy mist behind a sliding tunnel wall. They are greeted by another member of the missing expedition, an old, bearded man. He says he was once Prof. Cole and explains, "Now I hold a position of a much higher order." Apparently, the parasites' invasion is coming from inside the Earth. He says, "We shall force upon Man a life free from strife and turmoil. Ironic that Man should obtain his long-sought utopia as a gift, rather than as something earned". After the possessed Cole disappears, Kettering shoots and kills the lurking sheriff. Parasites on the loose chase Kettering and Glenn outside.

Kettering formulates a plan using the abandoned power company truck. Using a harpoon gun, he connects an electrical wire from one end of the ravine to the other. He prepares to shoot a connecting wire from the metal object to an overhead high voltage transmission line, completing a circuit. Before Kettering can finish, Alice exits the spiral cone and appears on the scaffolding. Kettering climbs up to rescue her. Being possessed, she refuses to move, pulls a pistol and kills him. Glenn fires the harpoon gun, making the connection to the overhead transmission lines, which engulfs the grounded metal cone in high-voltage sparks. Alice collapses as the parasites inside the object are electrocuted. After the cone is made safe, Sen. Powers and Glenn crawl inside and verify the menace has been eliminated. Later, as Glenn and Elaine walk away from the site, they embrace.

Cast

  • Ed Nelson as Dr. Paul Kettering
  • Alan Jay Factor as Glenn Cameron
  • Cornelius Keefe as Sen. Walter K. Powers
  • Joanna Lee as Alice Summers
  • Jody Fair as Elaine Cameron
  • David Hughes as Dr. Wyler
  • Robert Ball as Dan Walker
  • Greigh Phillips as the Sheriff
  • Orville Sherman as Mayor Cameron
  • Leonard Nimoy (credited as Leonard Nemoy) as Prof. Cole

Production

The Brain Eaters was known during production as, variously, The Keepers, The Keepers of the Earth, Attack of the Blood Leeches, and Battle of the Brain Eaters.[2]

Actor VeSota wanted to direct a film, so he approached Corman with the script. Corman helped him raise the modest financing needed, as well as arranging distribution through AIP. The film was shot over six days on a budget of $26,000.[3]

After its release, science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein sued for plagiarism, asking for damages of $150,000, claiming that The Brain Eaters was based on his 1951 novel The Puppet Masters. Corman insisted that he was unfamiliar with Heinlein's work, both while reading the script and during the film's production. He did, however, see the obvious comparisons once he'd read the novel, so Corman settled out of court for $5,000 and acceded to Heinlein's demand that he receive no screen credit, as the author found the film "wanting".[3] The lawsuit that resulted halted actor John Payne's intention of producing a film based on Heinlein's novel.

See also

References

  1. "The Brain Eaters (1958) - Notes - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies.
  2. Gary A. Smith, The American International Pictures Video Guide, McFarland 2009 p 33
  3. Mark McGee, Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures, McFarland, 1996 p121-122

Bibliography

  • Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties, 21st Century Edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009 (First Edition 1982). ISBN 0-89950-032-3.
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