The Brain that Wouldn’t Die (1962)

Dashing Dr. Bill is assisting his father in the worlds most bloodless surgery. When the patient dies, Dr. Bill uses that and an opportunity to introduce the obligatory ‘Doctor Playing God’ conversation. You see, organ transplants will someday become as common and blood transfusions. Wow, what solid science for a movie that features a living, disembodied head that can talk without the benefit of vocal cords or lungs.

Anyhow, Bill’s assistant calls saying he needs him to see what’s in the closet. So, he takes his fiancee Jan to his country mansion/evil laboratory. Because he drives like a maniac, he crashes the car. Thrown free, he goes back to the car to find his dear love’s mangled body. So, he takes her head and walks the rest of the way.

Still with me? Ok, so let’s sum up. Jan’s head is conscious and sitting in a baking pan. Igor-character is a fellow surgeon who lost an arm Dr. Bill replaced, not entirely successfully (you can’t be a surgeon with only one arm). And the thing in the closet was built using random stitched together parts. The main story line is of Dr. Bill, searching for a hot body to put his gal’s head on while Jan, feeling no compassion (she has no heart, you see), uses a new-found power to communicate with the thing in the closet. This power is called TALKING! Which, in retrospect, actually IS a super power as SHE HAS NO LUNGS!

There are two elements that drive this film. The horror that is Jan’s head, and the exploitation aspect of Bill’s search for a hot young replacement bod. But Jan’s head isn’t horrifying at all, though the characters think it should be. In fact, it looks quite silly. And the body search is mostly a waste of screen time. Bill twice bails on a subject because of a potential witness. Eventually he finds a recluse cheesecake model with a facial scar. Win-win.

Monster in the Closet was played by the Jewish Giant, 7’7” Eddie Carmel. When we finally see him, his makeup is pretty effective. Eddie did what anyone else with a glandular condition did back in the day: take odd monster roles, work as a wrestler, tour with a circus, then die tragically young. So it goes. Jan’s Virginia Leith hated the role so much, she refused to return for post production. In one scene she laughs off screen and it sounds nothing like her. There is a version of the film where our cheesecake model poses in the nude. It’s available on Prime. I saw the standard release on TCM.

Anyhow, this direct-to-drive-in release needs to have the bad people punished and the natural law being restored, and that’s what happens. Almost. It is remembered because of how ridiculous it is. Fun, dumb, and short. My take-away is how a film could have such good insight about transplants and medical research be so stupid with it’s principle science. And, in the end, the message is No, doctors shouldn’t do research to further understanding. But it’s not so bad. Fun, dumb, and short. Besides what can you expect for a film shot in less than two weeks. AMRU 2.5.