Summary:
A neurosurgeon is recruited to extract crucial data from the mind of a paranoid schizophrenic, and finds he himself in a waking nightmare.
My Thoughts:
So, funny story behind why I watched this film: I thought this was Peter Jackson’s “Brain Dead” AKA “Dead Alive”. For whatever reason, I thought “Dead Alive” and “Brain Dead” were two different Peter Jackson flicks, so when I stumbled across this on Amazon prime, I thought to myself “This and “Meet the Feebles” are the only Peter Jackson films I haven’t seen.” So, with that in mind, I started this film, thinking I was chipping away at one of my favorite director’s oeuvre. It wasn’t actually until the next day, when my roommate texted me, that I realized my mistake.
This movie, (also) titled “Brain Dead”, wasn’t terrible, and it’s less than an hour and a half, so, really, no great waste of time either. For me, this film felt like a mix of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Jacob’s Ladder” and “Inception”, though, really it’s nowhere near as good as any of those films in terms of quality. This film feels like a predecessor to those ‘mind-bending’ thrillers, and while it does a couple things well, it also feels pretty predictable, the acting from almost everyone involved is iffy, and there are plenty of cheesy and schmaltzy moments. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either; its inventiveness is enough of a saving grace to make it bearable, but I still couldn’t bring myself to give it a passing score.
“We can’t all do good, but at least do no harm.”
Rex Martin (Bill Pullman, “Battle of the Sexes”) is a neurosurgeon working with a number of brain specimens trying to work out the effects of certain illnesses. One day Martin is approached by an old school friend, Jim Reston (Bill Paxton, “Tombstone”), who now works for a huge and shady corporation, and Jim asks him to use his expertise to retrieve information from the brain of a mathematician and paranoid schizophrenic named Jack Halsey (Bud Cort, “Harold and Maude”). As Martin begins his process, he finds himself sucked into a dark dreamscape.
So for the most part, I honestly think this film is about as middling as can be. The production design in a lot of places is lacking, to the point that if looks as if we’re watching a made for TV movie; the acting, likewise, is middling from practically everyone involved; the story is somewhat predictable, though, I do admit that I think the only reason I find it to be predictable is because I’ve seen a few films like this before; and the overall ending didn’t really do much for me in the long run. It’s hard for me to talk too much about the film without giving away a few of the details, so SPOILERS below. You’ve been warned.
MAJOR SPOILERS ABOUT THE ENDING FOLLOW
So about a half hour into this film, as Martin is walking out to the parking lot, he’s hit by a car and wakes up in the hospital. After a few scenes, Martin finds himself in an unusual circumstance, and it’s revealed to be a dream. This sort of thing happens a few more times: Martin walks around and discovers something else- a plot point, usually- and, once again Martin wakes to discover he was in a dream. That sort of formula happens two or three more times, each time getting creepier and more absurd. As soon as the second dream sequence happened, I thought to myself: I bet he’s lying in a hospital bed after that car hit him, and guess what? I’m not far off. It took me about thirty minutes to work out where this film was headed, and after that it felt like I was just waiting for it to happen.
Verdict:
Though I’ve given this film a failing grade (50%), I honestly don’t think it’s terrible, it just feels a bit outdated, the acting is a bit hokey, and the twist is pretty predictable. If you’re just looking for a way to kill an hour and a half, I suppose you could watch this, but there are hundreds of better flicks out there.
Review Written By: