SpuffyWeb
Sadly Over-hyped
Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Comwayon
A Disappointing Continuation
SnoopyStyle
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.
Michael O'Keefe
This American International sci-fi feature only runs 60 minutes; that includes shoddy editing and typical B movie dialogue. Things will never be the same in the small town of Riverdale, Illinois. Brought to the attention of local scientists, a mysterious three-story-tall, cone shaped object sits on the outskirts of town. Did it fall from the sky or did it burrow its way from underground. Dr. Paul Kettering(Ed Nelson) and Glenn Cameron(Allen Frost)run test after test gaining very little knowledge. Leading Riverdale citizens disappear shortly and return a bit rattled and acting zombie-like. It seems the strange object may be a transport vehicle for parasites that crave eating brains...animal...and human. Other players include: Joanna Lee, Cornelus Keefe(Jack Hill), Jody Fair, Greigh Phillips, David Hughes and a short appearance by Leonard Nimoy. THE BRAIN EATERS is produced by Nelson with the aid of Roger Corman.
Tom van der Esch
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.
classicsoncall
If you're a fan of cheesy sci-fi flicks from the 1950's, there's no way you can pass on a title like "The Brain Eaters". Truthfully, this wound up pretty interesting, and I'll get into that in a minute. The flick got me hooked with Dr. Kettering's statement after firing his gun into the cone shaped object, which is the basis of my summary line above. It's so basic that it sounds like it might have some usage in actual science, but I've never heard it before. Very clever, but if it were actually true, that bullet would have come back to injure Kettering, so I'm thinking it was all made up.What really impressed me when the whole story was over was how much integrity the story line maintained. The whole idea of an alien life form searching out a useful host to take over required no more thought than a lot of films of the era did, but showing a dead dog on the way to the site of the cone helped convey the idea that other life forms were tried and discarded; that was pretty unique. The instances where the host humans were shown with bulging backs was also a neat device to allow the viewer to know that danger was imminent, even if the characters on screen were oblivious. So you had some building of suspense that coincided with the modus operandi of the brain eating parasites.But come on, the best part of all of this was the goofy stuff going on that flew right in the face of real time continuity. Like the alternating day and night time scenes that defy any concept of time management. And how about Senator Powers' mustache, it seemed to come and go from scene to scene! I'm also kind of curious as to the selection of Riverdale as the location of the story, that was also the home of Archie and his pals, but I don't know if their Riverdale was ever mentioned to be in a particular state.I guess one of the cooler items this film has to offer is future Star Trekker Leonard Nimoy in the role of a professor who disappeared with a colleague five years earlier and had his life form taken over by the aliens. If you don't know he's in the picture, his appearance on screen won't really help since his face is obscured by a beard, but if you listen closely there's no mistaking the voice. I wonder if he was upset that his name was mis-spelled in the credits.Usually with these kinds of pictures, I'm not willing to rate them much more than a four or a five because really, they are pretty dumb. But with this one, I've got to say that with the hero Kettering sacrificing himself at the finale for the good of all mankind - that's got to be good for at least a bonus point. Look, it's not "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", but for a mere sixty minutes of your time, it's worth at least a single viewing to be able to say - I just watched "The Brain Eaters"!
