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Cult filmmaker Frank Henenlotter didn’t make as much of a splash in 1988 with this comedic horror movie as he did in 1982 with his debut, Basket Case, but Brain Damage still delivers laughs and chills in equal measure. Rick Herbst portrays Brian, an unfortunate young man who falls victim to "Elmer," an eel-like parasite that controls the lad’s mind by injecting it with an addictive, hallucinogenic liquid. Elmer (whose voice is supplied by legendary deejay and horror-show host John Zacherle) needs human brains for sustenance and forces Brian to provide them. Henenlotter’s twisted sense of humor makes Brain Damage a gore hound’s delight; in one of the grisly comic set pieces, Herbst’s character, while undergoing withdrawal, imagines that he’s pulling his own brains out through his ear in a long, bloody string. We won’t even try to describe a hilariously repulsive sequence in which Elmer interrupts a prostitute in flagrante delicto. The director employs a wide variety of psychedelic effects -- reverse-polarity images, quick cuts of rippling blue water, flashing lights, droning music -- to make his film a properly hallucinatory experience, and he succeeds beyond any viewer’s wildest expectations. The actors are all unknowns, the production values are perfunctory at best, and the special effects -- while graphic -- wouldn’t fool a 12-year-old. But Brain Damage is great fun, a wild ride through the imagination of one of the most cheerfully demented directors ever to cry, "Action!" Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Basket Case director Frank Henenlotter explores another bizarre symbiotic human-monster relationship in this surreal horror comedy about a young man named Brian (Rick Herbst) who emerges from a night of bizarre hallucinations to find a jovial talking slug attached to his body. The creature, a brain-eating parasite called an "Aylmer" (but who prefers the simpler handle "Elmer") came calling after abandoning his former companions -- a European couple who tried to wean him from human brains by supplying him with sheep brains from the local butcher. Preferring prey of the bipedal variety (and a younger, more mobile host), Elmer hitches a ride with Brian, administering doses of a highly addictive psychedelic drug to keep him under control, and sends him out in search of human gray matter. Understandably, this drives a wedge in the relationship between Brian and his girlfriend, Barbara (Jennifer Lowry), who doesn't buy the monster story but nevertheless begins to recognize Brian's junkie behavior patterns. Fighting a losing battle against Elmer's magic juice (and trying to keep Elmer from munching down on Barbara's skull), Brian is forced into a hideous showdown for possession of his own mind. Clever highlights include horror host John Zacherle as the Bing Crosby-esque voice of Elmer and a cute cameo from Basket boy Kevin Van Hentenryck. Cavett Binion

Product Details

• UPC: 654930302798
• Source: SYNAPSE FILMS
• Aspect Ratio: Alternate Wide Screen (1.78:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English
• Time: 1:26:00
• Sales Rank: 16,000

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