A peek behind the curtain.
A movie about an alien brain that attempts to take over the world via television. Ripped from the headlines maybe?
Dr. Anthony Blakely has a popular television show only a local affiliate called “Independent Thinkers”. The show talks about things that the normal media doesn’t want to cover, which mostly are subjects of how kids are all addicted to sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Dr. Blakely tells his viewers that these things are warping the minds of children across the country and it needs to stop. Luckily, he offers a service to do just that at his Psychiatric Research Institute.
Jim Majelewski is a very bright student attending high school. He is the typical too smart for his own good and routinely will get in trouble at school because he is bored and isn’t challenged. Though his behavior is terrible, his grades are outstanding. His parent and his teacher both want him to focus his energy on academics and get into a good school. Jim doesn’t care and just wants out of school. The principal having been on the receiving end of one of Jim’s pranks attempts to make a deal with Jim’s parents. If he goes to PRI and gets a psych exam, and possibly seeks counseling, he won’t fail and not graduate. Jim reluctantly agrees and is off to see Dr. Blakely.
The Brian is an 80s horror movie that is attempting to combine horror with some lofty and deeper issues plaguing society. While it is probably true that kids “these days” are unruly and need to be reined in a bit, there are also the scares of the media and society as whole brain-washing folks. Again… this was a movie that was done in the 80s. I imagine this paired well with the “Just Say No” campaigns from the time, and all the “studies” showing that TV and video games were “rotting kids brains”. The twist here is that there is an alien brain attempting to take over the world via television.
In spite of the highbrow attempt at a moral lesson, this movie at it’s heart is still a horror film. There is plenty of blood and death to go around. Practical effects are done with some pretty great rubber monsters and reverse film effects. It’s cheesy, and I was laughing at a lot of it for the usual reasons. Personally, I kinda really like this movie. It ranks right up there with The Stuff as far as movies I could probably watch over and over for that nostalgia dopamine hit. That may or may not translate for all viewers depending on your tastes or ever what decade you grew up in. There’s also a weirdly authentic feel to a horrible monster that is trying to control its viewership with threats and phycological tricks. Just sayin is all.
(Apparently, there isn’t a trailer for it… except for this Spanish version.)
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