Why So Blu?

The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (Blu-ray Review)

Medical science leaps light years into the future in the 1962 sci-fi cult classic THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE, starring Herb Evers (Escape from the Planet of the Apes, 1971), Virginia Leith (Stanley Kubrick’s Fear and Desire) and Leslie Daniel (Johnny Yuma). Directed by Joseph Green, this campy sci-fi/horror classic explores the strange world of transplants, cloning and mutant regeneration. On December 22, 2015, SCREAM FACTORY™ will release the special Blu-ray™ edition of THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE on home entertainment shelves.  Available for the first time on Blu-ray, this definitive home entertainment release features uncut version of this movie classic and includes parts of the brain surgery scene that were missing from previous releases, plus insightful bonus content.  Strangely relevant in today’s ethically challenged world, this movie presents a truly psycho surgery case and is “one of the great sci-fi sleaze classics” (Starlog).

Film 

When Dr. Bill Cortner loses his sweetheart, Jan, in a car accident, he refuses to give up hope for her life. Scooping up her decapitated head, he brings it back to the lab for resuscitation. But keeping her head alive is one thing – finding her a new body is quite another. So while the mad doctor is out looking for spare parts, she’s stuck at home going out of her mind – literally! And nothing will stop her from getting revenge on the man who is keeping her as a trophy girlfriend!

I’m going to start off topic here.  Although, if you look at the bonus material for the film, I’m not really.  The Brain That Wouldn’t Die is notable for me, not for the movie, but for the changing of the guard it represented.  When it comes to the classic television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, the episode that featured this movie was the first episode with Mike Nelson on the Satellite of Love.  Joel Hodgson had left and day player Mike Nelson took the helm.  Personally, I enjoy Mike and Joel, but there is a difference between the two and the show began a movement into a different era where it would see its popularity grow (A theatrical movie even!) into its own worst enemy (AKA, distributors wised up and started charging more for use of their cheap shitty movies).  It was this episode that began it all.

The movie itself?  Well, its a weird one.  The title moreso should be The Guy Who Kept His Girlfriend’s Brain Alive.  The film consists of scenes of a man scouting out women to be suitors for a new body for his girlfriend and scenes of a scientist with the girlfriend’s head having conversation and her beginning to think she can control people.  Oddly enough, I got a lot of Frankenhooker vibes from this movie.  If you know me, that’s a really good thing, but I only got those in the narrative similarity.

Its a film to watch with your friends who are in a similar mindset.  However, I’ll admit, the movie benefits from having the assist from Mike, Tom Servo and Croooooow!  Without them the short film feels long and is pretty borderline boring.  Having it brought to Blu-ray and restored, though, like Manos from Synapse, is very cool and I support it.  Adding the full MST3K episode as a bonus feature?  Now that is genious!  Hopefully there is more of this down the line from Scream Factory!

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1

Clarity/Detail:  This is a pretty stunning transfer done by Scream Factory.  One of their very best.  It was taken from the original 35mm negative.  This is very sharp and crisp, ripe with detail.  I don’t know if as much work went into this as Synapse Films’ Manos release, but this is the Scream Factory equivalent.  Will all notable Mystery Science Theater 3000 movies that come to Blu-ray look this rich?

Depth:  Depth looks very good here.  A real sense of distance and space.  Background imagery is crisp and legible when focus allows.  Movements are cinematic and smooth.

Black Levels:  Blacks are solid and provide good color and shading without overconsuming or hiding detail.

Color Reproduction:  N/A

Flesh Tones:  Skin keep a consistency throughout.  You’ll be enamored with facial detail as you can make out make-up, lip texture, wrinkles…you name it, from most distances.

Noise/Artifacts:  A little bit of grain, but man this thing is near spotless.

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English 2.0 Mono DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English

Dynamics:  Sound here is pretty crisp, carrying just a perfect amount of analog hissing.  There is a wonderful balance on display of the music, effects and vocals.  This isn’t a track that’s going to be deep and pummeling with its action, but it does a nice job and really captures a lot of depth on the high end sounds.

Low Frequency Extension:  N/A

Surround Sound Presentation:  N/A

Dialogue Reproduction:  Dialogue is loud, crisp and clean.  There are hisses and stuff in the ambient noise, but that’s in the source.

Extras 

Audio Commentary

• With Film Historian and Author Steve Haberman and Writer Tony Sasso

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Episode (HD, 1:32:25) – YES! YES! YES! YES!  More of this with movies you have dual distributions with, please Shout! Factory!  This is encoded in AVC, but it really is glorified standard definition.

Alternate Model Footage *Contains Nudity* (HD, 1:26) – No sound to accompany.  Footage was used for international cuts of the film.  The quality looks great, just like the film.

Photo Gallery (HD, 3:46) – Promotional shots, posters and lobby cards.

Theatrical Trailer (HD, 1:54) 

Summary 

Well, color me shocked.  This new edition of The Brain That Would Die looks and sounds outstanding.  What a great job Scream Factory has done in one of their best transfers ever.  What wins me over even moreso is the inclusion of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode in its entirety.  Coming in I was a little ho-hum on this release, but its proven to possibly be the strongest of their December slate.  If you’re a fan of MST3K, you should really pick this up!