{"id":24295,"date":"2017-03-03T18:56:36","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T23:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=24295"},"modified":"2017-03-03T21:08:47","modified_gmt":"2017-03-04T02:08:47","slug":"brain-damage-1988","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/03\/brain-damage-1988\/","title":{"rendered":"Brain Damage (1988)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Say what you want about Frank Henenlotter, but even when he makes a bad movie, it\u2019s a guarantee you won\u2019t see another movie like it ever again. I am by no means a fan of \u201cBasketcase\u201d but I still have yet to see another movie like it. \u201cBrain Damage\u201d is another movie so far ahead of its time and so surreal that it didn\u2019t stand a chance at being recognized in 1988. It\u2019s too bad too, since the eighties embraced a lot of interesting premises, so \u201cBrain Damage\u201d should have caught on. Thankfully it later garnered a following in the VHS rental market, and it\u2019s a horror comedy that deserves to be embraced by the horror community. It\u2019s short, and simple but absolutely gruesome, and a unique spin on the theme of drug addiction and substance abuse.<\/p>\n

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Again, I\u2019m not a huge fan of Henenlotter, but I respect how he tries to offer up films that are out of the box creations with something interesting to say. \u201cBrain Damage\u201d is kind of like \u201cBasket Case\u201d where we find another tortured man in service of a beast. This time it\u2019s Brian, a young man who becomes the inadvertent host of a sentient parasite named Elmer. Elmer (voiced by the late, great Zacherley) is shockingly well spoken and able to communicate with a hint of a British accent, and allows Brian the pleasure of a blue fluid he injects in to his brain allowing him the ultimate high. In exchange for more of the fluid, he demands Brian find victims for Elmer to feast on their brains. Soon enough Brian finds himself jonesing for more blue fluid and begins roaming the streets looking for new victims.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Brian\u2019s girlfriend and best friend are trying to find him and figure out what\u2019s going on with him. Most of \u201cBrain Damage\u201d revolves around what new gags Henenlotter can pull off with the alien parasite eating people\u2019s brains. All the while Rick Hearst is decent as protagonist Brian, a man who hates Elmer but craves his mysterious blue fluid. Henenlotter really drives home the overtones of drug abuse with his premise, even providing a weird detox process that comes from a long period without Elmer\u2019s fluid. Henenlotter takes a few moments out to feature his former owners ransacking their house looking for him, and eventually dropping in to a seizure as they foam from their mouths. Henenlotter makes Elmer\u2019s process of eating brains incredibly gruesome, often breaking the momentum of the dark comedy in exchange for showing this weird creature reveal its true predatory habits.<\/p>\n

However there are some notably perverse moments included that will burn in to your brain long after the movie has ended. There\u2019s a very gruesome fellatio gag, and a final scene on a train that felt very reminiscent of the brain eating scene in \u201cFrom Beyond.\u201d Henenlotter\u2019s pitch black horror comedy is not just a movie but a definite satisfying experience you’ll cringe all the way through. It\u2019s weird, gruesome, and strives for the trademark Henenlotter lunacy.<\/p>\n