Man with the Screaming Brain

Wonderful B-movie horror/spoof from Bruce Campbell
B-movie hero Bruce "Evil Dead" Campbell makes his feature film directorial debut here with some hilarious results. The Man With the Screaming Brain stars Campbell (who also co-wrote the story) as an American industrialist in Bulgaria with his wife. Their marriage is failing rapidly, and it isn't too long before Campbell, his wife, and an ex-KGB cab driver all fall victim to a pretty, murderous gypsy woman who dreams of getting married. Before you know it, a mad scientist (Stacy Keach) re-animates Campbell's body; with pieces of the cab driver's brain inside his head to match. From this point on, it's easy to tell that Man With the Screaming Brain is meant to be as ridiculous as can be, with Campbell giving one of his most manic and wonderfully comic performances to date. Keach is hilarious as well as the mad professor, and Ted Raimi (brother of Sam) is great too as his Igor-like assistant. As you can tell by now, this isn't a movie for everybody, but for those loyal (and some...

Pure Bruce Campbell, all the way
I saw this movie over the summer as part of Bruce Campbell's tour. While it was originally screened in a few arthouse movie theaters, the movie is a sci fi channel production and can be watched on tv as of September 10, 2005.

The idea for this flick originally was proposed in 1986. Bruce Campbell got funding from scifi to make two movies. Originally envisioned as taking place in East Los Angeles, they moved the production to Bulgaria. The budget was shoestring, and at times it shows. However, this is all part of the fun of independent cinema, and Campbell got the most out of every dollar.

Exempting Bruce Campbell, Stacy Keach and Ted Raimi, the movie is cast almost entirely with local unknown actors. Stacy Keach plays a mad scientist and Raimi plays the role of a modern day Igor, with a taste for Cross Colors clothes and hip hop music. They spend all day in the lab playing with brains and trying to make intelligent robots.

Plot wise, the movie...

What a scream!
Now *that's* what I expect from a Bruce Campbell movie! Crackerjack science, cheesy dialogue, just the right amount of overacting to carry off said dialogue, Czech/Russian translated as surfer boy/pop culture English, a few explosions and so many homages to A-list sci-fi/horror movies that I lost track. The "death scene" with the robot version of his wife alone just gets so much love from me; only Bruce could pull off a concept that bad and make it look good in a bad/funny way.

I wonder if Bruce's directions to Ted Raimi were, "Just channel Joxer, kid." Because I had major flashbacks to _Xena_ eps. Not that it's a bad thing at all! I loved it! And I adored his fake Russian accent, especially when his real accent slipped through on occasion along with the whiny tone of voice, just made it all that more ridiculous and fun. It was worth tuning in just to see Ted jamming to hip-hop and pulling those wonderful facial expressions.

Those two together are comedy gold;...

Click to Editorial Reviews