Brain Damage ** (1988, Rick Hearst, Gordon MacDonald, Jennifer Lowry) – Classic Movie Review 10,085

Writer-director Frank Henenlotter, of Basket Case (1982) fame, goes one step further into the realm of bad taste with this tale of a phallus-resembling parasite that locks into Brian (Rick Hearst)’s brain and injects him with addictive mind-mending liquid to make him hunt tasty brains to gobble.

Frank Henenlotter’s 1988 cult black comedy horror Brain Damage has not as much ghoulish cheesy charm as Basket Case, but it is far better than Basket Case 2, Basket Case 3 and Frankenhooker.

The nauseating make-up effects (the ear-flossing, the gross-out sex scene), tacky visuals and bad acting are somewhat redeemed by the gruesomely amusing black humour, surreal touches and tongue-in-cheek attitudes.

Rick Hearst is billed as Rick Herbst. Also in the cast are Jennifer Lowry, Gordon MacDonald, Theo Barnes, Lucille Saint-Pete,r Vicki Darnell, Joseph Gonzalez, Bradlee Rhodes, Michael Bishop, Beverly Bonner, Ari M Roussimoff, Don Henenlotter, Angel Figueroa, and John Reichert, with Basket Case star Kevin Van Hentenryck as Man with basket.

Brain Damage is directed by Frank Henenlotter, runs 86 (uncut) minutes, is made by Palisades Partners, is released by Palisades Entertainment Group (1988) (US) and Palace Pictures (1988) (UK), is written by Frank Henenlotter, is shot by Bruce Torbet, is produced by Edgar Ievins, is scored by Gus Russo and Clutch Reiser, and is designed by Ivy Rosovsky.

The UK cinema version was cut by 18 seconds and the 1988 Palace Pictures video had 22 seconds of cuts to edit the scene where Aylmer (voice of John Zacherle) burrows his way through a prostitute’s mouth during fellatio. The cuts were waived for the 2007 DVD.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,085

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