Joe Bob Briggs: Cerebellum Night with THE BRAIN (1988) & BRAIN DAMAGE (1989)

THE BRAIN - Directed by Ed Hunt | 1988 | 94 minutes

A giant mutant brain terrorizes Canadians at Christmastime! BUT THAT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING!! A group of teens stumble on a mad scientist (David Gale, RE-ANIMATOR) who is attempting to control people’s minds via a public access TV show. And this somehow leads to a goop-filled, multi-tentacled mutant brain that eats a guy, throws a woman out of a window, and forces neighbors to commit chainsaw murders. Combining teen angst from OVER THE EDGE, conspiracy theories that out-strange STRANGER THINGS, and monster effects that feel like outtakes from KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE, THE BRAIN is a one-in-a-zillion trash-horror treasure chest.

BRAIN DAMAGE - Directed by Frank Henenlotter | 1989 | 86 minutes

After altering the landscape of trash-horror history with BASKET CASE and FRANKENHOOKER, the brilliant Frank Henenlotter unleashed BRAIN DAMAGE, his ultimate Grimm’s Fairy Tale for perverted adults. This is a slimy, grimy, gore-soaked slice-of-NYC-life that follows a poor schmo who is addicted to a drug called Aylmer. But unlike heroin or cocaine, Aylmer is a mutant penis monster who needs to eat human brains in order to survive. Hooray! BRAIN DAMAGE is hilarious, unsettling, and jam-packed with bad taste gags that would probably cause John Waters to reassess his life’s work. Do not miss.

About Joe Bob Briggs

Joe Bob Briggs is the author of several books and many articles on genre film, including Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In, Profoundly Disturbing: Shocking Movies That Changed History. His wise-cracking take on B movies has been featured on two long-running late-night television shows, first on The Movie Channel and then on TNT. That tradition continues with his latest series, The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs, currently featured on AMC’s Shudder streaming platform.