Spellbinding science fiction doesn’t get any more outrageous than it does here in The Brain Eaters, a 61-minute schlocky shocker from the Drive-In era of B-flicks. This is what happens when Small Town, America finds itself at the center of a UFO invasion! Hide the jars of pickles, Ma and Pa! Strangers from the skies are here!
Produced by the ONE and ONLY Roger Corman and Peyton Place’s Ed Nelson, The Brain Eaters - while it does double down on the hammy narration - literally leaps off the screen with both a UFO and a nighttime assault as a mayor is attacked in downtown Riverdale, Illinois by a very strange man with a hissing container in his arms. Coincidence? The senators in Washington, DC don’t think so.
And they don’t even know about the strange man with the lighted container. Just what the hell is going on in this usually sleepy town?!
Starring Ed Nelson as Dr. Paul Kettering, Alan Jay Factor as Glenn Cameron, Joanna Lee as Alice Summer, Cornelius Keefe as Sen. Walter K. Powers, and a brief appearance by Leonard Nimoy (whose name is misspelled in the opening credits) as a professor in a local college, The Brain Eaters is a fun B-grade popcorn muncher in which a bunch of “science boys” wind up tunneling into a UFO’s innards only to find the damn thing empty. 
That’s right, the alien is loose in their town and, with something extraterrestrial attached to its victims’ necks which causes them to do all sorts of crazy things, they discover that - yep - it’s going to be a HOT TIME in the old town tonight.
It seems alien secretions are causing nervous systems to collapse. We’ve heard about having a monkey on our back, well, here in The Brain Eaters, that monkey is an alien and it won’t be happy until every human is left for dead.
Directed by Bruno VeSota and full of creepy, slimy alien bugs, The Brain Eaters is both corny and campy. It is also charming in its rollout of paranoia as the townsfolk of Riverdale find themselves playing host to a brain-controlling parasite with world domination on its mind!
Home Video Distributor: Shout Factory
Available on Blu-ray - January 25, 2022
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A
When a strange structure emerges from the earth in a small Illinois town, scientist Dr. Paul Kettering is sent to investigate its mysterious origins and purpose. Kettering soon discovers the shocking truth: the object houses subterranean parasites capable of controlling the minds of anyone by attaching themselves at their necks. With the citizenry slowly infiltrated and overtaken and the town cut off from the outside world, Kettering and a small band of those left unenslaved must take on the insurmountable task of halting this menacing invasion from spreading. Starring Ed Nelson (Peyton Place) and Joanna Lee (Plan 9 From Outer Space) and featuring a cameo by Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), The Brain Eaters is a spellbinding science-fiction nightmare!
Video:
Framed in a 1.85:1 transfer, the new 2K transfer is beyond immaculate. Crackling with intensity and solid black-and-white images, the transfer is golden. Minted from 35mm film elements, this transfer is detailed with sharp edges and dynamic sets that absolutely pop against the background. Unrealistic and spooky, the science fiction elements are all in place for a memorable experience as the women in the group are told they should have children as soon as possible!
Audio:
The uncompressed monaural soundtrack included here makes the dialogue front and center, which it ought to be.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- None
Special Features:
- None
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Composite Blu-ray Grade
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 on appeal for crude sexual content and language.
Runtime: 94 mins
Director: Chris Addison
Writer: Mark Frost, Daniel F. Bacaner
Cast: Stanley Shapiro; Paul Henning; Dale Launer; Jac Schaeffer
Genre: Comedy | Crime
Tagline: They're giving Dirty Rotten Men a run for their Money.
Memorable Movie Quote: "I had no idea how small time I was until I met you."
Theatrical Distributor: MGM
Official Site: https://www.thehustle.movie/
Release Date: May 10, 2019
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: August 20, 2019.
Synopsis: In the hilarious new comedy THE HUSTLE, Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson star as female scam artists, one low rent and the other high class, who team up to take down the dirty rotten men who have wronged them.
