I love this movie so much

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

good back-story, and good acting

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Nearly thirty years after its release, I've only just come across 'Brain Dead' (no, not the early Peter Jackson movie) - a film starring two of my favourite Bills (Pullman and Paxton). Despite them possibly being the ONLY Bills I know in the acting industry, I was surprised that I'd never heard of this film before. However, now I've watched it, I can see why it's been forgotten. I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn't really get behind it fully.I checked out some of the other reviews online and it gets a hell of a lot of 1 star ratings and people use phrases like 'You have to be brain dead to like Brain Dead.' I don't agree that it's quite that bad, but it's probably not worth the watch. It's about here in a review that I try and do a brief plot synopsis, however I'm not entirely sure what the film was about even after watching it. I figured that Bill Pullman played a scientist who experiments on people's brains after they've been removed from someone's body after their death. However, there are also times when he experiments on people's brains while they're still in people's heads! Paxton, on the other hand, plays a (delightfully!) slimy corporate executive.I think it's fair to say that there are definite elements of the 'horror' genre in here, however I've seen it listed as 'science fiction' in some places, too. Despite its minimal budget (it really is no blockbuster!) there are actually a couple of rather disgusting scenes involving probes entering a sort of sensitive organ (clue as to which on in the film's title!). Although, rather than being an outright horror movie, it leans more towards what I always consider to be 'Lynchian' horror (i.e. a David 'Twin Peaks/Mullholland Drive/Lost Highway' Lynch film or TV show). Weird things start happening and the lines between what's real and what's imaginary become blurred.Lynch does this really well and, even if you don't understand what he's getting at, you can enjoy one hell of a stylish experience. However, 'Brain Dead' is not directed by David Lynch. Therefore, what you're left with is a bit of a messy tale that whats to be really deep and thought-provoking and just ends up being... well, a mess. It's not helped that, even though it was released in 1990, it feels like they used the cheapest video camera ever to shoot it on. The film itself just looks incredibly cheap and the most of the soundtrack and incidental music feels like elevator music and probably public domain to begin with.The actors do their best with what they're given and, if you really enjoy total mind-bending tales where you don't know what's real or imaginary, you could get something out of this. However, if you do like those sorts of films, then you've definitely seen better (probably from David Lynch, but also Cronenberg has done similar mainstream/cult offerings), so I'd probably stick to those. Ironically, only seven years later Bill Pullman went on to star in Lynch's 'Lost Highway.' Although that divided audiences and was also hard to follow, it was a visual joy to watch and the sheer brilliance of direction gave it that creepy, menacing vibe which 'Brain Dead' tries for, but fails. It's not a one star movie, but it's probably best to gloss over in the scale of things.

i originally wanted to see this film for Bill Pullman and Bud Cort and i got way more out of it than expected. this movie is a mind f*** and you really have to pay attention to every little detail and be somewhat nuts to understand this from my point of view but ill give it my best shot. Bill Pullman plays a brain doctor along with Bill Paxton who experiment on Bud Cort who killed his family. After performing this test on Bud Cort, Bill Pullman is hit by a car and then things get weird. He wakes up but nothing is how it is supposed to be, he is no longer the brilliant doctor he was before getting hit by the car, he is now being called by Bud Cort's characters name (Halsey) and is now a patient. He tries to escape with the help of Bud Cort. Heres the metaphor to look for, when Bill is running around the hospital trying to find his way out he is, in a way running through his own mind. So who's mind is this exactly..is this Bud Cort's brain or Bill Pullman's brain? we find that out in the end which i wont say but its genius. I've always wondered about the human brain and this movie made me wonder (even more) just exactly what goes on in our brains when we are unconscious? when we die does the brain still work? is what we are seeing now and doing now really happening or is this all a dream? this movie really made me ask these questions more and it freaked my sister out! i say bravo to the director, writer and of course Bill Pullman and Bud Cort for f***ing with my mind!

Even worse than the worst David Lynch "confusathon", "Brain Dead" makes no sense whatsoever. Shamefully wasted talent (Bill Pullman, Bill Paxton), bounce around like they are in a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon on acid. There is negligible character development. It simply starts climbing the "strange scale", until climaxing in total chaos. Do not get sucked into this because of the above fine actors. They are given nothing to work with, and you will be wondering what's going on throughout the entire, unbearable 85 minutes. I highly recommend avoiding "Brain Dead" at all costs, unless you are into scattering your brain with what amounts to total nonsense. - MERK

This is a very underrated movie that somewhat reminds you of Jacob's Ladder. The movie starts out with Bill Pullman as a doctor who studies brains and has a lab full of brains in glass bottles. Pullman is friends with Bill Paxton and Paxton is in some trouble with the corporation he works with and tries to get Pullman to help him. Pullman agrees and and he has to try and find out if a brilliant doctor, played by Bud Cort, who went and killed his family is actually insane or not. Pullman says he his insane and Paxton isn't too happy about it because Cort has some top secret information in his head and Paxton doesn't want it to ever get out. Pullman operates on him and then and the next thing Pullman knows he is in a mental ward and his entire reality starts to mess with him and he can't tell what is real and what is not. It's a great movie that should be more well known.