Absolutely Fantastic

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Believe it, or not, 1957's "The Brain From Planet Arous" actually scored higher in the laughs department than any "Adam Sandler" Comedy that I've ever seen.It's true. (And, no, I wasn't stoned) And, yeah-yeah, I know that (opposed to any "Sandler" Comedy) this film was Sci-Fi and its humor was unintentional, but, all the same, I'll certainly take my laughs anywhere that I can get 'em, even if it is from some dopey, little, B-Grade, Sci-Fi flick from the frickin' 1950s.Anyways - As the laughs come fast and furious.....Gor, a super-powerful criminal brain from planet Arous, assumes the body of goody-goody research scientist Steve March. Through March the evil Gor begins his diabolical mission to control the world via telepathic possession.And, Gor, being the miserable prick that he is, naturally threatens the immediate destruction of any country on the planet who dares to challenge his ego-maniacal domination.(Are you laughing at the absurdity of it all, so far?) Vol (yes, another brain (this time a nice one) from you-know-where) arrives on Earth shortly after Gor. Vol (get this) inhabits March's dog, George, and works closely with Sally (March's squeeze) to defeat the all-mighty Gor.Enough said.As you can well-imagine, The Brain From Planet Arous is literally filled to over-flowing with laughable special effects, laughable dialogue, and, yes, laughable performances from one, and all.And, yep - I'll take this goofy, little, Sci-Fi laugh-riot over anything offered up by Sandler, and his likes, any day at all.

The Brain from Planet Arous starts as nuclear physicist Dr. Steve Marsh (John Agar) & his friend Dan (Robert Fuller) detect blasts of radiation coming from the nearby Mystery Mountain, the two decide to drive out there & investigate the unusual phenomenon. Once there the two scientists discover a large floating alien brain from the planet Arous named Gor, the alien brain Gor is evil & kills Dan with a blast of radiation & possesses Steve's body & takes complete control of his mind. Gor becomes infatuated with Steve's fiancé Sally (Joyce Meadows) as he plans world domination, Gor causes a passenger plane to explode & crash before ordering representative's from all leading nation's to a summit meeting where he demands all of Earth's resources be handed over to him so he can build the most fearsome invasion fleet the Universe has ever seen. Gor is power mad & will stop at nothing to rule his home planet Arous & destroy any other that tries to stop him...Directed by Nathan Juran under the name Nathan Hertz (Hertz was Juran's middle name) this is yet another ludicrous but entertaining sci-fi film that is silly, camp & unintentionally funny but also highly enjoyable in a cheesy & charming sort of way. I am sure most viewers will dismiss The Brain from Planet Arous as a cheap nonsense but if you have a fondness for infamously bad films such as Robot Monster (1954) & Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) then you have to see this as it's on par with both of those. The script for The Brain from Planet Arous is ridiculous, a giant alien brain with glowing eyes arrives on Earth (it's never explained how he gets here since he seems to need a spaceship to get back to Arous which he has to build) & possesses a scientist & develops lurid & sexual desires towards Sally while another giant alien brain who is good & here to capture Gor also arrives & possesses Steve's dog George! It all sounds silly & it is but I found it infinitely entertaining, at only just over 70 minutes long it moves along like a rocket, the dialogue isn't as bad as some other sci-fi films from the same period & there are one or two effectives moments. The character's are alright even if Sally & her father seem rather relaxed, unshocked & unconcerned about the giant talking alien brain they meet! There are also a few other howlers here, the idea that a scientist can say with 100% accuracy that no force on Earth could have made the plane crash & that aliens are responsible is lazy while Steve seems to know a lot about Mystery Mountain if he can tell a pile of rocks at the base weren't there a year ago! I mean a rock fall might have happened & did he memorise every rock at the base the last time was there a year ago? Wouldn't a nuclear scientist have better things to do? The for some reason Sally knew that the bodies from the plane crash were burned like Dan yet she was not allowed to see the bodies & told to go away at the scene of the crash so how did she know?The production values are alright, obviously a really low budget film the special effects aren't too bad considering. The giant brains look silly but because of what they are & the concept that they represent rather than because of bad special effects if you see what I mean. The only really bad effects shots are the planes exploding which are less than impressive. There's some stock footage of an atomic bomb going off & destroying a town & a wimpy crash at the start. The sexual advances & the way Gor talks about Sally must have been quite strong for it's day, he forces himself upon her a couple of times trying to rip open her top & take her bra off, George the dog comes to her rescue but get a kicking for it's trouble in yet another scene that seemed quite strong for it's day.Filmed in black and white on a budget of about $58,000 the ever popular Bronson Canyon was used as a location (maybe Gor's cave was the one that the mighty Ro-Man from Robot Monster hung out in...). The acting varies, John Agar is alright as are most of the main cast but some of the smaller roles are filled with really bad actor's.The Brain from Planet Arous is another highly entertaining film that I really liked, it's difficult to recommend it & give it more than five out of ten but I would rather watch this again than a lot of the crap that gets released these days. A top guilty pleasure.

I was looking for a very early Leonard Nimoy film appearance and found this corny gem. I have enjoyed Mr. Agar in all his roles and films. I know he was made a star as the on-screen husband of Shirley Temple in Henry Fonda/John Ford film called Fort Apache. (Fort was filmed in Simi Valley's Corriganville theme park of the 50 & 60's.) Temple and Agar became a real life couple, soon after. This film is very reminiscent of many 'aliens landing in the desert' films made on the 50's. But the interesting twist is that the alien brains shown in this film. The alien brain is almost laughable to see in the broad daylight scenes. The brain seems to be made out of a floating brain looking beach-ball with large pair of monster's menacing eyes plastered on the frontal lobes. The plot is well acted out and the ending twist involving another alien chasing the evil brain is nice. The gimmick of the alien good brain living in the body of Jon Agar's personal friendly dog gives the story something different and unique to experience near the end. Fun to experience.

my gosh.. to me that was the scariest series. I would love to see creature feature come to the scifi channel, the best movies but most off, the scariest intro, scenes when returning to and leaving from show for commercials, both in sound and imagery. I clearly remember it in black and white as that was the TV I most watched creature feature on.This was the 2nd or 3rd scariest show, especially when the brain w/eyes comes zooming in. Its creepy looking enough as it is. That alone makes it worth watching this film. The best was house on haunted hill, 2nd was some movie that maybe someone could put up here but all I remember was a china closet slowly spookily moving across the room in sort of an attack fashion but this is definitely either 2nd or 3rd best.A definite must see, scary in a creepy sort of way, 7.0