A huge, alien structure resembling an inverted cone, appears in the woods outside a small rural town. Sent from Washington to investigate the origin of the mysterious object, a team of investigators discovers that intelligent parasites from inside the "cone" can attach themselves to humans' nervous systems and control their minds, taking control of the authorities and workers, making communication with the outside world impossible, and leaving the responsibility of stopping the invasion up to seven people who have thus far been able to avoid possession by these creatures from parts unknown.
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A couple driving home discovers a metal structure in the woods 6 miles south of Riverdale, Illinois. Mysterious occurrences and murders are reported. Two days later, word has reached Washington and an investigation led by Senator Walter Powers is secretly sent. Alien parasites have taken over some of the town's population. Powers leads a group of survivors. They try to communicate but the operators have been taken over.This is a low grade copy of many other sci-fi fantasy. The acting is bad and the production is poor. The direction is basically people standing around spouting bad dialogue. The logic of the parasites doesn't make sense. First they're from space. Then they're from below. Also it's the easiest detection method possible. Just take off your shirts! It's also notable for Leonard Nimoy as an ethereal presence inside the cone.
After a series of strange communication failures in a small town, a rescue party finds the cause to be rooted in a strange alien-like parasite from the Earth's core latched onto the necks of the townspeople, leaving them to stop the impending invasion.This one wasn't all that great but is certainly worthwhile. The big thing with it is the fact that the film is not even an hour long, so it's got major problems already in trying to cram enough material that actually works in a decent, full-length release into a shorter amount of time, rushing along through everything despite their being no need to do so, cutting down the action to a few brief inserts that are fun but definitely could've been stretched out, a totally pointless narration running over everything that doesn't need to be there and several other rather big problems that really don't help to elevate it's 50s Sci-Fi origin, admittedly fun suspense in the part of who's under the spell and who isn't and what happens once the creatures are loose, which is barely explored but could've been good. Overall, this one was fine but had a lot of problems going for it.Today's Rating/PG: Mild Violence
I was really primed to watch this one - expectations were high (how could they not be with a title like "The Brain Eaters"?). Well, as often as happens in life, the reality didn't match the expectation. Actually, this movie made me a bit angry because of the wasted potential. I love seeing old black and white monsters, but this movie showed virtually no monsters. What's the point of making a "monster movie" if you only show the monsters for a total of 10 seconds out of an hour - very lame! Plus, NONE of the characters in this film are likable, which is a very important aspect of a successful film. I didn't care about any of them. They were all either stupid or jerks or arrogant or useless. The doctor was the only one who showed any good qualities, but his stupidity outlined below rendered him useless.1. A lot of damage was done by the people who were infected by these creatures. ALL of that damage could've been avoided by checking everybody to see if there was a little furry thing attached to the back of their necks. It seems pretty obvious to me... 2. How about when the doctor shot the bullet into the cone and it bounced around and he said, "The point of origin is the point of return." If that's true, why didn't he get injured as the bullet came back to the point of return?3. The doctor crawls into the cone and is gone for a long time. Everybody is worried about his safety. He finally comes out and says that the tunnel in the cone just winds around and there was nothing inside. WHAT!?! Where were the two missing doctors that appeared later in the film? Where were all the creatures that were with them? This point really got on my nerves.4. In the lab, the doctor dissects one of the creatures and tells his assistant/girlfriend that the creatures can split apart and regenerate. While he's telling her this, he leaves a piece of this thing HE KNOWS has the ability to hurt people unguarded on the table. While he is distracted, the thing crawls onto his arm and injures him. He uses fire to get it off, but then hurries out of the lab without making sure the thing is really dead. And what about the big piece he cut the little piece off of? Nobody seems very concerned that these two pieces could hurt people in the future. 5. Later, the doctor and the mayor's son go to the teletype office to see if any message came back from the governor. They end up fighting two people that are controlled by the monsters. After our heroes beat these guys up, they just leave them there. What's up with that!?! Kill them, tie them up, get the monsters off their backs, but don't just leave them lying there to cause more damage later. ARRGGH!Sorry, but it goes on and on and on...
Funny movie. Mystery Science Theatre 3000 material all the way. I would guess, due to the rough and shoddy editing, that the movie was originally longer than 60 minutes.Interesting that there are two scenes that escaped the censors of 1958 -A see through peignoir and the cop's hairy chest shown when his shirt is ripped open during a fight. I personally love these old B movies and while this one was not up to the usual "standards" of early horror films, it had some truly giggity moments. (Heavy breathing by the brain eaters and the pipe stem antenna where great touches.) I rated it a 7 due to the abundance of truly bad acting, dialog and editing. It doesn't get much worse than this which is what makes it so good.
