The Brain from Planet Arous

Brain from Planet Arous, The (1957)

** (out of 4)

Silly sci-fi tale of a scientist (John Agar) who goes into a new cave to see what made it and discovers that it was a large brain (with glowing eyes) from outer space. The brain takes control of his body in hopes of learning the various secrets of Earth but fear not because space also sends a good brain to help. Just reading a plot like that lets you know that you're watching a "B" movie from the 1950s that probably thrilled and scared thousands of kids who were taken to the drive-in by their parents. When seen today these movies certainly don't have the ability to scare and more likely than not they're laughed at due to how melodramatic their story lines are. THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS isn't a very good film but there are a few good things that make it worth viewing. Needless to say, with such a low budget the special effects really leave a lot to desire and this includes our friend, the deadly brain. The effect of the brain is quite simple but my one real question is why on Earth they decided to give the thing eyes. The site of a flying brain is silly enough but to then give it eyes wasn't really a smart move but it does provide a few laughs. Another silly aspect in the story is that Agar's character becomes possessed by this thing and is given the ability to blow things up with his eyes. There are scenes towards the end when he's showing the government his "power" and you have to wonder why they all just sit around and let him do this stuff without even attempting to stop him. Speaking of Agar, he's certainly the main reason to check this film out. Fans of the genre are certainly going to know him from his countless entries into the genre but this here is a rather unique way to see him. For the most part he was always playing the good guy trying to stop the evil monsters but here he gets to play a real jerk and he does a wonderful job with it. There are several scenes where he's abusing his girlfriend (Joyce Meadows) and they're actually quite effective. I thought the actor did a very good job playing bad and it's a shame he wasn't given more opportunities to do this. Meadows is decent in her role of the love interest but you have to admit that she's one of the dumbest girlfriends from this era of films. Robert Fuller, Henry Travis and Thomas B. Henry co-star. Fans of the genre will probably want to check this out simply for the silly nature of it but I'm sure most others will want to skip it and check out something better.