It’s no secret that I love ‘bad’ movies. So many of my favourite films have at some point or another been referred to as “the worst movie ever,” and Man with the Screaming Brain is no exception. This happens so often to me that I can’t tell anymore if there is something (an appreciation deficiency?) wrong with the majority of people on this planet or if I just have poor taste after all. Maybe it’s both. Either way, Man with the Screaming Brain is everything this b(for bad)-movie junkie craves.
How could anyone ever call any movie starring (AND co-written AND directed AND produced by) Bruce Campbell “bad”? Are you broken? It’s Bruce Campbell! And not to mention, it’s Bruce Campbell partnered with co-writer Sam Raimi. Definitely one of the all-time greatest duos in horror/cheeseball cinema creation. Campbell plays William Cole, a pompous overly-stereotypical and all-encompassing American – the guy is a rich CEO of a pharmaceutical company, seriously – travelling on business to Bulgaria with his wife Jackie. Jackie has a brief affair with a cab driver/KGB agent Yegor (played by Vladimir Kolev) and all three (William, Jackie, Yegor) wind up dead, thanks to Yegor’s nightmare ex-girlfriend Tatoya (Tamara Gorski).
Dr. Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov (Stacy Keach) ends up piecing the trio together again, but not exactly as they were. With the help of his witless assistant Pavel (Ted Raimi), Jackie’s brain ends up inside a robot, while parts of Yegor’s brain are spliced in with William’s, inside William’s body. Here the real fun begins as two bodies containing three minds set off to seek revenge on Tatoya.
Man with the Screaming Brain feels more like a comic book story than a 2005 movie story (and actually was published as a comic by Dark Horse the same year the film was released). It’s also got a very classic 1950s b(NOT for bad)-movie feel, which is an era/genre combo I adore. I’ve been loving this film for the past decade, and though some people (also known as wrong people) have claimed this to be one of the worst movies of all time, and in some cases THE worst, I’ll love it for the next decade, too. Because I like bad movies, damn it. And Bruce Campbell is the man.
Reblogged this on That Amanda Blue Girl.