Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.5

Brain Damage Blu-ray Movie Review

This is your brain on. . .Elmer?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 13, 2017

This is your brain.

This is your brain on drugs.

For those of us of a certain age, that inimitable quote will forever be emblazoned on our own brains (drug addled or not), along with the image of an egg crisping up in a sizzling frying pan. A “different” kind of Brain Damage, though one that is obviously meant to evoke drug fueled euphoria (along with its less pleasant side effects), is on hand (or perhaps more appropriately, in neck) in this occasionally amusing 1988 entry from cult director Frank Henenlotter. Henenlotter’s name may not be overly familiar to many (mainstream) film lovers, but as is repeatedly evidenced in some of the supplements accompanying this release, Henenlotter certainly was a recognizable name for many of the crew who excitedly came on board Brain Damage back in the day. While Henenlotter probably wouldn't squirm much to be lumped in with other exploitation maestros like Herschell Gordon Lewis (Henenlotter is a participant in Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore, a highly entertaining documentary included in the immense Arrow set The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast), Brain Damage actually offers above average effects work, at least for an entry which is otherwise decidedly pretty lo-fi. The film’s concept is built around a leech like parasite (one with certain phallic tendencies) named Elmer who escapes the confines of an apartment inhabited by an older couple named Morris (Theo Barnes) and Martha Ackerman (Lucille Saint Peter), ultimately finding refuge in a nearby abode where he (it?) attaches himself (itself?) to a young man named Brian (Rick Hearst). (Fans of the film will know there 's a bit of a discrepancy between versions of the character's name, something that's addressed within the film itself, with the creature being called Elmer and/or Aylmer at various points, for different reasons.) Elmer is a rather nefarious sort, though undeniably charming (especially as voiced by the wonderful John Zacherle, who wasn’t credited since he was a Screen Actors Guild member and this was a non-union shoot), and while Brian has some initial reservations about being the host to such an initially frightening creature, the fact that Elmer is able to squirt a hallucinogenic drug directly into Brian’s brain stem, something that sends Brian into near orgasmic spasms of pleasure, makes Brian’s decision a little easier (so to speak).

There have been all sorts of cinematic adaptations of the Faust story, including relatively straightforward entries like Faust and Doctor Faustus to somewhat tangentially related offerings like The Picture of Dorian Gray to decidedly more whimsical “updates” like Bedazzled and Phantom of the Paradise, but it would be hard to find a more, well, unusual use of the basic elements of the Faust saga than that found in Brain Damage. In this case Faust is Brian and the Devil is indeed Elmer, which considering his serpentine and phallic proclivities is perhaps more subliminally “accurate” than a young dude in the place of an aging German scholar. Brian's "deal" doesn't just involve letting Elmer drill through the back of Brian's neck to deliver some blue "juice" directly to Brian's increasingly thirsty synapses, something that ultimately makes Brian a kind of hopeless addict, but it also involves Brian more or less arranging for a slew of victims to be presented to Elmer, since it turns out the weird little leech like being needs to regularly feast on human brains, kind of like a wormlike zombie ported over from something like Night of the Living Dead.

In a way Brain Damage kind of oddly presages another film which came along a year after this Henenlotter outing, 1989’s How to Get Ahead in Advertising, and I almost have to wonder if that film’s writer and director Bruce Robinson didn’t perhaps stumble on this film and come up with his own somewhat similar premise of a hapless shlub falling victim to a weird entity that pops out of his body at various points. What sets Brain Damage apart from both this film and other films involving parasites of some sort (Alien, anyone?) is how downright suave Elmer is, especially as voiced by the iconic Zacherle. The voice work, combined with some goofily effective FX work that brings Elmer to life rather winningly, helps the film to overcome a premise, which in Henelotter’s own words on the included commentary track, is patently ridiculous.

There is some fairly provocative material in Brain Damage, despite an ambience that can only be described as pretty silly. That includes a pretty graphic sequence of Brian supposedly hooking up with a girl he meets at a kind of quasi-rave he stumbles into. The two stumble into a backroom alley sort of place where the girl kneels to perform a bit of oral gratification, only to “meet” Elmer, who thrusts himself directly into her mouth, evidently to get at that sweet, sweet brain material. The presentational aspects are an obvious riff on oral sex, and manage to be both completely gross and bizarrely sexual. A couple of other scenes are certainly full of blood and guts (especially once Brian starts hallucinating under the influence of Elmer’s blue juice), but aren’t nearly as provocative as this particular moment.

The film, while generally coherent from a narrative standpoint (at least as much as possible given its premise), perhaps tips over into surreality in its final moments, offering a patently gonzo finale that may oddly remind some folks of similarly "glowing" wrap ups to films like Kiss Me Deadly and Dead or Alive. The film might be cheekily suggesting that it's important to keep an open mind, but few would probably want to follow in Brian's footsteps.

Brain Damage Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Brain Damage is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet is a little less informative than is typically the case with regard to this transfer, stating only:

Brain Damage is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono sound. The high definition master was supplied for this release by Mark Holdom/Mackinac. Additional picture restoration was completed by Deluxe, London.

This has a somewhat "dupey" look at times, with some sequences, notably some of the more brightly lit outdoor scenes, looking generally pretty good, with a natural looking palette and decent detail levels (see screenshot 12). Many scenes have been graded or lit toward the blue end of things (as can clearly be seen in several of the screenshots accompanying this review), and detail levels, especially fine detail, can be hampered at times. There is also occasional chunkiness in the grain field that is especially noticeable in the blue scenes (look at the wall in screenshot 17 for one example). I never saw Brain Damage theatrically and so can't offer an opinion on the "accuracy" of the blue tint, but it does tend to creep into scenes generally, giving a kind of weird pallor to flesh tones at times. A couple of isolated scenes have noticeably less saturation and clarity than the bulk of the transfer (see screenshot 19, which is hampered by a lot of movement, so there's some blur, but you can clearly see how desaturated and fuzzy it is). As is detailed in some of the supplementary material, a host of different techniques were used to bring Elmer to life, including traditional animation and stop motion, and as such there are occasional understandable variances in grain and contrast. Some of the hallucinatory material (as in screenshot 2) is also understandably lacking detail due to the tweaking of the imagery. All of this said, while some of the FX work literally shows its seams at the higher resolution of the Blu-ray, all in all this is not overly problematic, with some close-ups revealing some stomach turning levels of detail in the gorier scenes. Aside from some pretty significant wobble during the credits, there aren't any other major stability issues.

Brain Damage Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Brain Damage features both LPCM Mono and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks. It appears that at least some of the film may have been post looped, or at least was recorded under less than optimal circumstances, since there are some noticeable differences in ambience and amplitude scattered throughout the film in both mono and surround tracks. The mono track has a slightly wet sound to my ears, with arguably a bit too much reverb, something that is probably only exaggerated in the surround track. The surround track spreads the kind of dated sounding score around the side and rear channels, and there are occasional good uses of discrete channelization for isolated effects, but immersion tends to be somewhat fitful.

Brain Damage Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Listen to the Light: The Making of Brain Damage (1080p; 54:13) is a typically excellent retrospective from Arrow, filled with great interviews with assorted folks and tons of background information on the production.


• The Effects of Brain Damage (1080p; 10:00) features FX whiz Gabe Bartalos.


• Animating Elmer (1080p; 6:40) gets into some of the (different) technical aspects used to bring Elmer to life, and features effects supervisor Al Magliochetti. There's some really fun information here about some subliminal messages Magliochetti planted in some effects sequences.


• Karen Ogle: A Look Back (1080p; 4:29) features the production's still photographer, script supervisor and assistant editor.


• Elmer's Turf: The NYC Locations of Brain Damage (1080p; 8:48) features Michael Gingold and Frank Henenlotter visiting some of the places the film shot scenes.


• Tasty Memories: A Brain Damage Obsession (1080p; 10:00) features Brain Damage "super fan" Adam Skinner. So as to not post "spoiler" material, there are some easter eggs that show up after you watch this which won't be detailed here.


• Frank Henenlotter Q & A (1080p; 20:36) is from the 2016 Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels.


• Image Galleries

  Stills (1080p; 4:18)

  Behind the Scenes (1080p; 1:35)

  Ephemera (1080p; 00:52)

• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:15)


• Bygone Behemoth (1080p; 5:08) is an animated short by Harry Chaskin which was John Zacherle's last credit.


• Audio Commentary with Frank Henenlotter is hosted by a guy whose name I just couldn't catch, but which sounded like Mike Hunchback.


• Isolated Score is presented in LPCM 2.0.

The release also includes a typically well done insert booklet with an essay by Michael Gingold and production photos.

Brain Damage Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Brain Damage is, as Henenlotter himself mentions, patently absurd a lot of the time, but it also is kind of an interesting take on both the Faust legend as well as the dangers of addiction. Tonally the film is generally pretty silly, mixed with copious amounts of gore, and so fans more conversant with higher profile entries like Evil Dead 2 might enjoy this, despite its lo-fi tendencies. Technical merits have some intermittent issues, but nothing that I'd personally consider overly problematic, and as usual Arrow has assembled a really impressive set of supplements. Recommended.