The Brain Eaters (

1958

) ½

The 1950s were, on the whole, a more wholesome and naive time at least when it came to pop culture (real life, of course, was as messy as always). The more cynical archetypes of the 1940s fell into disuse; why there was hardly a corrupt politician or a dishonest journalist to be found anywhere on the cinematic landscape. Films that bucked the trend, like the exceptionally cynical Ace in the Hole (1951), courted commercial and critical disaster even if they were helmed by Hollywood royalty (in this case Billy Wilder). All the vestiges of the earlier, less optimistic era did not vanish completely though, and occasionally they show up in the strangest places. Take today's film which puts the cliche, excessively rational pipe-smoking scientist right next to a tough-talking and completely cynical Washington insider in the form of Senator Walter K. Powers. Even more amazing, the film doesn't fall into the obvious trap of making Powers the bad guy but instead has him as effectively a co-hero working towards the same objectives as the other good guys, only with a different approach and a rougher demeanor. The presence of a 1940s hero at the center of a very 1950s film not only gives The Brain Eaters a unique atmosphere, but it gives the good guys of the film some much needed internal tension. The result is a refreshing take on the tried-and-true model of mid-century sci-fi/horror.

To be fair though, The Brain Eaters sure doesn't look like it's going to be a refreshing twist on an old story, or even a competently-made film if its introduction is any indication. The film begins with an overly-long voice-over narration that made me worry I was in store for another movie that couldn't be bothered to record its own dialogue (al la The Creeping Terror (1964) or the Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)). Fortunately, this is not the case, and once the initial exposition dump is finished the voice-over narration is dropped altogether in favor of a more conventional, recording techniques. The pertinent facts are: recently a mysterious conical object was discovered in the small town of Riverdale Illinois (presumably Archie and company are missing in action or else investigating this strange occurrence would probably fall under their purview). Almost simultaneously, the town's mayor vanishes without a trace. For once, the big wigs in Washington realize what kind of movie they are in and dispatch Senator Walter K. Powers and his assistant/dogsbody Dan Walker to determine whether or not this is the start of an alien invasion and what to do about it if it is. Why a politician is chosen for this mission and not a soldier/scientist/bureaucrat is beyond me, but Powers is such a compelling character that I'm more than ready to let this minor absurdity slip by. They're joined on the scene by the man who discovered the mysterious object, one Glenn Cameron, his fiance Elaine, a scientist named Dr. Paul Kettering, his assistant Dr. Wyler and the secretary of Riverdale's mayor.

The relatively large cast of characters hints at The Brain Eater's most obvious problem: aside from Powers and Kettering, none of these people have much in the way of personality. The film would have been better served by cutting out the side characters and giving us a more focused tale. That said, the characters who actually have personalities are quite well-written. Kettering is very much the classic academic scientist, who carefully clarifies every statement and refuses to engage in any baseless speculation. Hell, even when he's staring at a gigantic cone made of an unknown and seemingly indestructible alloy, he refuses to suggest that it is a spaceship without more data (as it turns out, he's right to do so). Powers, by contrast, is very much a pragmatic guy who trusts his gut and cares only about results. He wants something-concrete to take back to Washington, presumably to help him score some points in the next election or put one over on his bureaucratic rivals. When he arrives in Riverdale, he's frankly annoyed that Kettering and the others haven't unraveled the mystery yet and starts to throw his weight around to speed up the process. After some badgering, he manages to get Kettering to explore the inside of the conical object, by entering via a small aperture high up on the object's surface. Kettering is gone for hours, and when he emerges he confesses he found nothing of any use, only noting that the tunnel system spirals around and around ad infinitum inside the cone's surface.

At this point, the mayor of Riverdale emerges from whatever hole he's been hiding in for the last few days. He summons, Kettering, Powers and the others to his office, but the camera gets there first and gives the audience a sneak peek at the town leader. We get to see that he is more than a little bit crazy. He spends the whole time he's alone talking to himself and toying with a gun, nearly turning the barrel on himself at one point. When the rest of the cast turns up his office, the mayor holds it together for a few minutes before lurching into action and drawing his pistol on the rest of the cast. He stamps around for a bit, putting a couple of shots into the floor before he's dispatched by Kettering's sidearm (1950s scientists pack more heat than policemen). Upon examining the dead body, Kettering discovers a strange creature latched onto the base of the mayor's neck, presumably this thing was controlling him while the real mayor struggled against it. This whole sequence is handled exceptionally well, as the tension in the dialogue builds the camera cants slightly to the right or left. Orville Sherman, the man who plays the mayor, really tales the opportunity to ham it up and chew the scenery, but then how do you subtly play the role of a man fighting off the psychic domination of a bizarre parasite?

Kettering and Powers reach the conclusion that Riverdale Illinois is ground zero for the next Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and take measures to quarantine the area and call in the national guard. The parasites have planned ahead though, and have already got the town's telegraph operator under their psychic thrall. He dutifully accepts Powers' telegraph message and then proceeds to send one out that says the exact opposite of what the senator requested. At the same time, we see a few more possessed people waylay the town's sheriff and slap a parasite on his neck, so while they may have failed to control the mayor they still have the town's law enforcement and communications on lockdown. Still, things could be a lot worse for the good guys. At least the people of Riverdale have some advantages over the inhabitants of Santa Mira. After all, these body snatchers are no perfect duplicates and their influence can be fought-by the people they are replacing as the mishap with the mayor proved. Better yet they need to clamp onto the back of someone's neck to control their hosts, making possession by the parasites a chore to hide.

The Brain Eaters is a pretty simplistic knock-off film, the kind of which AIP churned out by the dozen in the late 1950s. However, unlike a great many of those films, The Brain Eaters has a lot going for it. For starters, the 60-minute run-time ensures that there is no useless filler; a distinction few films of this era and budget can boast. The direction and script are both above average, something which I can only attribute to the influence of the un-credited Roger Corman who was helping nominal director Bruno VeSota with logistics. I'm certain that Corman helped with the script, as the Brain Eaters fit very neatly into the type of monsters that show up throughout his work for this period. They are bizarre, ambiguously benevolent monsters that are nonetheless a threat to regular people because of their willingness to eradicate our individual consciousnesses. The monsters' sympathetic motivations, unusual origins (they are ancient creatures from-deep beneath the earth's surface rather than invaders from Mars) and grotesque appearance set them-apart from the usual rubber suits. Still, if you're looking for a classic body snatcher flick you could do a lot better with Invaders from Mars (1953) or Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). But, if you've already seen those films and still want a taste of cold war paranoia, you could do a lot worse than The Brain Eaters.