''The Brain Eaters'' is a 1958 independently made American

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

, produced by

Ed Nelson Edwin Stafford Nelson (December 21, 1928 – August 9, 2014) was an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Michael Rossi in the television series ''Peyton Place (TV series), Peyton Place''. Nelson appeared in episodes of many TV p ...

(and

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

, uncredited), and directed by Bruno VeSota. The film stars Nelson, Alan Jay Factor, and Joanna Lee, and includes a brief appearance by

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy ( ; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor and director, famous for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes Development of Spock, originating Spock in Star Trek: T ...

(name misspelled in film credits as "Leonard Nemoy"). ''The Brain Eaters'' was distributed by

American International Pictures American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...

as a

double feature The double feature is a Film, motion picture industry phenomenon in which theaters would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subjec ...

with either '' Earth vs. the Spider'' or ''

Terror from the Year 5000 ''Terror from the Year 5000'' (a.k.a. ''Cage of Doom'' in the UK) is a 1958 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film, produced by Robert J. Gurney Jr, Samuel Z. Arkoff, James H. Nicholson and Gene Searchinger; directed ...

'' in different markets.

Plot

Riverdale, Illinois Riverdale is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,663 at the 2020 census. The village shares its name with the bordering Riverdale, Chicago, Riverdale neighborhood in Chicago. History The Village of Riverdal ...

, a man carrying a lighted glass container bumps into a pedestrian. The container is broken, and a fight ensues. On their way home, Glenn Cameron and his fiancée, Elaine, are distracted by a light. They stop to investigate in nearby woods and find dead animals before coming upon a metal structure resembling a rocket nose cone. Two days later, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, a committee reviews classified army footage of the object. Also noted are several murders in the nearby town. Sen. Walter K. Powers and his assistant Dan Walker fly to Riverdale to investigate and are met by Glenn Cameron, whose father, the mayor, is missing. The three drive to the object's location. Alice Summers, the mayor's secretary, assists Dr. Paul Kettering, the committee's chief investigator, by recording test results. The senator approaches the cone to question Kettering and his assistant, Dr. Wyler. The cone appears to be indestructible, and its interior is a maze of tunnels. Meanwhile, Mayor Cameron returns to his office, acting as if possessed. He takes a pistol from his desk and struggles to point it at his head. Kettering, the senator, Alice and Glenn arrive. Kettering notices a mound near the mayor's neck and asks him about it. The mayor strikes Glenn while attempting to flee. The mayor starts shooting and is eventually killed in the hallway by a deputy. During the autopsy, the doctor and Kettering find a dead creature attached to the mayor's neck; it injected a toxin into his nervous system. Even without being shot, he would have died within 24–48 hours. While driving toward the cone, the sheriff sees a man lying on the road. The sheriff tries to help the man, who attacks him. Another man, holding a glass container, watches the fight. The sheriff is knocked out, and the two men remove something from the container. The sheriff revives and the three drive off in his car. Aided by Alice, Kettering experiments with a piece of the creature that infected the mayor. Like a parasite, it attaches itself to Kettering, who frees himself by burning it. Wyler calls Kettering, and they drive to the cone. En route, they discover an abandoned electric company utility truck. Sen. Powers calls the sheriff, who does not answer, struggling with being possessed. Three groups are organized to search for other metal objects. Kettering and Alice find the body of the truck's driver with two puncture wounds on the neck. While searching, Glenn and Elaine are locked inside a cabin. Someone tries to set the cabin on fire, but Glenn shoots at him and escapes with his fiancée. The three groups reassemble at the mayor's office and discover two glowing containers holding more parasites. The senator calls the

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

office to send a warning to the governor. The telegrapher takes down the message but, being possessed, does not send it. Three men drive to Alice's apartment and plant a parasite in her room. She is taken over and joins the men. Realizing she is missing, Paul and Glenn drive back to the cone and see Prof. Helsingman, a dying man who vanished five years earlier along with a scientific expedition. Discovering marks on his neck, they take him to hospital. Kettering questions the professor, who only utters the word "

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

", referring to a geologic time period millions of years ago. Sen. Powers tries to make calls, but is told that the lines are busy. Glenn and Paul go to the telegraph office to find out if the warning was sent to the governor. They are attacked but manage to subdue their assailants and flee. Kettering climbs the cone to check on his equipment. He realizes the two deputies on guard are now possessed, and both are shot and killed. Kettering and Glenn crawl inside the cone and discover a room behind a sliding wall. They are greeted by another member of the missing expedition, an old man who says he was once Prof. Cole but now holds "a position of a much higher order." Apparently, the parasites' invasion is coming from inside the Earth. They want to force upon mankind a life free from strife and turmoil, creating a utopia. After the possessed Cole disappears, Kettering shoots and kills the lurking sheriff. Parasites then chase Kettering and Glenn outside. Kettering formulates a plan using the abandoned truck. Using a harpoon gun, he connects an electrical wire from one end of the ravine to the other. He prepares to shoot a connecting wire from the cone to a high voltage transmission line, completing a circuit. Before Kettering can finish, Alice exits the cone. Kettering tries to rescue her. Being possessed, she refuses to move and kills him with a pistol. Glenn fires the harpoon gun, making the connection to the transmission line, which engulfs the cone in electricity. Alice collapses as the parasites inside the object are electrocuted. Walking away from the site, Glenn and Elaine later embrace.

Cast

Production

''The Brain Eaters'' was known during production as, variously, ''The Keepers'', ''The Keepers of the Earth'', ''Attack of the Blood Leeches'', and ''Battle of the Brain Eaters''.Gary A. Smith, ''The American International Pictures Video Guide'', McFarland 2009 p 33 Actor VeSota wanted to direct a film, so he approached Corman with the script. Corman helped him raise the modest financing needed, as well as arranging distribution through AIP. The film was shot over six days on a budget of $26,000.Mark McGee, ''Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures'', McFarland, 1996 p121-122 After its release, science fiction author

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein ( ; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific acc ...

sued for plagiarism, asking for damages of $150,000, claiming that ''The Brain Eaters'' was based on his 1951 novel ''

The Puppet Masters ''The Puppet Masters'' is a 1951 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, in which American secret agents battle parasitic invaders from outer space. It was originally serialized in ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' (September, Oct ...

''. Corman insisted that he was unfamiliar with Heinlein's work, both while reading the script and during the film's production. He did, however, see the obvious comparisons once he'd read the novel, so Corman settled out of court for $5,000 and acceded to Heinlein's demand that he receive no screen credit, as the author found the film "wanting". The lawsuit that resulted halted actor John Payne's intention of producing a film based on Heinlein's novel.

References

Bibliography

* Warren, Bill. ''Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties'', 21st Century Edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009 (First Edition 1982). .

External links