In Riverdale, Illinois, 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., 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 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", 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.
Leonard Nimoy (credited as Leonard Nemoy) as Professor Cole
Doug Banks as Doctor
Henry Randolph as Telegrapher
Saul Bronson as Professor Helsingman
Hampton Fancher as Zombie
Production
Advertisement from 1958 for The Brain Eaters and co-feature, Earth vs. the Spider
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.[2]
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.[3]
After its release, science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein sued for plagiarism, asking for damages of $150,000, claiming that The Brain Eaters was based on his 1951 novel The Puppet Masters. 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".[3] The lawsuit that resulted halted actor John Payne's intention of producing a film based on Heinlein's novel.
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.
Roger William Corman 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 was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film.
The Amazing Colossal Man is a 1957 American black-and-white science fiction film from American International Pictures. Produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon, it stars Glenn Langan, Cathy Downs, William Hudson, and Larry Thor. It is an uncredited adaptation of Homer Eon Flint's 1928 short science fiction novel The Nth Man. AIP theatrically released it as a double feature with Cat Girl.
The Cars That Ate Paris is a 1974 Australian horror comedy film, produced by twin brothers Hal and Jim McElroy and directed by Peter Weir. It was his first feature film, and was also based on an original story he had written. Shot mostly in the rural town of Sofala, New South Wales, the film is set in the fictional town of Paris in which most of the inhabitants appear to be directly, or indirectly, involved in profiting from the results of car accidents. The film is considered part of the Australian New Wave genre.
Richard Miller was an American character actor who appeared in more than 180 films, including many produced by Roger Corman. He later appeared in the films of directors who began their careers with Corman, including Joe Dante, James Cameron, and Martin Scorsese, with the distinction of appearing in every film directed by Dante. He was known for playing the beleaguered everyman, often in one-scene appearances.
Swamp Women is a 1956 American adventure film noir crime film directed by Roger Corman. It stars Carole Mathews, Beverly Garland, and Marie Windsor, with Mike Connors and Ed Nelson in small roles.
Night of the Creeps is a 1986 American science fiction horror comedy film written and directed by Fred Dekker in his feature directorial debut, starring Jason Lively, Jill Whitlow, and Tom Atkins. The film is an earnest attempt at a B movie and an homage to the genre. While the main plot of the film is related to zombies, the film also mixes in takes on slashers and alien invasion films. Night of the Creeps did not perform well at the box office, but it developed a cult following.
Dinocroc is a 2004 American horror film directed by Kevin O'Neill. The film's plot revolves around a genetically engineered Suchomimus terrorizing the lake-side residents of a small town. The film stars Matthew Borlenghi, Jane Longenecker, Charles Napier, Costas Mandylor, Bruce Weitz, and Joanna Pacuła. The film was produced by b-movie director Roger Corman.
The Giant Spider Invasion is a 1975 science fiction action horror film produced, composed and directed by Bill Rebane, and follows giant spiders that terrorize the town of Merrill, Wisconsin and its surrounding area. The film was theatrically released in 1975 by Group 1 Films and enjoyed a considerable run to become one of the 50 top-grossing films of that year.
3:10 to Yuma is a 1957 American Western film directed by Delmer Daves, starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. Based on a 1953 short story by Elmore Leonard, it is about a drought-impoverished rancher who takes on the risky job of escorting a notorious outlaw to justice.
Watchers is a 1988 science fiction horror film directed by Jon Hess and starring Corey Haim, Michael Ironside, Barbara Williams and Lala Sloatman. It is loosely based on the 1987 novel Watchers by Dean R. Koontz.
Humanoids from the Deep is a 1980 American science fiction horror film starring Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, and Vic Morrow. Roger Corman served as the film's uncredited executive producer, and his company, New World Pictures, distributed it. Humanoids from the Deep was directed by Barbara Peeters and an uncredited Jimmy T. Murakami.
Patrick F. Kilbane is an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter best known for his three seasons as a cast member on MADtv (1997–2000), as well his memorable appearance in the 1996 "The Bizarro Jerry" episode of Seinfeld, in which he played Bizarro Kramer. Kilbane's first book, The Brain Eater's Bible: Sound Advice for the Newly Reanimated Zombie, was released on March 18, 2011.
A Bucket of Blood is a 1959 American comedy horror film directed by Roger Corman. It starred Dick Miller and was set in the West Coast beatnik culture of the late 1950s. The film, produced on a $50,000 budget, was shot in five days and shares many of the low-budget filmmaking aesthetics commonly associated with Corman's work. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a dark comic satire about a dimwitted, impressionable young busboy at a Bohemian café who is acclaimed as a brilliant sculptor when he accidentally kills his landlady's cat and covers its body in clay to hide the evidence. When he is pressured to create similar work, he becomes a serial murderer.
The Horror of Party Beach is a 1964 American horror film in the beach party genre, directed and co-produced by Del Tenney. The film is described as "a take-off on beach parties and musicals".
A Bucket of Blood is a 1995 American comedy horror television film. A remake of the 1959 film of the same name, it follows the original closely, adapting it to a contemporary setting. The film was directed by comedian Michael McDonald, produced by Roger Corman, and co-written by McDonald and Brendan Broderick, based on the 1959 screenplay by Charles B. Griffith.
Gunslinger is a 1956 American Western film directed by Roger Corman and starring John Ireland, Beverly Garland and Allison Hayes. The screenplay was written by Mark Hanna and Charles B. Griffith.
Creepshow 3 is a 2006 American comedy horror film, and a sequel to Stephen King and George A. Romero's horror anthology films Creepshow (1982) and Creepshow 2 (1987). It was directed and produced by Ana Clavell and James Dudelson. The film stars Kris Allen, A. J. Bowen, Emmett McGuire and Stephanie Pettee. Like its predecessors, the film is a collection of tales of light-hearted horror: "Alice", "The Radio", "Call Girl", "The Professor's Wife", and "Haunted Dog", although there is no EC Comics angle this time around. The film was panned by critics.
"The Gift" is the eleventh episode of the eighth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on February 4, 2001. The episode was written by Frank Spotnitz and directed by Kim Manners. "The Gift" has elements of both a "Monster-of-the-Week" episode, and an entry in the series' mythology. The episode received a Nielsen rating of 8.8 and was viewed by 14.6 million viewers. Overall, the episode received largely mixed reviews from television critics; while many appreciated the return focus on Fox Mulder's absence, others felt that the plot revelations were unnaturally forced into the show.
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↑ Gary A. Smith, The American International Pictures Video Guide, McFarland 2009 p 33
1 2 Mark McGee, Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures, McFarland, 1996 p121-122
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). ISBN0-89950-032-3.
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