Sunday, January 22, 2017

My VHS Purge: The Brain That Wouldn't Die





As part of a downsizing project eight years ago I purged most of my pre-recorded VHS tape collection. I've never been a big collector of movies -- my DVD library is fairly small -- but the fact is I had accumulated around 70 tapes: 

The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) Most films one thought of as brilliant in his or her childhood don't stand up when viewed from an adult perspective, but, The Brain That Wouldn't Die is not one of them. In my twenties I saw the cut home video version, with the film's infamously gruesome moment completely missing. I felt robbed of a special childhood moment. (I should note that I first saw Brain when it carried the slight re-title of The Head That Wouldn't Die.)

What happens in cases like this is Public Domain (PD) prints end up saving the day for childhood memories.

Positively drenched in atmosphere, The Brain that Wouldn't Die holds many creepy scenes; and ingredients. I suppose one could argue that, in its own way, Brain/Head is every bit as good as Citizen Kane....

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