Genre:
Horror
Release Date: 10/20/2009
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 83 Minutes
Flags: Mild Violence, Adult Situations, Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Synergy Entertainment
An arrogant scientist brings his fiancée back from the dead in this vintage
cult horror film.
Dr. Bill Cortner (
Jason Evers, here billed as
Herb Evers) performs medical experiments despite the trepidation of his surgeon father (
Bruce Brighton); transplantation is
Bill's main area of interest, but he's also had some success using electric shock to restore life to the recently deceased. When
Bill causes a car crash that decapitates his fiancée,
Jan Compton (
Virginia Leith), he spirits her head off to his secret laboratory and keeps it alive with the help of an experimental new serum. Soon, the doctor begins scouring the dives, strip clubs, and suburban streets for an attractive woman whose body he can steal to restore his lady love to her full, ambulatory glory. Meanwhile, back at the lab,
Jan grows to hate
Bill for refusing to let her die. Developing telepathic powers that allow her to communicate with one of
Bill's failed experiments -- a snarling creature kept locked up under the stairs -- she begins to plot her revenge. Things come to a head when
Bill returns to the lab with his intended victim: a bitter, disfigured, man-hating figure model (
Adele Lamont). The promotional tagline for
The Brain That Wouldn't Die was "Alive...without a body...fed by an unspeakable horror from hell!" The film helped provide the inspiration for '80s
horror/
comedy director
Frank Henenlotter's
Frankenhooker and
Basket Case 2. The former includes a decapitated woman restored to life by her lover, while the latter features both a cameo from
Brain star
Jason Evers and another character who looks like the twin brother of the monster under the stairs.
~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide