31 Days of Gore: Brain Damage (1988)

It’s October. Time to talk horror. This year I’m reviewing a different horror movie each day of the month.

An elderly couple keep a mysterious pet in their bathtub. The woman proudly shows her husband the brains she’s just picked up from the butcher, exclaiming, “He’s going to love these!” But when she tries to feed the pet, she discovers it’s flown the coop. As the couple go from door to door, barging into people’s homes and inspecting bathtubs, the film introduces us to Brian (Rick Hearst), the “hero” of the story. He’s fevered and passed out in the apartment he rents with his brother and we never learn why he’s so sick. (I’ve read there were supposed to be earlier scenes featuring the character, but were never shot due to budget constraints.)

The missing pet finds its way into Brian’s bed and, concealed by the covers, slithers up his body to attach itself to his neck. This marks the first of many psychedelic sequences depicting the high Brian gets whenever the parasitic creature latches into him. Naturally, Brian thinks the far-out images are pretty cool. As he comes down from his trip, the thing detaches to introduce itself. Through a charming mixture of puppetry, stop-motion, and (briefly) rotoscope-animation, we see the leech-like monster in all of its miniature glory.

The thing’s name is Alymer (sounds kind of like “Elmer”) and it has a smooth tenor voice, provided by John Zacherle (uncredited), the horror host of an old show along the lines of Svengoolie and Elvira. Alymer asks Brian if he’d like to go for a walk. When Brian asks where to, Alymer says, “Anywhere.”

They end up in a scrapyard where Brian gets so high on Alymer’s secretions that he screams about how beautiful all the junk is. This gets the attention of the night guard who comes to inspect the commotion, and Alymer eats the man’s brains while Brian looks on in sick, drug-addled satisfaction. It’s not long before Brian’s addiction starts turning bad, however, and while a lot of directors would have fumbled the ball at this point, director Frank Henenlotter always keeps it entertaining. Unlike lesser horror directors, who heavily pad the filling in between kills, Henenlotter never dwells, never dawdles. All his movies, which include Basket Case and Frankenhooker, are fresh from start to finish.

Find the uncut version or nothing at all. There’s a scene so sleazy the crew allegedly refused to help the director to shoot it. You’ll know what scene I’m talking about when you see it, but let’s just say it involves the act of fellatio. I think the biggest mistake, considering the movie is about the horrors of drug addiction, is that Brian is on the receiving end of that blowjob.

P.S., there’s a cameo that’ll tickle horror fans to death.

Come back at midnight Central Time for the next movie.