Harry here... Oh Man! I want to see this right now. This sounds like a great deal of fun. Doesn't it?
I was one of the lucky few to get a seat in the "West Coast premiere" of Bruce Campbell's Man with the Screaming Brain at the recent Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in Burbank. The screening room at first seemed less than ideal, as it was a small conference room that held maybe 50 people tops, and used an old school LCD projector, but it ended up being a great experience.
Bruce was on hand to introduce the film, and brought out a surprise guest Ted Raimi (who co-stars) to help get the crowd fired up, and they both did a great job. After a brief and fun contest to win Man with the Screaming Brain posters, the movie was shown.
It started off a little rough for me, as it was hard to get into the characters and wooden acting. Bruce wrote, directed and starred in this insane film, and I thought at first he'd bombed big time. The low budget showed, and it looked exactly like what it was, a made for TV (Sci-fi channel) movie. Bruce plays William Cole, a rich American businessman who travels with his wife to a Bulgaria with the purpose of investing in a subway system in the city. We're introduced to Yegor, a street smart cab driver with former KGB ties, who takes the couple on quite a ride.
In a side story, Stacy Keach and Ted Raimi play a scientist and assistant working on a formula to prevent rejection of transplanted cells, which comes into play in a big way later in the story. Stacy Keach is great as the doctor, and while he seems to have a few screws loose, we come to find out soon that pretty much everyone in the story is totally nuts.
Speaking of nuts, Ted Raimi is just out of control in this movie, and I mean that in the best way. His character of Pavel is a total goofball, with dreams of being hip and modern. He drinks red bull, wears his hat to the side and even has a horrific DJ/Rap sequence involving an android that brought the house down.
My worries about the movie were demolished once William Cole (and Yegor) are introduced first hand to the serum, and the movie kicks into high gear, and I mean REALLY high gear. This movie has more mayhem, weirdness and strange fight scenes than anything I've seen in years. Bruce does more physical comedy than I've seen him do in any film (yes, even more than Evil Dead 2), and he really throws himself into the role, literally.
There are some great sight gags in the film, and the jokes are pretty much non-stop once the momentum gets going. I wasn't prepared for how much fun the movie is, and it really reminded me of the slapstick film making that became Sam Raimi's trademark.
The best way I could describe this movie is a cross between the Three Stooges, Frankenstein, All of Me and Re-Animator. I laughed out loud many times, and I can't wait to see it at the next screening in Sacramento. The crowd ate it up, and I bet it'll be nuts seeing it in a full theater.
I think the most exciting thing about this movie is seeing that Bruce Campbell has the skills to create his own films, with the comic timing and sensibilities that perfectly compliment his personal. I'm anxious to see what he has in store next.
If you choose to use this, I am known as NightGod.
Apparently this review came in earlier and as somethings do, it slipped through the cracks - however Mild Mannered Reporter brought it to my attention this morning so... here, painting a very different and very grim portrait of this Campbell film is Mild Mannered Reporter...
Call me „mild mannered reporter“ for this one, like you did way back when I
scooped a little more frequently…
Man, this is one of those reviews that I don’t want to write. Don’t get me
wrong, I WAS looking forward to it, especially since this should be quite a
scoop for a lot of people. If you are an avid horror geek, as I am, you will
have heard of “The Man with the Screaming Brain” over the years. It’s Bruce
“more man than I’ll ever be” Campbell’s pet project, and he has been
shopping it around for more than a decade.
Imagine my surprise when I got my hands on a screener DVD (not a pirate
copy, that’s all I am at liberty to say). Widescreen, clocking in at almost
90 minutes. Finished. We are not talking “work in progress”. The second I
held it in my hands, I knew: “This is one for the AICN boys.”
I knew I was going to like this. I knew I was going to cheer for the
Brucester every step of the way. I knew I was going to praise the
involvement of all the people Bruce met over the years (Ted Raimi, Joseph
LoDuca, Tamara Gorski). This was going to be fun, a private screening that
all my buddies would envy me for.
Then I made an unfortunate mistake – I actually watched the film.
Let’s get the story out of the way (MAJOR SPOILERS!!!): William Cole is an
industrialist who travels to Bulgaria to invest his money in a
never-finished subway system. His wife is not too interested, but visibly
lightens up when she sets her sights on a rude cab driver William hires for
the day. But some days are just not going the way you plan, and soon all
three of them end up dead. Good thing a crazed scientist is in town, and
soon William wakes up – with half his brain replaced with the brain of the
cab driver. And wife Jackie finds her brain in the body of the crudest robot
since “Astro Zombies”. A crazed gypsy woman stirs things up, and soon
there’s lots of running and fighting in the East European city, with the
scientist’s moron assistant (Ted Raimi) trying to keep up.
Believe me – reading this synopsis is the most fun you’ll ever have with the
story…
Let’s face it – the writing WAS on the wall: Produced with the help of
“silly German money”, shot in Bulgaria as a TV movie for Sci-Fi, and with a
lot of people involved in “Raptor Island”, probably the worst monster flick
produced by Sci-Fi (and yes, I have seen “Sabretooth”). How likely was it
that Bruce Campbell (doubling as the director) would be able to keep this
low budget mess afloat? Not very. And believe me – usually there is a good
enough reason when a low budget project can’t find financing for THAT long…
The main problem of “The Man with the Screaming Brain” is not that it’s
awful. It’s just BLAND. It takes forever to get going, and when it finally
gets going, it’s never going very fast. The setup takes a mind numbing 35
minutes, and still fails to explain what the heck that gypsy woman wants.
And crucial parts (like William’s discovery that he has two personalities
now, and Jackie’s realization that she is trapped in a robot body) are so
underdeveloped that they never get involving on any level. And to present
William’s second personality as a voiceover is just so VERY lame…
Set during the course of one day (no money for night time shoots, it seems),
the multiple outdoor locations leave very little room for stylish
cinematography. This is strictly a “point and shoot” affair, even though a
few scenes try to play with inventive compositions. The few effects (both
prosthetic and CGI) are adequate at best. Joseph LoDuca’s music is fine, but
unremarkable. No nudity, no explicit gore, just in case you were wondering.
Campbell and his buddies seem to have fun, though. Overacting abounds, even
Stacy Keach as the crazed scientist joins the ride. Ted Raimi plays the
bumbling goof, a role he has played so many times that it is hard to imagine
him at a funeral. Bruce gets to do some of the physical comedy he does so
well, doing his own riff on both the “possessed hand” scenes in “Evil Dead
2”, and “All of me” with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin. It just tastes stale…
What really bugged me is the fact that you can’t blame the production
environment for all the flaws of this movie. Sure, it must be hard to shoot
a movie under these circumstances, but the biggest mistake was using that
script in the first place. It’s unevenly structured, has no clear idea of
what it wants to be, races from slapstick humour to (supposedly) touching
drama, and never manages to generate an iota of viewer compassion. This is a
movie that goes for the cheap joke when it should go for the good plot
twist. There is a staggering amount of scenes with no purpose, and if you
can’t smell the ending miles ahead – go watch soaps.
Sure, there are moments where you smell what Campbell was TRYING to do –
this was most likely intended as an homage to the “man made monster” flicks
of the 50’s. But here’s the thing – those were bad because the makers either
weren’t talented, or didn’t care. What’s Bruce Campbell’s excuse?
I was hoping for another “Bubba Ho-Tep” surprise, but what I got was
something more akin to Full Moon’s output in the mid-90’s, when they
released East European lensed pap like “Mandroid” and “Invisible”.
Okay, okay, I hear you scream – isn’t there ANYTHING good about the movie?
Well, let’s put it this way: If you were looking for another “Bubba Ho-Tep”,
like I was, you’ll be flabbergasted by just how bad this is. However, if you
spend every Saturday night watching those ultra-cheap Sci-Fi “original
movies”, you might enjoy the change of pace. It’s not better, but it’s
different…
Bruce, if you are out there – this hurts. But I still love you. Always have,
always will…
