Brain Dead (Adam Simon, 1990)

I was always a little annoyed with the old joke (joke? trope? saw? frequently repeated public observation?) about Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton being the same guy. Sure, they were brown-haired white guys of roughly the same age with similar names, but Paxton (whose untimely death in 2017 still bums me out) and Pullman are pretty distinctive presences. I can imagine them playing each other's roles in many projects and succeeding (and my wife pointed out about this particular film that they would have done an equally great job swapping parts), but I can also think of just as many roles played by one that would not have worked with the other (for example, Pullman would stick out like a sore thumb playing Paxton's flamboyant parts in Aliens, Weird Science, and Near Dark, and Pullman was far more suited than Paxton for the more closed-off characters in Lost Highway and Zero Effect). Pullman and Paxton are unique guys with unique approaches. You seriously can't tell them apart? Or do you just like repeating things you hear other people say?

With that grouchy opening paragraph concluded, I will now turn my frown upside down by talking about the triumph of mindfuckery that is Brain Dead, starring Bill Paxton AND Bill Pullman (and Bud Cort and George Kennedy). Brain Dead is clearly operating within a low budget and limited resources, but it more than compensates with a clever script that goes in lots of unexpected directions, great actors, a visual style that is neither over-stylized nor pedestrian, and lots of weirdness and humor. I liked this one a lot.

Brain Dead opens with scientist and brain researcher Dr. Rex Martin (Bill Pullman) entering his lab. It's a little weird. There are metal shelves full of brains in fluid-filled jars, and a human-like face stretched flat and pinned to a surface that is connected to a brain. Martin's assistant is probing different parts of the brain, and the face reacts with twitches, expressions, and movements. Back in his office, Martin is visited by his old college roommate, corporate executive Jim Reston (Bill Paxton). Reston wants Martin to probe the brain of Jack Halsey (Bud Cort), a scientific researcher at Reston's corporation who went mad and murdered his wife, children, and research assistants and has a secret equation locked in his mind that could make the corporation, Eunice, a lot of money.

Reston wants three things, to know if Halsey is lying about being insane; to retrieve the equation; and to erase the memory of the equation if Halsey won't give it up so a competitor will never get it. Martin, who doesn't want to do anything for corporate America, is eventually strong-armed into it by a blackmail threat from Reston.

At this point, I thought I knew where the film was going and had settled into its rhythm and tone. About a third into the running time, however, Brain Dead takes an odd turn and then keeps taking them. Reality, or the "reality" of the world in the film, is frequently upended, and the audience member's perception of story, character, and event has to be continually relearned and readjusted. It's like a familiar game whose pieces keep getting knocked off the board and put back in different positions. Are we watching dreams, fantasies, visual expressions of the characters' anxieties and fears, flashbacks, reality, distorted interpretations of reality? Are any of these characters who they say they are? How the hell will the filmmakers find an ending?

Paxton, Pullman, and Cort are perfect for Brain Dead, keeping up with the constantly shifting tone while keeping a handle on their characters. The cast also includes George Kennedy as Eunice's CEO, Patricia Charbonneau (Desert Hearts, Crime Story) as the scientist wife of Martin, and Bill Paxton's dad John as one of the board of directors, in his first film role. John Paxton had just retired from running his Texas lumber company and caught the acting bug from his son. He went on to work with Walter Hill and many times with Sam Raimi before his death in 2011. A pre-Tenacious D Kyle Gass also appears in the film briefly as an anesthetist.

The behind-the-scenes crew was impressive, too. B-movie vet Julie Corman (fellow Nebraska native and wife of Roger Corman) produced, future director of Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown, and Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke, was the production designer (her other production design credits include Thrashin', I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Tapeheads, Tombstone, Tank Girl, SubUrbia, The Newton Boys, Three Kings, Vanilla Sky, and Laurel Canyon), and director Simon's screenplay was based on a previous screenplay by Charles Beaumont, writer of novels, short stories, and many classic Twilight Zone episodes and Roger Corman films.

Director Simon has had an unusual career in and around the fringes of Hollywood. Brain Dead was his first film as director. He followed it up with Body Chemistry II: The Voice of a Stranger, possibly the only erotic thriller about talk radio starring Morton Downey Jr., Clint Howard, and John Landis, and killer dinosaur movie Carnosaur. He also directed the documentaries The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera (about Sam Fuller) and The American Nightmare (about the sociopolitical content of '70s American horror films) and a Marilyn Manson music video, produced the Stallone action movie Lock Up, cowrote the screenplay for Snoop Dogg's horror film Bones and Hollywood ghost movie The Haunting in Connecticut, acted in Bob Roberts and The Player, and was the head writer and co-creator of TV series Salem.