A mysterious 50ft metal cone is found sticking out of the ground. As scientists try to figure out precisely what it is, small parasitic creatures emerge and attach themselves to various people, controlling the host but slowly destroying the brain in the process.
If there's one thing that most fifties sci-fi/horror movies did right, it was the promotion, the films boasting sensational titles and wonderfully lurid posters to lure in the punters: 'The Brain Eaters' is an amazing title, while the incredible poster promises 'crawling, slimy things terror-bent on destroying the world'. Who wouldn't want to see that?
Of course, with many of these films made on a shoestring budget, they rarely lived up to the promise, and that is most definitely the case here: yes, there are crawling (and possibly slimy) creatures, but the shonky, bug-like critters are more likely to evoke laughter than terror. Perhaps if there was a decent story to be told, I could be more a little more forgiving of the 'monsters', but The Brain Eaters doesn't have that either. The plot is a mess of cliches (the one and only original idea being that the bugs come from inside the earth as opposed to outer space), and the acting is perfunctory (future Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy wisely hides behind a big, fake beard).
2/10
If there's one thing that most fifties sci-fi/horror movies did right, it was the promotion, the films boasting sensational titles and wonderfully lurid posters to lure in the punters: 'The Brain Eaters' is an amazing title, while the incredible poster promises 'crawling, slimy things terror-bent on destroying the world'. Who wouldn't want to see that?
Of course, with many of these films made on a shoestring budget, they rarely lived up to the promise, and that is most definitely the case here: yes, there are crawling (and possibly slimy) creatures, but the shonky, bug-like critters are more likely to evoke laughter than terror. Perhaps if there was a decent story to be told, I could be more a little more forgiving of the 'monsters', but The Brain Eaters doesn't have that either. The plot is a mess of cliches (the one and only original idea being that the bugs come from inside the earth as opposed to outer space), and the acting is perfunctory (future Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy wisely hides behind a big, fake beard).
2/10