Written by Federico Curiel, Adolfo López Portillo and Antonio Orellana
Directed by Chano Urueta Starring Abel Salazar, Ariadne Welter and Germán Robles
Mexico, 1963
THE BRAINIAC opens in 1661, when a nobleman (Abel Salazar) is condemned to death by the Inquisition for practicing witchcraft and generally being a bad influence. Before he's executed, he curses the descendants of the men responsible for his death, promising to return and get revenge. Three hundred years later, a comet passes over Mexico, and wouldn't you know it, the Baron comes back.
Except now he's some kind of hideous monster with a grotesque face, a long forked tongue and an appetite for human brains. He can also transform into an ordinary-looking man, hypnotize people and apparently do just about anything else the plot requires. He's a busy guy.
The monster makeup is really something. The Brainiac has this enormous, pulsating, lumpy head with a mouth that looks like it belongs on an entirely different creature. It only gets crazier when he sticks his tongue out.
THE BRAINIAC is pretty wild stuff. It's one of those movies where the combination of sincere filmmaking and completely preposterous material creates something more entertaining than a deliberately silly version of the same story probably would have been. I don't know if I'd call it scary, but it's certainly memorable. It would fit right in on a show like MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000.
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