hellholehorror This film is totally insane. It is so crazy that it is amazing. Everything is so extreme. This is like David Cronenberg on acid. Not that I've done acid but I think that I have a good idea what it is like after watching this movie. This had everything that I like in a film. It is just so over-the-top. This is made with zero-budget but that is what is so good about it - they didn't try anything that they couldn't. Perfect insane movie. Utterly nuts. It is so funny because it is so insane. Seriously entertaining.

gavin6942 One morning a young man (Rick Hearst) wakes to find a small, disgusting creature has attached itself to the base of his brain stem. The creature gives him a euphoric state of happiness but in return demands human victims.After "Basket Case", Frank Henenlotter wanted to do a project called "Insect City", but that fell through due to funding and other issues... so he instead went for a twist on 1950s science fiction. He posited the idea: what if someone had a parasite, but one they actually wanted? This is an interesting concept, and was fleshed out to the idea of an "aylmer", this creature that was passed down from great ruler to great ruler for centuries. The story was so well-written that you feel it must have been at least partially based on some legend. Nope, just Henenlotter's genius.The film is now widely seen as a metaphor for drug addiction, or addiction in general. But interestingly, this seems to be an afterthought. Henenlotter said the idea came to him like this: first, he thought of a creature attached to someone who needs to kill. But then, going with the concept of a "welcome" parasite, he wondered why the host would allow this, so he came up with the drug aspect. So rather than this being a story about the side effects of drugs, it is actually quite the other way around...And, of course, as a selling point we have Henenlotter gore. While this film ranks beneath "Basket Case" and "Frankenhooker" as far as overall quality, it has some of the best gore... with scenes that had to be cut (for both the MPAA and the distributor!) but have since resurfaced. For those who love extreme films, the alley scene can only be enjoyed uncut.As a bonus for horror fans, we even have the voice of Zacherle. Interestingly, Zacherle worked uncredited because he was in SAG and could not be in a non-union film at the risk of getting fined or tossed out of the union. His voice being so recognizable, some saw his lack of credit as an insult, but just the opposite was true: to give him credit would have opened him up to great punishment!The legacy of "Brain Damage" cannot be ignored. Like all other Henenlotter films, it has acquired a cult following. Not as much as "Basket Case", but more so than "Bad Biology". And lead actor Rick Hearst has done well for himself, going from this independent production to becoming the king of daytime television, becoming a regular on no fewer than five soap operas! Quite the change of pace from low budget gore.But most interesting is probably editor James Kwei, whom most people have never heard of. Kewi had been in horror for a while with "Christmas Evil", "Maximum Overdrive" and others. But after this, he increasingly became associated with the films of Martin Scorsese, including "Goodfellas". While he had already been with Scorsese since "After Hours" (1985), it was at this point (1988) where he really switched gears.The Arrow Video Blu-ray is crammed fuller than Mr. Creosote. There is a brand new audio commentary by Frank Henenlotter and several featurettes. We have "Listen to the Light: The Making of Brain Damage", a brand new documentary featuring interviews with actor Rick Herbst, producer Edgar Ievins, editor James Kwei, first assistant director Gregory Lamberson, visual effects supervisor Al Magliochetti and makeup artist Dan Frye. There is "The Effects of Brain Damage" with FX artist Gabe Bartalos, and "A Look Back" with assistant editor Karen Ogle.And still more... "Elmer's Turf: The NYC Locations of Brain Damage", sort of a supplement to the tour Henenlotter gives on the "Basket Case" Blu-ray. The interesting "Tasty Memories: A Brain Damage Obsession" interview with superfan Adam Skinner. A "Brain Damage" Q&A with Henenlotter recorded at the 2016 Offscreen Film Festival. And certainly not least of all, "Bygone Behemoth" (2010), an animated short by Harry Chaskin, featuring a brief appearance by John Zacherle in his final on screen credit.

Foreverisacastironmess I consider myself a pretty well adjusted horror fan. Most gory body shocks don't bother me, except decapitation, gratuitous ugly violence and torture, stuff involving the eyes, what's between the legs, the spine-and the brain! This movie's metaphors and allegories have got to be the most obvious ever. I don't usually care for that."This is a metaphor for that, that is a social commentary on this." Boring! I'm very literal minded and don't watch films that way. Probably don't have the brains for it, truth be told. A lot of people in the movie sure don't! But with this movie it's so perfectly done that I quite like it. Like with Basket Case I liked the grittyness, although Brain Damage looks a tad nicer than that film and it is an entirely different kind of 80's. And then of course there is that sweet special magic that I've only ever seen with Henenlotter. He had such a wonderful talent with people, of bringing out and expanding on the qualities of pretty much ordinary people and making them seem like such, freaks! I like his lack of style! I once watched this when I was about 13 and I found it so stupid that I had to turn it off. Just goes to show how one's perspective can change. The colour blue is definitely a theme here, just like purple with Frankenhooker. Everyone knows the plot. Elmer and Brian meet, and they do make a connection, there's what you could call a full on chemical reaction, it's(if Bob Martin's anything to go by) possibly brought by some kind of dark divine intervention, although Elmer is definitely no shining li-ight! Heh. Yo Elmer, juice me! The "awe inspiring famous one" is so small and cute you'd think he wouldn't be able to hurt a fly. You'd be dead wrong! When you first watch the movie and first see Elmer, for a horrible few moments he looks really silly, but then you hear those deceptively lovely tones and he becomes something much more. One of the best evil laughs(I believe it's called a chortle)I've ever heard. All my favourite scenes in the movie are the twisted back and fourths between him and Brian. Particularly the "cold turkey" scene. For me it is so good to see Elmer finally die at the end, after all the death and misery the evil little b*****d has been causing for who knows how long... I love that ending! What with the juice-overloaded Brian with a little electric blue storm crackling above what's left of his head, looking quite serene. An epiphany, he burns so pretty... It lingers on the ethereally beautiful image for a few seconds and then-bzzm! The movie ends with a little blip of a sound like a TV going out, or Brian's life... On the DVD commentary Bob Martin talks about his book of the film. I've got one. Bob is supposed to be Frank Hennenlotter's good friend, so you may as well take the following as official canon. 6 Things about the Elmer you never knew: 1 "Said to have the power to make a king out of a commoner, and a conquerer of a king." 2 His juice can make the host age much slower. 3 Elmer can read people's minds. 4(oh god, this is really sad!) It's skin feels like a slimy sponge. 5 The reason it can get through a human skull so fast is because it's fangs secrete a bone dissolving acid. 6 "A water dweller, without it, it will become dormant and become something like a shard of driftwood, or a tight leather shell. It can stay this way for centuries if it needs to, until water gives it life again." Apart from a vague reference to it being meditated into existence, there is no definite answer as to what the Elmer is and where it comes from. I thought this sounded right: "A creature that is partly made from the earth and partly made from dreams, hallucinations and nightmares. He is only what you dream him to be-a devil who sells you what you already own at the price of your soul." When Brian sees Dwayne on the train he can sense something different about him and his basket, and Dwayne can feel the same thing. After Brian dies he goes to some kind of bizarre blue Elmer-type afterlife and sees a giant god-like version of Elmer, glaring balefully and triumphantly down at him. They touch and he becomes a part of it forever. Also, Beverly Bonner's bit character is the same one from Basket case! Hope someone got a kick out of all that, that was for every fan of the movie who said they wished to know more about Elmer. This is a great movie, it's Henenlotter's silver to the gold that is Basket Case!

chrisward46 I can't believe I missed this one first time around. Having been introduced to Frank Henenlotter via 'Basket Case' in the late eighties, and then being compelled to watch 'Basket Case 2' and the excellent 'Frankenhooker', I must have fallen into a coma at some point because I don't recall having seen or heard of 'Brain Damage' at all.The one thing that is slightly annoying about writing about movies like this is that when you write down what the movie is about, it looks complete nonsense. If I was to tell you that this is about a small monster that looks like a burnt penis, but can speak perfect English, and that it attatches itself to the back of your neck, injects a drug into your brain that gets you high as a kite while the monster sucks people's brains out, then...well, it doesn't sound like a BAFTA winner, does it? But that is what the movie is about. The monster, or Aylmer as it is known, attatches itself to Brian, a normal young man who has a girlfriend and lives with his brother in the same apartment block as Aylmer's previous owners, and soon gets Brian under his control by injecting him through the back of his neck and into his brain with a blue substance that sends Brian into a psychedelic haze as he staggers around finding victims for Aylmer to feed on. Sounds crazy? Well, it is - and wonderfully so. Anyone familiar with Frank Henenlotter's other works will know what to expect, and anyone not familiar will be in for a shock.Had I seen this in 1988 when it came out, I probably could have given it an extra mark - for nostalgia's sake. But as I'm watching it with 2009 eyes, it does look very dated. The effects are pretty good for such a low-budget movie, and if it was made now it would all be CGI so I guess we should be thankful for that. The acting is poor, but then I think that adds to the charm of the movie. It is a very entertaining movie, as all of Henenlotter's are, but unless you are a genre fan, and not just a casual window shopper, it may not appeal as much.