A Quick Look: THE BRAINIAC (1960)

   When it comes to weird movies, one must make a space for THE BRAINIAC. This loopy Mexican import saw quite a bit of TV play back in the 60's. In a truly stupefying plot, we open with the Spanish Inquisition trying a man who has been using the black arts to corrupt and destroy everything moral and decent. So strong are his powers that he knows the identities of the hooded men passing sentence, and vows his revenge upon them by returning to life 300 years later and killing their descendants. Seems a weak threat, but it's tied to a passing comet and it will return in 300 years. The warlock set aflame at the stake, he somehow transfers his being to the comet. Sure enough, 300 years pass and the comet returns to the skies over 20th century Mexico. The comet falls to earth (in one of the goofiest effects shots you've ever seen) and then transforms into the warlock. Then the warlock transforms into a sort of Martian werewolf which sucks the brains of his victims out via a long, pulsating tongue! Soon, he's stalking the people he vowed to destroy, occasionally turning into the hairy beast-man to do the job. (Weirdly, everyone he desires to kill still live in the exact same area as their ancestors did 300 years previous.) That doesn't even begin to describe it, folks. Any semblance of logic is tossed out the window for whatever the director thought made for a good visual, apparently. The biggie is the Brainiac's habit of eating his victim's brains. The victims are clearly fed upon during the attack, yet later he's seen in human form eating the intact brains which are sitting in a tray and being eaten with a spoon! So, if I follow this, the Brainiac sucks the brains out of his victims with his straw-like tongue... then spits them up whole? And then nibbles on them at his leisure? THE BRAINIAC is considered emblematic of imported Mexican horror films. They tend to have very moody photography inspired by the Universals of the 30's and 40's, but mixed with threadbare production values, listless pacing, and some of the most bizarre plots ever committed to film. Before genre fans of more recent decades began discovering the outre offerings of countries like China and Turkey, the Mexican stuff was considered some of the wildest stuff there was! And this particular film was for decades probably the most visible of the bunch! I've often wondered why an American producer didn't farm the film for it's monster scenes and then build a science fiction picture around them. It would've made a lot more sense!