BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS, THE

(director: Nathan Juran; screenwriter: Ray Buffum; cinematographer: Jacques Marquette; editor: ; music: Walter Greene; cast: John Agar (Steve March), Joyce Meadows (Sally Fallon), Robert Fuller (Dan Murphy), Thomas B. Henry (John Fallon), Bill Giorgio (Russian), Henry Travis (Col. Frogley), Tim Graham (Sheriff Wiley Pane), Kenneth Terrell (Colonel), Dale Tate (Prof. Dale Tate / Voices of Gor & Vol (uncredited)); Runtime: 80; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Jacques Marquette; Howco International; 1957)

“A bad film that is good because it’s so silly and humorously inept.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Nathan Juran (“Tumbleweeds”/”Gun Smoke”) helms this low-budget drive-in sci-fi cult classic. A bad film that is good because it’s so silly and humorously inept. It was shot in black and white. Writer Ray Buffum tried to get in as many sci-fi cliches as he could.John Agar is a nuclear physicist who gets possessed when entering a desert cave in Mystery Mountain by a giant disembodied brain (with eyes). It’s an alien from the planet Arous, who takes over his body as its first step in conquering Earth. The brain is named Gor, and the evil one was kicked out of his planet because he plans on enslaving humanity. The pet dog of Agar’s fiancee (Joyce Meadows) also becomes possessed by a floating brain. This is Gor’s rival, the good brain from an alien policeman called Vol, who plans to stop Gor. Gor emits a death ray through Agar’s eyes and shows off its power as it disintegrates an aircraft in flight. It thereby threatens to blow up cities if it’s not obeyed. Meanwhile Vol teams with the fiancee to take down Gor. After this flick the director Nathan Hertz changed his name to Nathan Juran.

REVIEWED ON 6/282016 GRADE: B-  https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/