Welcome everbloody to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon! What a wild one we gots tonite, and, one that Eegah!! and I saw back in '62 at the old Sierra Theater. Neccos were a nickel, which was a great deal, because, there were about 30 of them, and, when you got to a flavor you didn't like, you could fly them like frisbees at your unsuspecting victims! They were even more effective from the balcony!!
What can we say about this super flip flick that hasn't already been covered?.. Well, you might be surprised!
The music is great, sooo sleazy, the best! It's by those two guys in the credits there for 'The Web' theme, by permission of Laurel Records... Nuf said?
Now it's time to bring in our littlest Dungeon helper, Rufus The Gnat! Rufus always pushes the big red 'GO' button on Mondays, and starts our Eariffic Earclip rolling along. Push the button now, Rufus! Here's...
THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE!
Jason Evers plays Dr. Bill Cortner, he had his first bit part in a war movie from 1943, GUADALCANAL, and, was in a TV episode of
BELIEVE IT OR NOT from 1950. Anywho, check out this photo of the experimental surgery the doc is performing and see if something seems amiss, I'll be back in 30 seconds...
dum de dum... Okay,
there's no skull!!
In 1962, I sent in a letter to the letter dept. of FAMOUS MONSTERS and they printed it in issue #22, shown above!! It was a (bad) review of this very movie. Since I have sold my copy, I can't remember the entire content, but, it was a little lengthy. Check it out if you have access to that issue.
Bill ignores the curve sign, crashes his car and then has to pull the severed head of his fiancée off the seat! I could never understand why there wasn't an inquiry by the cops, since he just left the car burning there on the side of the road with a decapitated body in it, and,
registered to him!.. Weird.
The doc shows his helper, Kurt, how far his experimentation has advanced. That's Virginia Leith as The Head. Looks like she's got a little gas!
Here's a quote from Kurt, and, from what his hand looks like, makes him an expert on the subject... "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
Bill takes a peek to check the progress of his latest screw up, and, gags at the sight!!
Bill goes out prowling for bodies. Wait, where's the gal in the poster?!
The doc has it all, good looks, coolness and a new convertible! And, he has a hot tip on a hot body to boot!
Hubba hubba... Adele Lamont... Make Tabonga come unglued! There's a joke there.
I love this shot of Bill, he's kinda impressed by her deadly mental handywork!
Lookit the size of that mitt! The Head sets up Kurt by warning the monster in the closet when to strike thru mental communication!
No doubt about it, the monster, played by Eddie Carmel, was shocking! Reminds me of the twisted-up victims 3 years later in THE CURSE OF THE FLY. Lots of blood, too! Eddie was in one other flick, something called 50,000 B.C. (Before Clothing)! He was an uncanny 7' 6-3/4" tall, wow! Also, Sammy Petrillo is the only actor to not get a credit in this film!
And, finally, Bill gets a taste of his own medicine!
I ended my review in FM with something like... I guess that the lady and the monster went and got married!
And, to top it all off, here's a rare publicity photo from the shoot, must of been a hoot!! I censored it, just to make sure we don't offend.
And, and... Here's a shot of Sammy Petrillo as one of the pervs with a camera (on the right). Another special request insert for Prof. Grewbeard.
And, and, and!.. Since Eegah!! took the time to write out my original review from FM #22 in the comments section, we're going to add it here at the very end of the post. In my original letter I used Herb Ever's name, they changed it to 'hero' when published, out of courtesy to Herb/Jason I suppose! Anyway, here's the entire review from FM #22's letters page, I was 14 years old and had monster fever.
THE PAIN THAT WOULDN"T DIE....
"Yesterday I saw THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN"T DIE. It was the most ridiculous picture since PHANTOM PLANET. The acting was the worst yet, not to mention the unspecial special effects. It was terrible from the start when the leading man saved a man's life by pinching the victim's brain with a pair of tweezers. To get to the victim's brain, he cut & pulled back a layer of skin that was about 100th of an inch thick. I didn't think this was so bad until I realized that he had no skull. It would be awful hard to have facial features without a skull but I guess he was one of the lucky ones. I didn't think the picture could get much worse but I was wrong. When he took the head of the woman he loved from the wreck, it was already cut off for him so that he wouldn't have to go back to the hospital to get a scalpel. Of course his serum kept the head alive. All thru the picture there was a mutilated creature in the closet. Hero was ready to take the body of a woman when the creature broke out. My friends and I cracked up. The creature had the worst make-up job since the pop-eyed men in KILLERS FROM SPACE. The creature took the woman & left after he accidently knocked over some chemicals & started the lab on fire. Hero and the brain were left to die. The creature & the woman most likely got married."
Ghoulnight Everbloody!!..
"Strike Me Deadly" is a pure example of low budget film making at it's economical finest, by one of the masters of WTF?!, Ted V. Mikels in his premiere effort! You might only know Ted from his Astro-Zombies-Corpse Grinders-Worm Eaters features, but everybody had to start somewhere, and this is where it all began for Ted! Completed in 1958, "Strike Me Deadly" would not be released until 1963!
"Strike Me Deadly" is kinda like an elongated Twilight Zone episode! There's a murder out in the woods, and a lone firefighter is the witness! The killer is a guy named Al played by co-author Steve Ihnat, who has gone on to have a considerable contribution to the movie and TV industry with roles in "Outer Limits," "Gunsmoke," and "Star Trek" etc.
The first twenty minutes or so is a chase scene through the woods, with some stock forest fire footage mixed in! It's quite brilliant really, and highlighted by some excellent shots like this from cinematographer Basil Bradbury, the illegitimate son of Basil Rathbone, and Ray Bradbury! I can say that because Basil also has the distinguished position of having done the cinematography for that classic film and Dungeon inspiration, "Invasion Of The Star Creatures" among his three credits!
Ain't this just a beautiful transition shot from past to present? So let's start back at the beginning and the events leading up to this untimely situation, and see where we end up again! The main music for "Strike Me Deadly" was composed by Nicholas Carras, a gentleman whose credits are almost unparalleled in Monster Movie history since he gets the credits on "She Demons," "Missile To The Moon," "Frankenstein's Daughter," and "The Astro Zombies!"
It's a night out on the town, and room-hoppin' is the name of the game, Copper, Sage, and Ranch, all they left out was Romper Room!
Unlike the government, Ted was a smart cat, and only needed a handful of actors to get his point across, and the main ingredients in this cocktail are this fine couple, Jimmy and Lori Grant played respectively by Gary Clarke and Jeannine Riley, no, not the "Harper Valley PTA" one, that was Jeannie C. Riley!
In the list of credits, there is the name of one H.B. Barnum, and as far as I can find out, it's this cat right here playing the piano and singing, and if it is, I'll tell you one thing, he's one heavy cat, and Ted V. Mikels or H.B. himself can correct me if I'm wrong, but H.B. was a pianist, writer, arranger and producer who has been working like forever. 
Gary Clarke is another guy we couldn't do without because of his roles in the movies "How To Make A Monster" and "Missile To The Moon," countless 60's TV shows and more! If nothing else, and there's plenty more, Jeannie Riley will be remembered forever for her ongoing role of Billie Jo Bradley in 72 episodes of "Petticoat Junction!"
Hidle Brown Barnum recorded "El Pizza" using the name Dudley, that was a parody of Marty Robbins big hit "El Paso," and he has worked with everybody from The Coasters to Al Wilson, with time for Frank Sinatra and Aretha in between! I don't know exactly who the percussionist is!
Time for Al, the maniac/writer to get himself introduced into the action!
For me, the bar scene was the highlight of the movie, and the tunes are timeless, but what else is new?
But then, eating with chopsticks is always good too!!
Gary and Jeannine are the perfect 1958-1963 nuclear family, and are ripe to be terrorized!!!
And that's just the way that Steve and Ted wrote the story!!
