Monday, September 07, 2020

The Brain Eaters

The Brain Eaters is a 1958 science fiction/horror film. It has Leonard Nimoy in it, though not in a major role. It's just an hour long, so go for it!



TCM has this synopsis:
Strange things are happening in Riverdale, Illinois. A huge, seemingly alien structure has been found jutting out of the earth. Sent to investigate the origin of the mysterious object, Senator Walter Powers discovers that parasites from the center of the earth have infiltrated the town, taking control of the authorities and workers, making communication with the outside world impossible, and leaving the responsibility of stopping the invasion up to Powers and a small group of free individuals.
HorrorNews.net says,
soon after the film’s release, famous science fiction author Robert Heinlein filed a US$150,000 lawsuit against the movie, charging screenwriter Gordon Urquhart and its producers with copying, imitating and appropriating his serialised story The Puppet Masters

14 comments:

  1. Riverdale. Isn't that the name of the town in the Archie comics?

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    1. Yes! I've not seen the tx series...

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  2. ...someone must have eaten #45's brain.

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    1. How would we know? It's not like we see evidence he's using it ;)

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  3. Alien parasites earning the brains of humans ... now this could explain a lot! (lol). Now Leonard Nimoy is a name I know, thanks to Mr Man's Start Trek ... passion shall we call it.

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    1. Star Trek passion... I know that feeling :) I've loved Star Trek since it first came out.

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  4. I didn't get any further than the title...lol...that sounded scary enough (grin!) 😁. Wishing you a happy new week! Hugs, Jo x

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    1. These old ones are never actually scary lol

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  5. Another invasion of the body snatchers? Or Ionesco's Rhinoceros? A lot of that going around back then.

    be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Alien parasites invade. This did seem a current theme back then.

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  6. This sounds vaguely familiar, but it might be because I'm such a big Heinlein fan. I may have seen this at TCM, but not sure. It would explain the president's current remarks.

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    1. Yes, it would, wouldn't it lol! It was new to me.

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  7. This actually sounds vaguely familiar. May have been one of those Saturday matinee movies in the 60s. I wonder if the author won the lawsuit?

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    1. Corman was an uncredited producer and claimed to be unfamiliar with the book. He read it, noted the similarity, and settled out of court. There had been an adaptation of the book planned, but this film undercut that idea.

      I'm guessing it was probably shown on tv back in the day, but I don't remember seeing it.

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