Social Bookmarking
[Brainjacked]
Plot:Tristan, a teenage runaway, finds himself out on the streets...no home, no family, no future. He's also out of medicine that relieves his crushing migraine headaches. But there is a cure. Enter Dr. Karas, renown neurosurgeon who prescribes trepanation, drilling a hole in a human head to relieve pressure. Sounds crazy, right? Tristan thinks so. But, trepanation is part of Dr. Karas' rehab program and the price of admission if Tristan wants to be accepted into The Garden, Dr. Karas' home for runaways. So, he gets his head drilled. And, it's damn bloody. Post surgery, Tristan's life immediately starts to rebound. He has a home in The Garden he makes new friends in the other runaways including Laney, the beautiful girl who brought him to the doctor he's even hooked up with a college scholarship and a bank account. Nice! The hole in the head is paying off. Then everything goes black. The runaways call it 'blanking'. A mental blackout. With no memory of what occurs. Why is it happening to Tristan? What horrible things does it make him do?
Cast:Jillian Kinsman,
Krista Grotte,
Joel D. Wynkoop,
Michael Kenneth Fahr,
Rod Grant,
Somali Rose,
Chris Jackson,
Cyndi Crotts,
Nimai Manrique,
Rob Elfstrom,
Clay Maples,
Ken Silkie,
Chris Sarlls.
My Thoughts:Weird trip.
Review:"Brainjacked" is a very strange movie. At the same time, it fits right in with the genre. Mostly within it's old days of "Videodrome", "Terrorvision", etc. The movie is a blend of scifi/horror and camp. The film follows a teenage runaway named Tristan. Tristan has an abusive stepfather, and a mother who at this point, cares very little about anything but herself. Upon running away, Tristan comes into contact with Laney, a young woman with a strange mark on her forehead. She brings Tristan to a place called "The Garden", where in typical Jim Jones fashion, everyone seems happy, at peace, and strangely mind-numbed.
They too sport the weird mark on their foreheads. The leader of The Garden, is a man named Dr. Karas, who claims he is out to help troubled youth reach their full-potential. But his motives are not exactly as they seem. Tristan must now find out what the good doctor is up to, before it's too late. "Brainjacked" is exactly what it sounds like, one of those bizarre 80's-horror-ish scifi/horror films that have everything from evil mind-control plots, to mad scientists, to creepy blank-minded people killing other creepy people.
"Scanners" is another movie that comes to midn wehn watching "Brainjacked". This movie doesn't work in 2010 as a theatrical release. But as an ambitious indie horror movie released straight to dvd, it works quite well. And if you're looking for the same high gross-out factor here, as "Scanners" had, well then you're in luck. "Brainjacked" is quite a nasty trip. We get nasty scenes of skull-drilling, hearts torn out, melting faces, etc. Yep, it's pretty gross. But the movie is also disturbing on more than a few levels as well, and that's where an unexpected chill-factor creeps in.
A movie like this shouldn't be chilling, or creepy. But the script is dark and serious enough, to bring out those elements. If this were a Troma movie, it would've gone the comedy route with the horror and gross-out stuff. But since it's not a Troma-repped film, it instead decides to be serious, and dark, and twisted, and scary. While at the same time, it teeters on the brink of taking itself too seriously. But doesn't quite go over the edge. Nor does it pull back from the edge too much so as to become boring, and tedious.
The performances are also really good. Particularly by the actor portraying Dr. Karas. He has that cheesy scifi B-movie evil/mad doctor swagger. But at the same time, the character still manages to be creepy, disturbing, and even scary in some ways. Mostly because of his motives, and the twists which involve him, and his evil genius behavior. "Brainjacked" certainly takes it's cues from a few past alien-horror films as well.
We have those scenes where the good guys go to get help, only to find out those they are requesting help from, have already been "brainjacked", so to speak. Gotta love those "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers"/"Invaders From Mars" moments you get with this movie. It's pretty fun to watch a horror film that is so comfortable with it's weirdness and also manages to add just enough horror element into the mix, so as it's not just another cheesy B horror film. Granted, this movie certainly is low-budget, but what money it has, it uses wisely to make every scene, and everything attempted within the picture, work to it's best and fullest extent.
Thus, there are very rare occasions where some things in the movie don't work. Rather than enough situations where scenes fall apart or look bad enough to ruin the final product. "Brainjacked" succeeds most in it's finale though, where it ends in gross, entertaining, and yet somewhat comical fashion. Depending on who you are, you'll either cringe, chuckle, or enjoy the films third act, which is also filled with some cool twists as well. "Brainjacked" is a good example of very low-budget, yet creative and ambitious indie horror that actually goes right, for a change.
Positives:Interesting and creepy overall story. Some nice gross out moments, with elements of high-weirdness and strangeness as well. Decent performances, and a perfect third act.
Negatives:It's too bad this movie was so low-budget. With a sizeable pool of money, it could've been the next "Hatchet", in it's own little way...and just representing a different subgenre of horror.
Overall:Three out of four stars.
(
Talk about it in the Forums!)
(
Back to the main page)
