Welcome back to my Dark Corner of this Sick World.
‘Do you ever think about the brain?’
‘Nope.’
An establishing shot is usually an exterior image used to tell audiences where a scene is taking place,
it’s not something I’ve ever commented on before because its usually used once or twice just at the start,
not 11 times.
In this case, there’s also the issue that the exterior, really doesn’t reflect the interior its establishing.
also, if you use it too often...
#Phone rings#
you can create the impression...
#Phone rings#
that the telephone is in the pool.
#Phone rings#
This is The Brain Machine one of those downbeat 70s sci-fis,
steeped in paranoia about science and government keeping tabs on us.
‘Eternal surveillance is the price of liberty’
The film opens with Dr Chrisner on the run having stolen documents from his own project,
with the law in pursuit.
I’m gonna bag me a scientist.
a cat and mouse game ensues.
That’s it! I’ll paddle out of here,
but he loses his evidence and decides to write to the authorities instead.
‘Dear Senator’
for Christmas this year I would like…
Chrisner is killed and the project continues under new management who don’t know they are being monitored,
Dr Morris...
‘Kind of cute, kind of dumb – just my type’
Dr Roth...
‘This damn machine has gone berzerk’
and Dr Portland, see here returning from her job guarding Buckingham Palace.
The experiment monitors 4 volunteers, who were presumably unaware their pictures were being taken,
and involves psychological tests like word association.
‘Woman’
probably just mis-spoke.
‘Woman’
Right. What’s the psychological term for this guy?
‘Nuts?’
Possibly, but played by Jim Best of Killer Shrews fame,
and you have to have be a dedicated subscriber to have seen our review of that.
‘Goly, this experiment is going to get an X rating.’
So at times this seems like a standard movie psychological experiment, into…
‘The truth Reeves! Absolute accuracy. One lie can cause us a lot of trouble’
but at others it feels more like a community theatre project
'Why do they have to keep asking all those personal questions?'
or possibly a focus group to create a better deckchair.
‘Now this may look like a very simple device, however that's not the case.’
You do start to wonder why the shadowy government types are monitoring this…
‘Something is happening and it’s not us.’
That’s certainly the case for most of the movie, and it’s very unclear what ‘this’ is.
‘What the hell is going on Rob?’
‘I don’t know.’
Until we reach the final experiment, when the subjects and Dr Portland are sealed in the test area and…
It works! We’ve revolutionised leisure technology!
Stuff starts to go wrong...
as the computer itself attacks them.
‘Computers have taken control’
Basically the computer has spotted that the test subjects are lying about stuff
and refuses to continue the experiment until they fess up.
Which is why the staff put so much emphasis on telling the truth.
‘What do you think, we’re incompetent?’
Frankly yes. You must have vetted the volunteers in only the most cursory fashion,
cos they’re all harbouring terrible secrets.
‘I killed my baby and my Daddy too’
These are the worst possible people for this experiment.
‘We made a mistake’
To make matters worse the computer finds that the human brain basically lies to itself all the time,
‘No man, no human believes they’re going to die.’
and just decides to kill them all by closing in the walls,
quite quickly in close up,
'We can't stop it!'
almost imperceptibly in long shot.
'Stop it,'
In fact it takes so long that one of the subjects has time, to quietly hang herself in a corner where no one will notice.
'Oh no, lets get her down.'
‘Look at your truth!’
Look at your acting.
‘We gotta stop it!’
Did that really need saying?
They finally remember there is an escape hatch and…
this probably has to be seen to be believed.
Oh, we definitely should have designed that to open from the inside.
The shadowy government types cover up their deaths.
'The national environmental control centre that Dr Roman Roth, the world's most famous authority on the human brain,'
'‘was electrocuted along with 6 others when a patient escarped from therapy area,'
'ripped through a protective pannel and exposed himself and the other victims to 5000 volts of electricity.'
The machine works, that’s the important thing’
Would we say ‘works’?
‘Make it work’
So many problems with this.
‘What problems?’
above all; there are no characters to follow.
‘I guess not’
let alone care about.
‘You shouldn’t feel a thing.’
And I didn’t.
Honestly, I was more invested in the deckchair than any of these people.
Doesn’t even look that comfortable.
Thanks for watching. For tongue in cheek horror with characters, check out my books.
There’s a link in the description below.
What are your favourite movies in which experiments go wrong? Let us know in the comments below.
'Has it been worth it? Did you learn something?'