My nose ran, my feet smelled, and my brain was screaming, "Help! Get me out of here!"

* * *

Dr. Ivan Ivanov: You must forget to remember, before you remember to forget.

------

Pavel: Sounds like there is some shizzle going on down there my nizzle.

------

Pavel: There are dead bodies everywhere.

------

Vespa Girl: Get off my Vespa, you ugly man!

* * *

Okay. You don't watch a movie called the Man with the Screaming Brain and expect an Oscar caliber performance. Any viewers who were not drugged to somnambulance might have noticed that Bruce (Evil Dead) Campbell produced, directed, wrote and starred in this movie. While I am a huge fan of Bruce -- the man who put the CAMP in Campbell -- his acting range runs the gamut from A to B, while his other talents are more limited. As my lovely wife commented, "What happened? He could not find a script bad enough so he wrote one himself." Prophetic words-- cruel but fair.

So, what we have here is a genuine, bona-fide entry into Bad Cinema, and bad it most certainly is. The plot is predictable; the script is surreal and I don't mean that in a nice way; the acting is atrocious; the dialogue is diabolical; the cinematography is catastrophic, the special effects are effectively unspecial; this is possibly the biggest disaster since the eruption of Vesuvius. Ah, but is it funny? Well yes, now that you mention it, it is.

The movie is set in a small Bulgarian town. Bruce Campbell plays William Cole a rich pharmaceutical magnate. Antoinette Byron plays his semi-estranged wife. Vladimir Kolev plays Yegor, their ex-KGB taxi driver. Tamara Gorski plays Tatoya, Yegor's ex-wife who is a psychic, psychotic, gypsy, serial killer. Stacy Keach is Dr. Ivan Ivanov, a mad scientist working on a serum to prevent tissue rejection in transplants. Ted (Evil Dead) Raimi plays Pavel his assistant, and an expert in robotics. And as for the plot, I can say nothing for it has too little plot for me to give anything away. However, the cast list alone should be enough to figure it all out for yourself.

Campbell puts in a decent performance. He is no Ash to be sure, but I really could believe that his brain was screaming, especially while he was writing the plot. Everyone else was adequate, which is to say that they were at least minimally better than painting a smiley face on a balloon. Everyone, that is, except Ted Raimi, who was brilliantly funny, and totally stole the movie. You might remember Ted as the kid brother of Sam (Evil Dead) Raimi and as Joxter in Xena. A fan web site mentions that Bruce Campbell -- a friend and neighbor of the Raimi family -- used to baby sit Ted. This explains everything.

Unless you are a Campbell fan or a follower of B-cinema, it's worth minus-several-million stars, so give this one a miss. If you are into this kind of drivel as I am, then it is lukewarm drivel -- no more than okay. There are some genuinely funny moments, and the whole mess is mildly amusing, but it is a far cry from a classic like Army of Darkness. Without Raimi, I would have given it two stars, but with his performance comes an extra star. This movie is probably best watched late on a Friday Night after several hours of partying. Better yet, show it in a loop during the party.

* * *

I don't remember any bad words, and although it is violent, it is about as convincing as Abbott and Costello meet the Wolfman. Personally, I would let kids watch it, but why they would want to, is beyond me.

* * *

Man with the Screaming Brain (2005)

Produced and directed by Bruce Campbell

Written by Bruce Campbell and David M. Goodman

Cast:
Bruce Campbell - William Cole
Ted Raimi - Pavel
Antoinette Byron - Jackie
Tamara Gorski - Tatoya
Vladimir Kolev - Yegor
Remington Franklin - Gypsy Punk and Euro Thug
Stacy Keach - Dr. Ivan Ivanov

* * *

Please check out some of my other entertainment reviews:

Nero Wolfe *****
My Man Godfrey *****
The 39 Steps *****
Twister ****
Saving Grace ***
Wonderfalls *****
Dante's Peak ****
The Day After Tomorrow ***
Finding Neverland *****
Dodgeball -- A True Underdog Story ****

* * *

Don’t forget to enter my exciting Save the Planet write-off

* * *



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older