Man With The Screaming Brain DVD Review

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Title: Man With The Screaming Brain

Region: One

Genre: Sci-Fi Horror Comedy

Stars: Bill Campbell, Stacy Keach, Ted Raimi, Antoinette Byron, and Tamara Gorski

Writer: Bruce Campbell

Based on Story by: Bruce Campbell and David M. Goodman

Co Story By: R.O.C. Sandstorm

Director: Bruce Campbell

Feature Length: 90 minutes

Extras: Feature Length Audio Commentary By Actor, Writer, and Director Bruce Campbell and Producer David M. Goodman, “Brain Surgeons: Making The Screaming Brain” Featurette, “Neurology 101: Evolution Of The Screaming Brain” Featurette, Behind-The-Scenes Footage, Trailer, Storyboard Gallery, Comic Book Gallery, Bruce Campbell Bio, Anchor Bay Entertainment Previews

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Closed Captions

Packaging: Amaray Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 16

Sound Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound

Year Of DVD Release: 2005

Home Video Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

“Man With A Screaming Brain” marks the feature film directorial debut of Actor Bruce Campbell, who is best known to genre film fans for his starring roles as well as recurring/guest appearances in films and television programs directed and or produced by Sam Raimi that include “The Evil Dead Trilogy”, both “Spider-Man” films as well as appearing as “The King Of Thieves” in both the Hercules and Xena TV series. Campbell is an underrated master of physical comedy. Look at his work in “Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn” and you will agree that he makes it look so easy that you just know it must be hard to pull off what he does so smoothly. Campbell also has a terrific sarcastic wit about him that fans enjoy. As a result he can deliver the hokiest dialogue and sell it for all it’s worth without a single dissatisfied grown from his fans. Dark Horse Comics, which published a limited series adaptation of “Man With The Screaming Brain,” referred to Campbell’s iconic character of “Ash” in the graphic novel of “Army Of Darkness” as being a “superhero” and honestly in many ways he is. Bruce Campbell is one the best and most beloved Character Actors of his generation. Even if you are not a genre film fan, chances are you’ve seen him before on both the big and or small screens and would probably recognize him even if you didn’t know his name.

In “Man With The Screaming Brain” Campbell delivers a terrific physical performance as William Cole, a wealthy American industrialist looking to invest in the development of a mass transit system for an Eastern European country. Cole’s life gets turned upside down when he comes into contact with a murderous Slavic woman that works within the hotel he and his disgruntled wife are staying at. When Cole discovers the ring he has purchased for his wife has been stolen by the maid, his confrontation with her ends in his death and the death of a streetwise cab driver with a prior relationship to the killer. Both end up as guinea pigs in the experiment of a mad scientist (Stacey Keach) who fuses the lobes of the brains from both men into Cole’s body. As result Cole now must share his body and conscious with this cab driver, who also just happens to a former KGB operative, in order find their mutual murderess. Of course two minds sharing the same body puts Cole into all sorts of humorous situations as well as some fun action sequences too.

Everyone involved with this film looks as though they are having a great time and no one is taking it too seriously so the film works as both a spoof on sci-fi mad scientists flicks mixed in with a little detective story. It’s campy at times, but it works and the makeup looks better on film then it does in photos so don’t judge it by the cover alone when you look at the photos on the back of the DVD keep case. After a September premiere on the SCI FI Channel, Anchor Bay Entertainment has released “Man With The Screaming Brain” onto DVD with a bunch of extras too.

There really is not much of difference between the SCI FI Channel television version and the feature film version as Mr. Campbell explains in his feature length audio commentary that he shares with Producer David M. Goodman. Campbell mentions that for every ten minutes of time, something has to happen to compel the viewer to stick with the film beyond the commercial interruptions for the TV version. For the feature film, the transitions that were intended for commercial breaks were smoothed out. The feature film edition is the same version that appears on Anchor Bay Entertainment’s DVD. Bruce Campbell tends to do the majority of the talking, but his friendly banter with David M. Goodman as well as his articulate descriptions of what it was like to shoot on location in Bulgaria make the commentary all the more interesting. He speaks very highly of both Stacy Keach and Ted Raimi, who added a lot to the film by adlibbing action that wasn’t in the script or running creative choices by Bruce Campbell for his character to try. Mr. Campbell has known Ted Raimi since Mr. Raimi was nine so I guess besides being close friends and colleagues, Ted Raimi might as well be family to Mr. Campbell, like a younger brother or something. Both “Alien Apocalypse” and “Man With The Screaming Brain” were filmed back to back hence many of the talent that appears in one film, was also recruited by Mr. Campbell to be in his film. Both of these films are among the highest rated SCI FI Pictures Originals to ever air on SCI FI Saturdays and both were produced in part by the SCI FI Channel as well. On DVD these films were released day and date with each other and though sold separately, in many ways they really are a set or sorts that coupled with Anchor Bay Entertainment’s “Evil Dead 2: Book Of The Dead 2: Special Edition: Divimax Series” make for an exciting triple feature for any evening. This has been a big year for Mr. Campbell, who also had his satirical second book “Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way” published as well as had it released on audio-CD in a theater of the mind radio drama like style. It is also interesting to note that the original script was intended to take place in East Los Angeles, so just that alone gives one an idea of just how far the story was rewritten and adapted as it developed to fruition. Campbell’s comments on the Bulgarian fashions are interesting and funny too. In particular the attempt to find suit for his character is very humorous. Campbell’s observations based on experience with how organizations like the MPAA view on screen violence are interesting. The film was never intended be very gory, but I found it fascinating that it’s okay to show a knife being pulled out from a person, but it’s considered far riskier to show a person be stabbed on screen. Seems kind of Freudian if you ask me.

The anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) aspect ratio picture quality for “Man With The Screaming Brain” is bright and sharp with little to no visible artifacts. An English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack mix is provided along with the English Dolby Surround Soundtrack mix that is similar in quality to the television broadcast version of the film. The action sequences as well some of the exterior scenes create a nice three-dimensional atmospheric quality for the DVD on the 5.1 mix and thus adds a lot to the overall presentation.

Two new featurettes produced by Anchor Bay Entertainment with interview clips featuring both Bruce Campbell and David M. Goodman are also included under the respective headings “Brain Surgeons: Making The Screaming Brain” (13:48) and “Neurology 101: Evolution Of The Screaming Brain” (14:02) where Campbell and Goodman go through the 18 year history of getting the film produced by using a blackboard with three columns marked “80s”, “90s”, and “Beyond.” As they go through the history of the film’s development from 1986 to 2004 Mr. Campbell and Mr. Goodman are quite candid in discussing some of the personalities they encountered as well as near misses in getting the film made. As usual, Bruce Campbell is witty and frank and collectively both men make the actual blackboard demonstration compelling as well as entertaining. There is some additional behind-the-scenes video footage included on the DVD (2:00) as well as a gallery of storyboards and a gallery of pages from the first volume of the four-part Dark Horse Comics adaptation. Detailed biographic notes on Mr. Campbell as well as a select credit list and the trailer for the film (2:00) wrap up the bonus materials directly related to the film on the DVD. A reel of trailers (7:48) that can be viewed individually as well and includes previews of “The Evil Dead”, “Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn”, “Dead & Breakfast”, “Lightning Bug” and “Thou Shalt Not Kill Except…” appear before the opening menu. All of the interactive menus are well rendered and easy to navigate too. “Man With The Screaming Brain” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment

Click Here To Read The GENRE ONLINE.NET Interview With Bruce Campbell

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