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In 1661, Baron Vitelius d'Estera (Abel Salazar) was convicted by the
Mexican arm of the Spanish inquisition, and publicly burned - but not
before he could curse all those responsible for his demise and vow he
would come back in 300 years time to kill their descendants, thanks to
some comet or other..
1961: Astronomer Professor Milan (Luis Aragón) and his top students
Reinaldo (Rubén Rojo) and Vicky (Rosa María Gallardo) observe a comet
passing by earth - exactly the same comet the Baron d'Estera has vowed to
return by 300 years ago - but suddenly the comet is gone, vanished. In
fact, the comet has crashed into earth, and the Baron has emerged from it,
hell-bent to have his revenge. But the Baron also turns into a monster
with an incredibly long tongue every now and again, and he has developed
an appetite for brains and frequently sucks them out of people. Apart from
that, the Baron now has also the power of hypnotism and he can render
himself invisible.
At first, the Baron only goes on a blind killing spree to collect a few
brains to feed from, but then he invites the descendants of all those
responsible for his death to his castle (don't ask how come he suddenly
has a castle, it's never explained), just to get friendly with them.
Interestingly, Vicky is the descendant of the grand inquisitor (Miguel
Brillas) himself while Reinaldo's ancestor was the only man who took it
upon himself to defend the Baron.
After the Baron has met all those he plans to kill socially, he pays
social visits to all of them, killing them in quite gruesome ways - and
the detective inspector (David Silva) and his assistant Benny (Federico
Curiel) take forever to figure out what's going on. In the meantime, all
of the Baron's proposed victims are dead, all but Vicky, whom the Baron
has saved for last, even if that means he has to kill Reinaldo - her
boyfriend of course - as well, the descendant of his only friend. Reinaldo
puts up quite some resistance, especially after he has begun to figure out
what's going on, but ultimately it seems the Baron is gaining the upper
hand ... when the detective inspector and Benny arrive with flame throwers
and burn the Baron to a cinder
Of course, on one hand, The Brainiac is pure trash, the story is
pulpy as can be, there are plotholes aplenty, the special effects are not
always up to it, and the monster mask looks rather ridiculous. But that's
only one way of seeing the film, because The Brainiac is also
incredibly atmospheric to the point of being creepy (especially in the
scenes with no special effects and no monster), the film's sombre pace
does actually heighten its overall effect rather than hurting it, and most
of the almost gothic sets are in tune with the film's overall tune.
Recommended - but only if you are willing to overlook the film's
shortcomings.
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