With a stellar cast of British character actors I was looking forward to seeing this film.Alas I was very disappointed.
This appalling mess might have represented the high point in the career of luscious Silvia Monti but for the director and other cast members this has to be the bottom of the barrel. I am truly astonished that this rubbish has garnered so many positive reviews but then again, perhaps I shouldn't be!
Typical French comic/cartoon humor under Oury's savvy direction, after his successes with LE CORNIAUD (Fr 1965) and LA GRANDE VADROUILLE (Fr 1967).Perhaps the missing piece in this film is Louis de Funés, though all four leads are excellent.
This is the sort of film the critics love to label "a witless farce", and certainly for the first 30 minutes or so, this description would be fair enough. True, Gerard Oury's direction is rather inventive, but the acting tends to be so heavy-handed that it smothers the jokes (such as they are).
I can only assume I am the first one to make that pun ... not!
Occasionally seen on TV in France, this film has now been issued on a double DVD in France with French subtitles only. Picture quality is superb ( THX Standard ).
I was reminded of 1981's Strange Behavior, with a mad scientist who is supposed to be helping troubled high schoolers actually using his techniques to take over their minds. I'm a bit surprised to see that there are more people who've rated this movie on IMDb than that one, since Strange Behavior is on DVD and this one isn't, and I would guess is out of print on VHS.
...more for actors than for story.
The film is a low budget horror movie that has poor filming, a poor storyline that drags on and poor acting. But even with all that said, it's still an enjoyable film to watch, the brain itself is fun to laugh at, with its corny looks and the killing scenes are interesting if not gross.
