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The Science Fiction Horror and Fantasy Film Review

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Theme: Disembodied Heads and Brains

Disembodied Heads and Brains refers to heads and brains that maintain a life in the absence of the rest of the body.

Some works of science-fiction depict futures where humanity (or in some case aliens) has evolved into brains that live in tanks. This trope persists despite being a medically absurd notion ie. how a brain would exist without any attached body to pump blood to it, or how it would obtain food and nutrients. In some cases, these brains even come without attached sensory organs.

Disembodied heads occur more in works of Mad Scientist cinema where scientists detach heads from their owners and kept them alive in laboratories with the intention of transplanting them into other bodies.

For other disembodied organs see Disembodied Body Parts.


The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989)

3 June 199916 September 2019

Rating: ★★★★

World’s Greatest Liar’s Absurdist Adventures

Director: Terry Gilliam
Actors: John Neville, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed, Eric Idle, …
Category: Fantasy

Beast of Blood (1971)

3 April 201311 May 2020

Rating: ★★

Filipino Exploitation Film/Mad Scientist

Director: Eddie Romero
Actors: John Ashley, Celeste Yarnall, Eddie Garcia, Bruno Punzalan
Category: Horror

Black Friday (1940)

10 June 200226 November 2019

Rating: ★★

Gangster’s Transplanted Brain

Director: Arthur Lubin
Actors: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Anne Nagel, Anne Gwynne
Category: Horror, Science Fiction

Black Mask 2: City of Masks (2002)

12 February 20051 October 2020

Rating: ★★★

Masked Superhero/Hong Kong Action

Director: Tsui Hark
Actors: Andy On, Tobin Bell, Traci Lords, Scott Adkins, …
Category: Science Fiction

Blood Diner (1987)

9 August 19998 June 2022

Rating: ★★★½

Splatter Comedy

Director: Jackie Kong
Category: Horror

The Brain (1988)

5 October 20174 March 2020

Rating: ★★★

Giant Evil Brain

Director: Ed Hunt
Actors: Tom Breznahan, Cyndy Preston, David Gale, George Buza
Category: Science Fiction

The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)

11 November 20004 March 2020

Rating: ★★

Possession by Evil Alien Brain

Director: Nathan Juran
Actors: John Agar, Joyce Meadows, Werner Erhard, Thomas B. Henry, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962)

9 June 200031 May 2025

Rating: ★★★

Decapitated Head/Mad Scientist

Director: Joseph Green
Actors: Jason Evers, Virginia Leith
Category: Horror

The City of Lost Children (1995)

19 October 200230 March 2024

Rating: ★★★½

Mad Scientist/Clones/Gonzo Comedy

Director: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Actors: Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon, Daniel Emilfork, Jean-Louis Trintignant, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Colossus of New York (1958)

1 February 20146 May 2020

Rating: ★★★

Scientist’s Brain Transplanted Into a Robot Body

Director: Eugene Lourie
Actors: Otto Kruger, John Baragrey, Mala Powers, Charles Herbert, …
Category: Science Fiction

Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)

5 April 201318 March 2024

Rating: ★★★½

Cemetery Keeper vs the Undead/Gonzo Comedy

Director: Michele Soavi
Actors: Rupert Everett, Francois Hadji-Lazaro, Anna Falchi, Barbara Cupisti, …
Category: Horror

Dollman (1990)

2 August 200113 November 2019

Rating: ★★★

Miniature Cop

Director: Albert Pyun
Actors: Tim Thomerson, Jackie Earle Haley, Frank Collison, Humberto Ortiz, …
Category: Science Fiction

Donovan’s Brain (1953)

21 May 200020 August 2020

Rating: ★

Evil Disembodied Brain

Director: Felix Feist
Actors: Lew Ayres, Nancy Davis, Gene Evans, Steve Brodie
Category: Science Fiction

Dr Hackenstein (1988)

16 October 200118 August 2020

Rating: 0­

Mad Scientist

Director: Richard Clark
Actors: David Muir, Stacey Travis, Anne Ramsey, Phyllis Diller, …
Category: Horror

Fiend Without a Face (1958)

9 August 200027 December 2022

Rating: ★★

Hopping Brain Invasion

Director: Arthur Crabtree
Actors: Marshall Thompson, Kim Parker
Category: Science Fiction

Frankenstein Island (1981)

16 February 2022

Rating: 0­

Frankenstein Film

Director: Jerry Warren
Actors: Robert Clarke, Katherine Victor, Cameron Mitchell, John Carradine, …
Category: Horror

Gandahar (1988)

19 June 20051 April 2021

Rating: ★★

Animation/Planetary Adventure

Director: Rene Laloux
Actors: Jennifer Grey, Christopher Plummer, Glenn Close, Penn Jillette, …
Category: Science Fiction

The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009)

10 March 201111 December 2024

Rating: ★★

Animation/Gonzo Exploitation Movie Homage

Director: Rob Zombie
Actors: Sheri Moon Zombie, Paul Giamatti, Rosario Dawson, Tom Kenny, …
Category: Fantasy

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)

11 May 199911 October 2022

Rating: 0­

Two-Headed Transplant/Mad Scientist

Director: Anthony M. Lanza
Actors: Bruce Dern, John Bloom, Berry Kroeger, Casey Kasem
Category: Horror

Invaders from Mars (1953)

28 May 200116 November 2021

Rating: ★★★½

Alien Body Snatchers

Director: William Cameron Menzies
Actors: Jimmy Hunt, Arthur Franz, Morris Ankrum, Leif Erickson
Category: Science Fiction

Invaders from Mars (1986)

9 June 200319 November 2023

Rating: ★★

Alien Body Snatchers

Director: Tobe Hooper
Actors: Hunter Carson, Karen Black, James Karen, Timothy Bottoms, …
Category: Science Fiction

Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962)

3 September 200218 December 2024

Rating: ★★½

Planet of Illusions

Director: Sidney Pink
Actors: John Agar, Greta Thyssen, Carl Ottosen, Ann Smyrner
Category: Science Fiction

The Lady and the Monster (1944)

21 January 201629 April 2021

Rating: ★★★

Evil Disembodied Brain/Mad Scientist Film

Director: George Sherman
Actors: Erich von Stroheim, Vera Hruba Ralston, Richard Arlen, Sidney Blackmer, …
Category: Horror, Science Fiction

The Man with Two Brains (1983)

11 September 200313 September 2024

Rating: ★★★½

Disembodied Brain Movie Spoof

Director: Carl Reiner
Actors: Steve Martin, Kathleen Turner, David Warner, Sissy Spacek
Category: Science Fiction

The Man Without a Body (1957)

24 October 201826 December 2023

Rating: ★

Nostradamus’s Disembodied Head

Director: Charles Saunders, W. Lee Wilder
Actors: George Coulouris, Robert Hutton, Nadja Regin, Peter Copley, …
Category: Horror

Mars Attacks! (1996)

17 March 200121 September 2019

Rating: ★★★

Gonzo Alien Invasion

Director: Tim Burton
Actors: Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Annette Bening, …
Category: Science Fiction

Mystics in Bali (1981)

4 November 20214 November 2021

Rating: ★★★

Indonesian Witchcraft

Director: H. Tjut Djalil
Category: Horror

Nazis at the Center of the Earth (2012)

28 May 201224 November 2020

Rating: ★★★½

Nazis Under the Polar Icecap/Hitler with a Robot Body/Mad Science

Director: Joseph J. Lawson
Actors: Dominique Swain, Jake Busey, Christopher K. Johnson, Josh Allen, …
Category: Science Fiction

Nothing (2003)

8 October 200515 October 2019

Rating: ★★★★

Two Characters in a Blank White Void

Director: Vincenzo Natali
Actors: David Hewlett, Andrew Miller, Marie-JosĂ©e Croze, Elana Shilling, …
Category: Science Fiction, Fantasy

Phantasm III (1994)

2 February 200319 May 2021

Rating: ★★½

Dream Horrors/Other-Dimensional Grave Robbers

Director: Don Coscarelli
Actors: Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm, Michael Baldwin, Gloria Lynne Henry, …
Category: Horror

Re-Animator (1985)

2 January 200128 July 2022

Rating: ★★★★

Resurrection of the Dead/Splatter Black Comedy/H.P. Lovecraft Adaptation

Director: Stuart Gordon
Actors: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale, …
Category: Horror

Shrunken Heads (1994)

5 May 200528 June 2024

Rating: ★★

Disembodied Heads Take Revenge

Director: Richard Elfman
Actors: Julius Harris, Meg Foster, Bodhi Elfman, Paul Linke
Category: Horror

They Saved Hitler’s Brain (1964)

12 November 200227 July 2019

Rating: 0­

Fuhrer’s Disembodied Brain/Classic Bad Movie

Director: David Bradley
Actors: Walter Stocker, Audrey Caire, Dani Lynn, Nestor Paiva, …
Category: Science Fiction, Horror

The Thing with Two Heads (1972)

1 September 200712 May 2020

Rating: ★★★

Two-Headed Transplant

Director: Lee Frost
Actors: Ray Milland, Rosey Grier, Don Marshall, Roger Perry
Category: Horror

The Time Masters (1982)

7 June 20179 March 2020

Rating: ★★★½

Animation/Planetary Adventure

Director: Rene Laloux
Category: Science Fiction

Transylmania (2009)

3 July 20107 May 2025

Rating: 0­

Frat Rat Horror Comedy

Director: David Hillenbrand, Scott Hillenbrand
Actors: Oren Skoog, Musetta Vander, Paul Hansen Kim, Patrick Cavanaugh, …
Category: Horror

Vengeance (1962)

3 May 200112 August 2019

Rating: ★

Evil Disembodied Brain

Director: Freddie Francis
Actors: Peter van Eyck, Anne Heywood, Bernard Lee, Cecil Parker, …
Category: Science Fiction, Horror

The Voices (2014)

10 May 201526 January 2023

Rating: ★★★½

Inside a Mentally Ill Man’s Mind/Black Comedy

Director: Marjane Satrapi
Actors: Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick, Jacki Weaver, …
Category: Fantasy

Wasting Away (2007)

27 August 201513 August 2024

Rating: ★★

Zombie Comedy

Director: Matthew Kohnen
Actors: Matthew Davis, Michael Grant Terry, Betsy Beutler, Julianna Robinson, …
Category: Horror

Recent Posts

  • Long Distance (2024)
  • To the Solitary Me Who Loved You (2022)
  • Parallel World Love Story (2019)
  • The Loch Ness Horror (2023)
  • Planetquake (2024)
  • Earthtastrophe (2016)
  • It Lives Inside (2023)
  • Subservience (2024)
  • Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)
  • The Assessment (2024)
  • The Mighty Gorga (1969)
  • Empire of the Apes (2013)
  • The Holy Virgin Versus the Evil Dead (1991)
  • Swarmed (2005)
  • Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo (1977)
  • Incantation (2022)
  • Dick Dynamite: 1944 (2023)
  • The Shrouds (2024)
  • Clown in a Cornfield (2025)
  • Incoming (2018)
  • Box: Metaphor (2023)
  • The House That Vanished (1973)
  • Skinwalker Ranch (2013)
  • A Werewolf in England (2020)
  • Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024)

Contact Moria

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Theme Essays

  • Films About Atlantis
  • Werewolf Films
  • Virtual Reality
  • Imprisonment Thrillers
  • Films Depicting NASA and the Space Program
  • Human Bloodsports and Death Games
  • Animals Attack Films
  • Films About Plague and Pandemic
  • Disaster Movies
  • Steampunk Films
  • Documentaries
  • Films About Halloween
  • Films About Prophecy
  • Magicians and Sorcerers
  • Secret Societies
  • Real-Life People in Fiction
  • Techno-Thrillers
  • Twins in Fantastic Cinema
  • Asylums
  • Possession Films
  • Films About Imaginary and Magical Lands
  • Religion in Fantastic Cinema
  • Romantic Comedies
  • Film Noir
  • Spy Films
  • Jekyll and Hyde Films
  • Films That Make Dubious Claims to Being True Stories
  • Coming of Age Stories in Fantastic Cinema
  • Films About Cryogenics and Suspended Animation
  • Alternate History Films
  • Disturbed Psychology as Portrayed on Film
  • Law Enforcement in Fantastic Cinema
  • Weird Westerns
∧

Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2025

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