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Released by: Camp Motion Pictures
Released on: October 2, 2012.
Director: Richard Griffin
Cast: David Lavallee Jr., Sarah Nicklin, Michael Reed, Daniel Lee White, Colin Carlton
Year: 2010
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The Movie:
Written and directed by Richard Griffin in the vein of those fifties sci-fi and monster movies we love so much, Atomic Brain Invasion takes place in a small town where something lands from the deep reaches of space. When found by a pair of horny teenagers, the objects lets loose with some ooze which attaches to their skin and turns them into monsters with giant brains attached to them by elongated spinal cords.
Of course, it doesn't take long for this to start spreading throughout the town and before you know it there's a veritable army of alien brain creatures roaming the streets in search of… The King. Meanwhile, a space pod containing a space man and two pretty space ladies has also landed and been discovered by a group of teenagers lead by Betty (Sarah Nicklin) and Sherman (David Lavallee Jr.), much to the dismay of Betty's greasy rebel without a cause ex-boyfriend, Lukas (Michael Reed), whose father, General Bedfellow, might know more about this than anyone realizes. They take the ship to the garage owned by the local drunken Irish mechanic as he's the only one who will believe them, and it turns out they've travelled all this way to see Elvis Presley, who just so happens to have a show scheduled that conflicts with the local pie judging contest. When the kids run into Elvis (Brandon Luis Aponte) and his entourage at the local diner, it all hits the fan.
Pretty much safe for kids of all ages, Atomic Brain Invasion is a blast. It's cheap, that's to be sure, but the filmmakers get a lot of bang for their buck up on screen and the effects used to create the brain monsters (which look a bit like something out of a Hennenlotter movie) are about as cool as they come. The performances are all done with tongue placed firmly in cheek - Elvis busts out his karate moves when the time comes - but fit the tone of the movie quite well and the dialogue is, more often than not, pretty clever (a back and forth with the aliens about the use of technology makes some amusingly astute and not to subtle jabs at Facebook without ever actually naming it). There are also enough twists here that, even if parts of it are pretty predictable, there are enough surprises to keep you interested in seeing what happens.
Brandon Luis Aponte does a decent enough job as Elvis, what with the voice and the mannerisms, even if he doesn't exactly stand as a spitting image of him, while David Lavallee Jr. makes for a likeably nerdy leading man whose awkward relationship with pretty but also somewhat nerdy Sarah Nicklin provides the a good part of the stories backbone. The movie is maybe five or ten minutes longer than it probably needed to be but other than that, this one is a whole lot of golly gee fun!
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 1.78.1 anamorphic transfer from Camp Motion Pictures probably looks about as good as this low budget picture can. The image is stable and detailed and quite colorful throughout, showing decent black levels and only some mild compression artifacts. There are no issues with dirt or debris, which makes sense given that this was shot on digital video, nor are there any problems with haloing or shimmering. Some scenes are a little softer than others but aside from that, there's nothing to complain about here, the movie looks just fine.
The only audio option is an English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, there are no alternate language tracks, subtitles or closed captioning options offered here. There are a few times where the levels jump a bit when the sound effects are worked into the mix but otherwise things sound pretty good, and the faux-Elvis rockabilly number performed in the diner has some nice bounce to it.
Aside from some nifty menus and chapter selection, the extras on the disc include a collection of trailers for other Camp Motion Pictures titles (one of which is called Nun Of That and is made by the same cast and crew as this one - it looks like a fun mix of blaxploitation and nunsploitation highjinks!) and a commentary track with writer/director Richard Griffin who is joined by producer Ted Marr and actors Daniel Lee White and David Wilson. It's a pretty involved track done with the right mix of humor and interesting information as the group discusses the inspiration for the film, shooting locations, effects, what went right and what went wrong, and quite a bit more.
The Final Word:
Atomic Brain Invasion is hokier than it needs to be at times but is otherwise a whole lot of good, goofy fun. The old school make up effects are great, the performances are quirky enough to work and the movie is put together with enough style that we can overlook its shortcomings and appreciate it for the entertaining throwback to fifties sci-fi/monster movies that it is.
