Overview: Get ready for planet Earth to be overtaken by a criminal brain from outer space! When Gor, an evil brain from planet Arous, inhabits the body of scientist Steve March, his intention is nothing less than world domination.

Lucky for Earth, another intergalactic brain, Val, offers to assist March’s wife, Sally, in stopping the madness. How does Val intend to help? By inhabiting Sally’s dog!

A great example of cut-rate sci-fi from the 1950s, this independently produced feature stars B movie favorite John Agar (The Mole People, Revenge of the Creature), and was directed by Nathan Juran, a master of the genre who helmed such classics as The Deadly Mantis, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.

Blu-ray Verdict: If you watch 1950s sci-fi much, then you’re familiar with John Agar. Using a flashlight, he conquered an entire civilization in The Mole People, he saved a small Arizona town from destruction in Tarantula, but here, he really excels ... for Agar saves the entire universe!

When scientist Steve (Agar) and his assistant Dan (Robert Fuller) notice a blast of radiation from Mystery Mountain, they decide to investigate. In a nearby cave, they’re attacked by a giant floating brain with eyes, which kills Dan with a bright light and then (in a very inept special effect) hides in Agar’s body.

Back at the lab, the brain emerges from Steve, introduces himself as Gor from the Planet Arous, and tells Steve he’d better cooperate or else. Since Gor is so powerful, he can control everything Steve does, and pretty soon Steve starts getting quite lecherous with his fiancée Sally (Joyce Meadows).

This has to be some sort of cinema first re: a sex-starved floating brain! Later, Sally and her dad John (Thomas Browne Henry) are visited by yet another floating brain, this one’s named Vol and is a law-enforcement brain from Arous. Vol announces that he also needs a body to hide out in, and after thinking it over, decides to hide in Agar’s dog, George. Not silly enough yet? Just wait!

When he’s not pawing Sally or tormenting Steve, Gor blows up a passenger plane, kills the local sheriff, burns up an Army colonel, and sets off a nuclear explosion. He then assembles representatives from all the world’s countries and tells them that they must help him construct a fleet of spaceships so he can conquer Arous, then the universe! (At least Gor doesn’t think small!)

Things are looking pretty bleak, so Sally has a chat with Vol. He tells her that Gor could conceivably be killed by a direct blow to the top of his, uh, cerebrum in the area of the Fissure of Rolando. She leaves a note to Steve telling him about Gor’s weakness, so when Gor emerges again, Steve grabs a convenient ax, and beats the offending brain to death in a bravura climax!

Probably the most fascinating thing about this movie is that the cast keeps perfectly straight faces throughout the whole film. Anyway, if you’re in for vintage entertainment with the most outrageously silly sci-fi plot of all time, you should watch this!

Oh, and as we learn from quite brilliant commentary, the special eye effects for Steve March were created by having John Agar wear special black contact lenses that were very thick; although the extreme thickness of the contact made it painful for Agar to wear them, of course.

And one last thing, if any of the scenes feel familiar to you, well that might well be because brief clips from this movie were used in the opening credits on the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle! This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

Full Color Booklet with original essay by Author/ Historian Tom Weaver
Full commentary track by historians Tom Weaver, David Schecter, Larry Blamire, and PLANET AROUS star, Joyce Meadows
The Man Before the Brain: Director Nathan Juran : an original Ballyhoo Motion Pictures production
The Man Behind the Brain: The World of Nathan Juran : an original Ballyhoo Motion Pictures production
The film will also be included in a full frame format, 1.33:1
Now including a special, all new, introduction by Actor Joyce Meadows!

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