''The Brain Leeches'' is a 1978 American low-budget science fiction exploitation film directed by Fred Olen Ray and starring Paul Jones, Marcia Scott, and Ray Starr. It has a running time of 55 minutes, and was completed on a budget of $298.00. The film was shown publicly only once, although it has since become available through distributors. The project proved to be a turning point in the careers of two of the principals.

Plot

A former nuclear scientist turned pro-wrestler does battle with invading aliens who are taking over the brains of people in a small town.

Cast

*Paul Jones as Dr. John Hayes *Marcia Scott as Susan *Ray Starr as Rusty Fender *Jennifer Knight as Rose *

Brad Linaweaver Bradford Swain Linaweaver (September 1, 1952 – August 29, 2019) was an American science fiction writer, film producer, actor, and magazine publisher. Over a 40-year career, he completed a body of work including novels, short stories, and scree ...

as Billy Johnson * Fred Olen Ray (as Brian Wolfe) as Tom

Production

Filming

Principal photography took place in 1978. The film was shot using an old Auricon 16mm camera, and (expired) nine-year-old

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

film stock obtained from an

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, television station where Ray worked. The alien invaders were represented by large rubber ants purchased at a dime store for 19 cents apiece. Earthlings under mind control by the aliens were portrayed as having all-white eyes. The

special effect Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...

was achieved by applying white tape to the actors' eyelids. The destruction of the alien headquarters (the TV station where Ray worked) was depicted using stock footage of a nuclear explosion from an old 16mm documentary found in the television station's film archive.

Score

The film score is a public domain recording of

Moussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

Pictures at an Exhibition ''Pictures at an Exhibition'', french: Tableaux d'une exposition, link=no is a suite (music), suite of ten piano pieces, plus a recurring, varied Promenade theme, composed by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. The piece is Mussorgsky's ...

, taken directly from a "cheap record album". According to Ray: "No effort was made to synchronize any of the music to the picture". Portions of the film were shot at a bar, The Foxhead Tavern, in Orlando. Production of ''The Brain Leeches'' was completed, on budget, for $298.00.

Distribution

In 1991, Ray stated that ''The Brain Leeches'' had been shown publicly only one time, and that it would never be released for distribution. However, more than 30 years after its first showing, copies of the film have become available through distributors such as Sinister Cinema.com.

Legacy

The project proved to be a watershed moment for two of the principals. Political essayist

received his first original story credit (for film) for ''The Brain Leeches''. The experience changed the trajectory of Linaweaver's career path, emphasizing film and science fiction writing for the rest of his life. The film also jump-started the career of prodigious Hollywood director/producer (and sometimes professional wrestler) Fred Olen Ray, who is also known for having loaned Quentin Tarantino his first 16mm camera to make ''

My Best Friend's Birthday ''My Best Friend's Birthday'' is a 1987 amateur comedy film directed, edited, co-written, co-produced and starring Quentin Tarantino. The film was shot in black-and-white and was originally meant to have a runtime of 70 minutes, but only 36 min ...

''. The association and collaboration between Linaweaver and Ray continued until Linaweaver's death in 2019.

References

External links

*
The Brain Leeches
' at Internet Movie Database *
The Brain Leeches
' at Movies.msn.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Brain Leeches 1970s science fiction horror films Films directed by Fred Olen Ray American science fiction horror films 1970s English-language films Films shot in 16 mm film 1978 films 1978 directorial debut films 1970s American films