The Brainiac (1962)

Admirable film.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Singular Mexican horror film that "expertly" blends the seemingly incongruous themes of Gothic melodrama and gonzoid sci-fi. A supposed heretic (Abel Salazar) is condemned to a fiery death by members of the be-hooded, bloodthirsty inquisition; and as 'El Baron' fails to perish in the flames he threatens to return in 300 years???? in order to eradicate the last family members of those that have deigned to put him to death. 'El Baron del Terror' is sheer, unadulterated, B-Movie madness, but oddly compelling at the same time; its complete lack of subtlety is compensated by a bravura eccentricity! Salazar certainly makes for a fabulous villain who transforms quite gloriously into a vile, monstrous, brain sucking demon. Wild, fabulous entertainment from the heady,iconoclastic realms of Mexican horror.

Baron Vitelius Destera (Abel Salazar) is burned at the stake by The Inquisition, and vows to return 300 years later to exact revenge, just as Paul Naschy did in El espanto surge de la tumba.Riding in on a comet, the Baron returns to seek revenge.Do not expect a polished production; this 1962 after all! But, the brain-eating monster with the forked tongue is a sight to see! What a waste of a good long tongue. :-) He uses hypnotism to stun his victims before he sucks out their brains. Watching a father frozen immobile while his daughter is killed was precious.The Baron always has a dish of brains around for a snack in between murders.What an ending.

"El Barón del terror" aka. "The Brainiac" is a bizarre and moody and wonderfully cheesy Mexican Horror film that no true cult cinema lover should miss. While Chano Urueta's 1962 film is not en par with the true highlights of contemporary Mexican Horror, such as "Misterios De Ultratumba" ("The Black Pit of Dr M", 1959) or "La Maldición De La Llorona" ("The Curse of The Crying Woman", 1963), it is certainly a highly entertaining, and, at times, quite original little film that is unique in several aspects.In 1661, Baron Vitelius D'Estera (Abel Salazar) is condemned to burn at the stake for witchcraft, necromancy and other crimes. Before being burned, the baron, who was not intimidated by the Inquisition's instruments of torture, sees a comet passing, and vows to come back take revenge on the descendants of his judges. 300 years later, the same comet passes Earth again... Even though the film obviously took a lot of inspiration from one of the greatest Horror films ever made, Mario Bava's masterpiece "La Maschera Del Demonio" ("Black Sunday", 1960), it does deliver many genuinely unique moments. The 17th century opening scenes are very well-done in a great Gothic atmosphere. Afterwards, it gets a lot cheesier, but in a wonderful manner. The film's strongest point is its uniquely bizarre villain, who is definitely unlike any other horror creature, at least as far as looks go. As opposed to the common blood-sucking we're used to, the film also introduces an utterly new kind of 'vampirism'... I don't want to give away too much, but I really think that most of my fellow Horror/cult-cinema fans should like this. The film is sometimes plain hilarious, and will make the viewer laugh out loud at some points, and then again it also has a nice, uncanny atmosphere. "The Brainiac" is a bizarre piece of Gothic Horror with Mad Sci-Fi elements that greatly entertains and furthermore has one thing that is always appreciated - originality. Highly recommended to cult-cinema enthusiasts.

This film is a terror classic, it must not be compared to any other film of horror genre, if you do compare it you will not like it, and try to remember this film was made in the 60's.In 1661, Baron Vitelius of Astara; is convicted of invoking the dead; this conviction is made by the holy inquisition of Spain. Vitelius, was wrongly murdered in a fire, and promised that he would come back to kill all of the inquisitors ancestors. In 1961, on a mysterious comet the Baron returns as a killer monster whom wants revenge for his death. He begins his terror by killing a man and taking his clothing, next his robs a bank and buys a house and begins extracting his revenge on the ancestors of the inquisitors. He almost kills them all, but things go wrong at a party when he is discovered to be 300 years old.