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Braincell

Braincell (2010) Movie Poster
UK  •    •  100m  •    •  Directed by: Alexander Birrell.  •  Starring: Raine Brown, Joe Zaso, Eileen Daly, Billy Garberina, Eleanor James, Dane Brookes, Adam Caslin, Lynn Lock, Leon Lopez, Matt Berry, Rebecca Courtney.  •  Music by: Marco Werba.
      At a university in Liverpool, a wave of violence is spread due to the strange experiments of Dr. Joseph Cornwall. His estranged niece Hannah arrives from the United States to live with her uncle and soon after, she uncovers a horrifying mystery.

Trailers:

   Length:  Languages:  Subtitles:
 1:48
 
 

Review:

Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
Image from: Braincell (2010)
I write this review from the perspective of someone who has been a mere watcher of films for more than 50 years, with a particular interest in the horror genre, but without any practical involvement in the making of films. I appreciate that in the eyes of some people this limits the credibility of any comments that I make and is a situation that I have borne in mind in offering this my first ever film review.

I have been looking forward to the release of 'Braincell' for some time as it includes in its cast four people whose work I have developed a huge respect for in recent years. Joe Zaso and Raine Brown impressed me with their excellent performances in Timo Rose's 'Barricade' and I was eager to see if they could transfer their acting affinity to Braincell in vastly different roles. I have been an admirer of the work of Eileen Daly for approx 10 years and her film 'Razor Blade Smile' ranks among my favourite films of all time. Eleanor James is a young English actress who immediately attracted my attention through her comparatively small role in 'Forest of the Damned' and later in 'Fearmakers'. She is an actress who is capable of capturing the viewer's attention through her facial expression during any scene. I suspect that this is due to her experience of working as a model. The term "The camera likes her" comes to mind. I am pleased to say that after viewing this film, my high expectations of the performances from all four of these actors was fulfilled and I consider the money spent on importing this DVD from the USA was well spent.

Raine and Joe prove once again that they combine well when starring together in a film. On this occasion they perform the roles of antagonists. Eileen Daly performs the role of a very sinister nurse in a part which is tailor made for her. In fact, I cannot think of any other actress who could have played this particular role as effectively. Eleanor James is developing into a fine actress and gives a performance in this film which reinforces my view that one of her strengths is the ability to convey a message from her character with effective use of facial expression (combination of eyes and mouth).

The mood of the film owes a lot to the effective use of Argento style bright colouring contrasting with dark tones and shadows plus appropriate application of background music score by Marco Werba who was associated with Dario Argento's 'Giallo'. This has the effect of gripping attention and creating the tension in the interesting storyline relating to a brainwashingdream therapy experiment in a Liverpool University which goes wrong with dramatic results. This use of colour is even applied to cosmetics and hairstyle! I particularly liked the impressive utilisation of colour in the outdoor park scenes with excellent framing of shots. This effect reminds me of the use of infra red film and suitable filters in pre digital photography. I appreciate that his style of colour use is not to every persons visual taste but it certainly receives a big thumbs up from me! The pace of the film is well regulated - starting slowly and then gently moving through the tension gears as the body count increases and the story unfolds with more people being drawn into the whirlpool of terror created by the experiments as events lead to a frenzied and unexpected finale.

The additional features on the DVD version which I viewed contained two commentaries by Joe & Raine and Alex Birrell (the director), a photo gallery and trailers.


Review by regdyer-752-589598 from the Internet Movie Database.