No room for posers here. This one’s for the real fans of “so bad it’s good” cinema as you truly need a high tolerance for low quality here. A healthy appreciation for classic blaxploitation movies is also recommended.
That being said – I really had a good time with “Insane in the Brain.” It’s rude, crude and stupid as s**t – like really f*****g stoopid – and it wears these badges proudly, thus the key to its success. It succeeds in rising above other hip-hop flavored horror films – “Bones,” Tales from the Hood” and “Leprechaun in the Hood”. Those flicks can suck zombie boner.
Speaking of zombie boner, you get a big one swatting you on the nose right from the get-go as h***y zombies rise from their graves in a cemetery located next to a whorehouse…excuse me…a ho house! Until I read the back of the DVD jacket, I honestly didn’t know that it was pheromones emanating from the whorehouse causing the dead to rise from their graves to seek brains and post-mortem coitus. This either says something about my attention to detail (or lack thereof) or the rambling nature of the storytelling. Methinks it’s a little of both. F**k it, I was having fun all the same.
Shuffling through the cemetery gates, the zombies are unleashed upon the city – only a few zombies, mind you. This is a low-budget feature after all. No full-scale zombie rampages here. One particularly randy corpse stumbles into the whorehouse next door and whines for “More Brains!” Yes, whines. I’ve always known zombies to demand “More brains!” and then violently obtain said delicacy. Not this zombie. And he isn’t exactly “whining,” it’s more of a cartoony zombie growl, but once you’ve repeated yourself several times and no one’s giving you what you want – you’re whining. But, being that brains are in short supply here, the zombie settles for a little head, resulting in a kill scene that attempts to overthrow Henenlotter’s death by b*****b scene in “Brain Damage.” It’s a nice try, but no cigar. Frank Henenlotter is the master and this is why the mere mention of his name to even the most hardened horror fanatic will turn him into a giggly little schoolgirl.
When the dead hookers start piling up, in come two superfly supercops – Goldie and Sloan. Did I mention that this flick takes place in the 70s? Well it certainly does and if you’re not sure about it yourself at first, you will be when you get a load of these Shaft wannabes. Yes, this is a zombie movie, but the bulk of its entertainment comes from these two bumbling knuckleheads – more specifically the non-sensical conversations they have with one another that rarely ever go anywhere. It doesn’t take long for Goldie and Sloan to figure out zombies are roaming about the city and that the creatures can’t stand prophylactics. So, armed with rubbers and mood rings that warn them of zombies in the proximity (given to them by a zombie savvy scientist no less), the cops prepare for war.
Again, this is a really stupid movie, but you’re always aware that the filmmakers are making it as such and thus draw more laughs from their audience than groans. The groans are there, too, but they’re fun groans. This whole movie is fun! It’s short, sticks to a fast, steady course, uses its budget well so you never feel like you’re watching some rinky dink home video and is loaded with hookers, pimps and zombies. But don’t let that four star rating up above fool you – that rating isn’t for everyone. That rating, and this review, is speaking to the few, the proud, the lovers of bad cinema. Take it from one of your own – “Insane in the Brain” is a welcome surprise and it doesn’t disappoint.
