Las sanguijuelas humanas

One of B-movie legend Bruno VeSota's three directorial efforts, 'The Brain Eaters' shows enough promise to make one wish he had split his time more evenly between acting and directing.

We are once again in the realms of 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' and 'I Married a Monster from Outer Space', with aliens trying to take over the population of an isolated American town. The spaceship turns out to have burrowed up from beneath the earth's surface, letting loose vindictive slug-like creatures which attach themselves to peoples necks, taking over their minds. Lots of Communist paranoia/infiltration undertones as usual.

The plot manages to lose itself despite a running time of only 60 minutes, but at least 'The Brain Eaters' recognises its limitations. The film prevents the normal ridicule caused by feeble special-effects by not having any and within the boundaries it sets itself, there is nothing to offend.

Like most releases from American International Pictures the film is primed for entertainment value, if not artistic merit, and it is none the worse for that.

I remember a particularly good scene where the camera follows one of the malevolent slugs point-of-view as it stalks its victim ready to latch onto the neck - an early influence on Spielberg for 'Jaws' maybe ??