VHS, Twisted Brain And Me

Back in the 90s during the CD boom, many music collectors would often say “I have that on vinyl”– out of nostalgia or maybe even some kind of status. And in the days of DVD and Blu-ray, people like myself would utter: “Oh, I have that on VHS.” Although the videotape is now replaced by a technologically superior format, the conceit is the same: to have some affection for an obsolete device possibly because it speaks to a simpler and more youthful time. As such, we’re all full of stories about how the video tape has played a part in our lives as a consumer, or as a collector.

As I mentioned in my piece on Interglobal Video, I unconditionally buy any VHS tape released by that company. (For a better and more detailed explanation why, I refer you to the article.) Yet, one title released by this label had eluded me for years. I finally procured my own copy of the Interglobal VHS from eBay, but before that, this title and I already had a “history”. I speak of no other than the horror schlock masterpiece, Twisted Brain.

This delightfully bad flick has a special resonance for me, because my cousin John (also mentioned in my post on Ronnie’s Variety) had told me about this movie for years. In the 1970s, this played constantly on Global television late at night, when they used to have a package of drive-in delights from Crown International. He and his friends would get together (in varying degrees of sobriety) to watch, and poke fun at it. His loving anecdotes about this piece of cult adulation had made me curious for a long time. One afternoon in 1987 during my lunch hour, when I worked as a delivery driver for a flower shop, I was strolling through Woolworth’s, and lo and behold: there was a copy of Twisted Brain for ten bucks! Why, what was a person to do, other than to call John right away and tell him about it?

Well, even though it was 12:30 in the afternoon, I had unknowingly gotten him out of bed, as I hadn’t realized he had just worked the night shift at the hotel. Nonetheless, he later told me that he did go to Woolworth’s in short order to pick it up. I had joked that one could see the burn marks from his tire treads all over the mean streets of Birdtown from hurriedly driving his car downtown to get it.

I should mention that John does not buy movies— but he bought a copy of Twisted Brain. That alone should give some testament to the power of this film. And remember, this was back in a day when the act of buying movies was still rare, as people would just rent films instead. The retail prices for pre-recorded VHS were prohibitively expensive in the 1980s– the only wallet-friendly videos one could buy would be cheap labels like Star Classics or Goodtimes, which carried public domain titles, or properties fairly inexpensive to license. Interglobal perhaps was the grandfather of all of these companies. As far as I know, it was the first to break ground in selling movies at department stores. To be sure, although you were getting a pre-recorded tape for ten bones (a steal in those days), you weren’t getting Criterion transfers. Decades later, a lot of these cheap tapes, transferred from already well-worn prints, are barely watchable to our “HD conditioned eyes” with their generational loss, persistent tracking problems and washed out colour. In all fairness, many of Interglobal’s titles are still actually pretty good… considering.

Their copy of Twisted Brain however looks like it was rescued from the bowels of Hell, and it is all the better for it. This film (originally titled Horror High) is a sordid “high-school nerd’s revenge” tale that is played to the nth degree. Vernon Potts (played by former child star Pat Cardi, of And Now Miguel and Let’s Kill Uncle) is the archetypal wallflower with greasy hair, horned-rimmed glasses, pen holder, and socially displaced from all except his science teacher and his pet guinea pig, Mr. Mumbles. However, Vernon soon develops a potion which turns him into a monster so he can get even with all the jocks and teachers who picked on him.

This movie was shot in 16mm (and as such, looks like a step above a home movie), then picked up by Crown International for distribution. Although there are lots of outrageous killings (including the scene where a janitor gets tossed in a vat of acid, causing John and his friends to yell out “Janitor in a drum!”, referring to a popular cleaning product of the time), I think the film’s tawdry nature is also an appeal to people like myself who have developed a soft spot for the movie. Perhaps because of its “home movie” feel, viewers may relate to it more, as it is something they could have made, and the locations are so generic, yet familiar, that they could easily be fragments of our own childhoods. And unless one was on the football team, there is likely a bit of Vernon in all of its viewers. Despite the novelty of football players like Joe Greene cast as police officers, and the hokey gore and violence, one has to hand it to the people for playing this movie straight. The excellent character actor Austin Stoker (of Assault On Precinct 13 and Battle For The Planet of the Apes) genuinely lends some class as the detective investigating all the campus murders.

Rhino acquired some Crown titles for its two-volume Horrible Horror boxed sets, including this flick. I haven’t seen that release, but apparently it was authored for DVD from a VHS source. (Code Red has since released it to DVD in its original release version of Horror High.) The Twisted Brain version sold by Interglobal, was the release that Crown altered for television, adding an overlong scene to its bizarre narrative, featuring Vernon’s parents on vacation- the only time you see them in the film. The Interglobal release gives a further otherworldly feeling with all the blotchy blues and reds that a cheap VHS transfer can offer. It even appears to be recorded from television with the commercials taken out! (There are even old-school squiggly video breaks where the edits likely occurred.) This threadbare presentation however actually compliments the film!

The legacy of Twisted Brain lives on, thanks to those who became enchanted by this grimy flick from its appearances on television or video. In the interim, Pat Cardi spent a lot of time on message boards sounding off about the thieves at Crown International, and hinting at a remastered version. I assume that he was referring to the eventual Code Red DVD cited above, and I’m very glad that it’s out there. Personally, I’m not sure I’d prefer it. This is a rare film whose luster is from its very grimy nature. Interglobal could’ve cared less I’m sure, but they’ve enhanced that feeling even more.