In the seventeenth century, the Baron Vitelius of Astara is burned at the stake by the Holy Inquisition on Mexico for basically being more or less a scientist, sorcerer, and hedonist. As he perishes, he vows his revenge upon the descendants of the inquisitors when the comet in the sky above returns in three centuries! Fast forward from 1661 to 1961. Reinaldo and Victoria are astronomy students, who, along with their professor, are waiting eagerly for the return of the comet. But as quickly as it appears, and a piece of it falls to Earth, the comet mysteriously vanishes. Little do they know that the Baron has returned... in the form of a brain sucking monster! The Brainiac (as it is known in the US) is a classic midnight monster movie. Though it features some impressive visuals at times, this is firmly in the realm of B-grade schlock. Most of the movie consists of the Baron killing his enemies, over and over and over again. But the joy of it is just how bizarre it is. Think of it as a kind of proto-H. Tjut Djalil movie replete with an ugly-ass monster. In the history of weird movie monsters, the Baron is certainly one of the best. Few are as bizarre and genuinely terrifying. As I like to say, this is the stuff of nightmares. The Brainiac also boasts an insane ending involving nothing less than giant flamethrowers. But, overall, it is just an okay movie, a little too repetitive in getting to where it goes.
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