Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

MartinHafer Interestingly, this film was produced and directed by William Conrad--THAT William Conrad. Yes, the one who played Cannon on TV back in the 1970s! "Brainstorm" stars Jeffery Hunter (here billed as 'Jeff Hunter'), Anne Francis and Dana Andrews. It begins with Francis attempting suicide and a stranger, Hunter, saving her and bringing her home to her husband--a man of is extremely rich and powerful. Soon after, Francis begins contacting Hunter. She's bored and wants him to play with her! He resists at first but soon they become lovers. This is a problem since she's married and because when Andrews learns about this, he appears to be a clever and vindictive man and makes Hunter's life very, very difficult. So, Hunter concocts a plan--since Andrews is making people think he's crazy, let's go all the way--fake being crazy so he can then get away with killing Andrews! While all this might sound a bit hard to believe, stick with this film. It's so well-written and directed that towards the end you start to realize that there's FAR more to the movie. I could say more but it could spoil the film. Let's just say that Hunter does a great job and all the loose ends seem accounted for and well done. A nearly perfect suspense film. Just stick with this one, as it only gets better and better as the film continues. Excellent in every way.

bpmovies Certainly, the movie is worth the watch.Insane or not Insane? That is the Question! What is the answer? (See my board post which answers that but contains spoilers there.) Well, you better take notes and watch carefully, because you might have to go back and re-watch a few scenes. Yeah, one of those nice suspense movies. :) The director here is in tune with the message, and will play with you using a tiny bit of Hitchcock like style, but it's a well crafted movie. Yes, there are some rough spots around the edges, but one should certainly watch it for the great story and pretty good acting by both the scientist and the women.Break out the popcorn and watch the end closely! Good movie for the time period. Still fits for today. Nicely directed.

moonspinner55 After being seduced by the unstable wife of his millionaire boss, a brilliant young engineer concocts a crackpot plan for the two to be together: murder her husband and then convince a panel of psychiatrists that he is clinically insane (the rationale being, I assume, that incarceration in a mental asylum is much preferable to prison!). Warner Bros. potboiler with a television budget--another in a string of pulpy, somewhat-sleazy yarns to be directed by William Conrad--is engrossing and enjoyable, even as it fails to come to much. Conrad works well with his actors while concentrating firmly on his narrative, however his scene transitions are amateurish and his work is not helped by the TV drama-styled editing (not to mention the melodramatic music cues). Jeffrey Hunter (curiously billed as Jeff Hunter) begins the film behaving like a staunch, overgrown Boy Scout, but by the second-half really goes out on a limb with the tics, cold sweats, and stammers of a man driven half-mad by desire. Screenwriter Mann Rubin preys upon the viewer's fear of insanity by setting our hero up as a dupe, a willing 'Gaslight' victim who may not be one-hundred-percent in the head anyway. There are no surprise twists to the plot, nor do Conrad or Rubin mean this to be a cautionary tale for would-be illicit lovers. It's rather a squarely straightforward tale with incidental characters (such as Viveca Lindfors' sweetly smiling doctor) who are never fully explained and a finale that is meant to be highly shocking. **1/2 from ****

secragt Lots of small pleasures in this strangely compelling William Conrad-directed mid-60s noir sleeper. Among other things, the unusual cast is very game. Sci-Fi veterans Jeffrey Hunter (the first Captain of the Enterprise) and Anne Francis (the cause of Walter Pidgeon's "Monsters of the Id" from FORBIDDEN PLANET) team up in this effort to hoodwink the system by having Hunter feign insanity. Hunter, whose tragic life seems to mirror his desperate character here, is impressive in a demanding role requiring more emoting than he generally showed in his more typically laconic choices. Hammer veteran Viveca Lindfors is particularly effective in the analyst role, appearing to be sympathetic and caring but really only doing her own cold-blooded job. Cast is rounded out by noir vet Dana Andrews. It's a shame Conrad didn't really pursue directing much after this effort; the clever little script takes a different approach to psychotherapy and insanity which is well-suited to the low budget Conrad had to work with. The music, cinematography and fashions are all pure mid-60s, a compliment to a bygone era full of excesses but also occasionally blessed with productive experimentation. I would count this movie as one of the productive attempts, particularly worthy of your time if you're a noir or Star Trek Classic fan. Not a masterpiece, but certainly worthy of the cult status it has attained over the years. 8/10