The mind is a terrible thing to taste!

If you ask the average horror fan to name one Mexican horror film, chances are that they'll answer The Brainiac (original Mexican title, El Baron del Terror). Why is this picture so (in)famous? Because in the 100 plus years of cinematic history, there's never been anything quite like it.

The film opens at the trial of Baron Vitelius, accused of (among other things) seducing married women and maidens, using corpses to tell the future and practicing dogmatism! He's sentenced to being humiliated and tortured -- and when he laughs off the humiliation and welcomes the torture, he's condemned to be burned at the stake as well. (He should have quit while he was ahead). Before being burned, he makes the chains that bind him disappear and tells the judges that he'll be back to kill all descendants of the tribunal. A comet flies overhead and he states that when that comet returns, so will he. His friend, Miranda, tries to defend him at the trial and gets 200 lashes for his trouble.

Ahead 300 years, in 1961, the comet returns to Mexico and a large piece lands on Earth. It dissolves into a figure with a long forked tongue, oversized head and suction-cup fingers &emdash; the Brainiac. The monster finds a man wandering in the woods and immediately sucks out his brains, using his tongue as a straw. He then makes his victim's clothes disappear and reappear on his own body. They fit beautifully.

Meanwhile, two young astronomers, Ronnie (descendant of Miranda) and Victoria (descendant of one of the judges at Baron Vitelius' trial) search for the fallen comet. They come across the creature, who now looks just like Abel Salazar. They exchange pleasantries and go their own ways. The reborn Vitelius moves on to a bar where he meets a young floozy (played by Ariadna Welter, star of the El Vampiro series.) He momentarily disappears, then reappears right next to her. If this isn't enough to make her suspicious, he then stares at her maniacally and refuses to answers any of her questions. Instead of being cooled off, she likes his style and tries to seduce him. He responds by turning into the Brainiac and sucking out her cerebral cortex. A short time later, while walking down the street, he meets a prostitute and gives her the same treatment. Having satisfied his hunger, the Baron now gets down to business. He invites all the descendants of those who condemned him to a party. They ask him to join them in a drink, but in dialogue typical to K. Gordon Murray's English-dubbed films, he declines stating, "Liquor does me damage; I once had a very strange disease." Vitelius does take time out from the party to open a cabinet and take a spoonful of brain that he keeps in a bowl.

In the days following the party, he visits each of the descendants and one by one, eliminates them. In a rather perverse touch, before killing each, he makes the male victims watch as he first seduces, then sucks the brain matter from the women in their lives. The baron invites Ronnie and Victoria (the last of the descendants) to his home for dinner. He gets Victoria alone and tells her that although he loves her, his hate is even stronger. Ronnie snooping around in another room, finds the bowl of brains and senses that things are not quite kosher (neither are the brains). He rushes in to save Victoria. Two policemen also arrive around the same time, leading to the fiery conclusion.

The plot of The Brainiac has similarities to Black Sunday, the classic Barbara Steele / Mario Bava film, made just a year earlier. It also has elements of Fiend Without a Face (the brain-sucking monster) produced in 1958. However, The Brainiac is filled with a surreal charm, unmatched by those, or most other films of that (or any other) period.

The cast is fine. Salazar is much more effective here, playing the villain, then he was in his bland hero roles in films like Hombre y el Monstruo (Man and the Monster) and El Vampiro (The Vampire). He sports a suave manner one moment, only to turn viciously evil seconds later.

Salazar is well supported by German Robles (Nostradamus, El Vampiro) and Ariadna Welter in victim roles, and Mauricio Garces (World of the Vampires, The Living Head) as a medical examiner. Even the policeman and his comical sidekick are less annoying than usual.

If one wanted to quibble, he or she might wonder why a man who could make others do his bidding, could disappear and reappear at will and could make chains vanish from his very body, would allow himself to be burned at the stake in the first place. But if what you want is logic, you'd be better served looking elsewhere. If you (like I) enjoy bizarrely entertaining films, then The Brainiac is one of the best. Just check your brains at the door and enjoy.

(The English dubbed version of the film was viewed for this review.)