| BrainWaves | |
| Director: | Ulli Lommel |
| Producer: | Ulli Lommel |
| Starring: | |
| Cinematography: | Jon Kranhouse |
| Editing: | Richard S. Brummer |
| Music: | Robert O. Ragland |
| Studio: | CinAmerica |
| Distributor: | Motion Picture Marketing |
| Runtime: | 77 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $2.5 million |
| Gross: | $3,111 |
BrainWaves is a 1982 American science fiction thriller film co-written and directed by Ulli Lommel, and starring Keir Dullea, Suzanna Love, Vera Miles, Paul Willson, Percy Rodriguez, Tony Curtis, Corinne Wahl, and Eve Brent. It follows a woman whose brain function is restored by a computer, with dangerous consequences.
Principal photography occurred at the Pettis Memorial Veterans Administration Hospital in Loma Linda, California, with additional shooting taking place in San Francisco.[1] Filming completed in April 1982.[2]
BrainWaves was given a limited regional theatrical release through Motion Picture Marketing, opening on November 19, 1982, in Austin, Texas[3] and Newport News, Virginia.[4] It earned $3,111 during its theatrical run.[5]
Patrick Taggart of the Austin American-Statesman wrote of the film: "It is all absolute twaddle and would have been unbearable had there not been the elements of a murder mystery to keep us interested. Brainwaves is about one pulse away from being braindead." Henry Edgar of the Daily Press gave the film a mixed review, noting that "the idea is intriguing and offer potentional for a true thriller. But the action plods so slowly you might fall asleep before you realize why a more skillful director could keep you awake all night with the same plot."[6]
Time Out published a retrospective review in 2012, describing the film as "a black hole for fading stars in which Dr. Curtis kindly operates on the heroine (Love) who is in a coma after suffering a traumatic blow to the brain. The donor is a murder victim, unexpectedly supplying not only motor reflexes but memories, so that the poor recipient is soon being stalked herself."[7]
Embassy Home Entertainment released BrainWaves on VHS in 1986.[8] Image Entertainment released a DVD edition of the film in 2002.[9]