An angry woman, Leila Adams (Corinne Wahl), kicks an unidentified man out of her house. She then decides to take a bath to relax. While in the tub, the man returns and throws a radio into the tub electrocuting the woman. Her body is taken to the hospital for an autopsy. While there, the woman’s brainwaves are mapped to use for experimental purposes. Dr. Clavius (Tony Curtis) is the doctor in charge of the brainwave extraction.
Kaylie Bedford (Suzanna Love) is a vibrant young woman living in San Francisco with her husband, Julian (Keir Dullea), her young son, Danny (Ryan Seitz) and her mother, Marian Koonan (Vera Miles). Kaylie goes out to run a quick errand at a nearby convenience store. On her return she is hit by a car and sustains a serious head injury, leaving her in a coma. Kaylie’s doctor, Dr. Robinson (Percy Rodriques) tells Julian that Kaylie’s brain is performing normal life sustaining functions but the odds of Kaylie regaining consciousness are remote.
Dr. Clavius and his associate, Dr. Schroder (Paul Wilson), approach Julian about using Kaylie as a test subject. Dr. Clavius wants to use the brainwaves harvested from the electrocuted woman on Kaylie to see if it will help her in any way. Kaylie becomes the first human for the experimental brainwave transplant procedure. The procedure is successful, but the road to recovery is long and arduous. Kaylie must relearn how to walk, talk and function normally. In addition her memories of her life and family are slowly returning.
One evening, while at home taking a bath, Kaylie has a memory of being killed. The doctors think she is hallucinating and creating false memories. More memories from the murdered woman begin to invade Kaylie’s thoughts. Eventually the doctors think that Kaylie may have been the recipient of some of Lelia’s memories as well as her functions. To prove that Kaylie is really remembering, Julian and Kaylie begin searching for the killer. Their only hope is to find him before he finds them.
“BrainWaves” AKA “Mind Games” was released in 1982 and was written, produced and directed by Ulli Lommel. It is an American science fiction horror thriller.
The movie didn’t do all that well at the box office, but I thought it wasn’t all that bad. The mystery of who the killer is weaves its way through the film and makes it more interesting. Without that element the film would have been a little plodding. The first part of the film had a few physical therapy montages that pad some of it. It’s the mystery element that keeps you watching.
The plot is one that I’ve seen before, or at least something similar from transplant style horror films. Movies like “Hauser’s Memory” 1970, “Hands of a Stranger” 1962, and “Deadly Visions” 2004 all touch on variations of similar themes. Even “Frankenstein” had a similar vibe. In “Frankenstein” it’s done with some impressive panache, but here it’s done with bland indifference. There is some suspenseful atmosphere but not enough to make it a great movie. Watchable, yes, but it’s not going to be on anyone’s top ten list.