Random Brainscan Is the Best '90s Horror Moviee, And It Still Rocks In Its Own Way (14 items)

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  (#1) Teen Heartthrob Edward Furlong Stars, Fresh Off 'Pet Sematary Two'

  Perhaps the most '90s of all child actors, Edward Furlong was a hot commodity when he took the lead role in Brainscan. The teen hearthrob was coming fresh off starring roles in high profile genre sequels Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Pet Sematary Two. In Brainscan, he plays Michael, a lonely horror fan with a high-tech attic bedroom and a limp from a crash that claimed his mother's life.

  Michael wears baggy shirts, hosts a banned horror club at school, and secretly tapes his attractive neighbor (Amy Hargreaves) through her bedroom window - the ultimate trifecta of questionable '90s tropes.
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  (#2) The Film Relates The Tale Of A Haunted CD-ROM Game

  When horror nerds Michael (Furlong) and his best friend Kyle (Jamie Marsh) read about a CD-ROM game in the back of a Fangoria issue offering "the ultimate experience in interactive terror," they have to try it out, even though Michael dismisses the ad as "just hype."

  Naturally, when the disc comes in the mail and Michael tries the game for the first time, he finds himself involved in a string of slayings that may be more real than he bargained for. Coming hot on the heels of such '90s gems as Lawnmower Man and Arcade, Brainscan is an early take on virtual-reality horror, albeit with more atmosphere and less reliance on low-rent, early '90s CGI.
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  (#3) The Trickster Is A Weird, Punk Rock Fop

  Because Brainscan was a horror movie in the early '90s, it needed a gimmicky villain in the Freddy Krueger/Pinhead mold. In this case, the role was filled by a character called "the Trickster." The mullet-sporting computer game mascot materializes out of Michael's haunted CD-ROM in order to taunt, tempt, and goad the teen. The Trickster is intended to be both "comic and scary," and is dressed up like a bizarre punk rock fop, complete with a nose ring, crushed red velvet coat, and leather pants.

  According to T. Ryder Smith, who portrays the Trickster in the film, the designers initially envisioned a "military/bondage theme" for the character before director John Flynn told them to "think rock and roll, not S/M."

  In trying to convey the Trickster's outlandish appearance, critics described him as "Adam Ant in a Halloween mask" and "a cadaverous character who looks something like Alice Cooper on the third day of the wake." 
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  (#4) Classic Horror Actor Frank Langella Broke The 'Tough Cop' Trope

  Detective Hayden, the police officer trying to end the Trickster's reign of terror, should look familiar to horror buffs. After all, he's played by legendary actor Frank Langella, who terrified audiences as the eponymous vampire in 1979's Dracula. He also appeared in heavy makeup as Skeletor in Masters of the Universe just a few years prior to Brainscan. 

  In an interview with Shock Cinema, director John Flynn praised Langella's work in the film, saying, "Frank took what was a routine cop part and lent real depth to it. He played against the tough cop stereotype, played it very gently and softly, but there was a subtext of steel."
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  (#5) The Soundtrack Features '90s Rock Bands Like White Zombie, Butthole Surfers, And Mudhoney

  Composer George S. Clinton wrote Brainscan's Spaghetti Western-esque main theme. He also composed the score to another '90s classic: Mortal Kombat. However, the rest of the soundtrack is more intriguing, and features songs by White Zombie, the Butthole Surfers, Mudhoney, Pitchshifter, and more.

  Plenty of other bands pop up on t-shirts and posters throughout the film. The album cover and poster art for Aerosmith's Get a Grip feature prominently in several shots. Furlong had even starred in the video for "Livin' on the Edge," one of the album's hits.

  Metallica, AC/DC, and Alice Cooper are among the other artists who appear in background shots. In fact, a nearly life-size cutout of Alice Cooper can be found on the side of Michael's fridge.
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  (#6) '90s Flannel Takes Center Stage

  Most of the film's characters opt for a very '90s layered look that's heavy on flannel. Michael's best friend Kyle takes his sartorial taste a step further: Throughout most of the film, he wears one flannel shirt and has another tied around his waist - truly the pinnacle of '90s fashion.
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  (#7) The Trickster Dances To A Primus Track

  When the Trickster first appears in Michael's room, he flips through his CDs, throwing them aside one by one before asking, "Don't you have anything good?" He then produces a disc from inside his coat, climbs atop the furniture while growling, "From the top of the charts to a space in your heart," and proceeds to dance to Primus's "Welcome to This World."

  According to T. Ryder Smith, he tried out three different variations of the dance before he and director John Flynn found the one that worked.
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  (#8) The Trickster Originally Used An Ornate, Shakespearean Vocabulary

  Brainscan was T. Ryder Smith's big-screen debut. Smith had previously worked primarily on stage, and when he auditioned for the part, he expected it to be a voice-only role. In recalling the transition from off-screen voice to on-screen presence, Smith said:

  My agent called a few days later and said they were interested in me for the part, but wanted to know if I would be willing to be seen “on camera a little." I said, “Sure,” and they called again a few minutes later and said, “Um, on camera wearing a prosthetic chin. Or something.” I said yeah, that was fine, and had no idea what I was in for when they called a third time and asked, “So, are you allergic to make-up?”

  When Smith first auditioned for the part, the character was significantly different than his final onscreen appearance. Earlier versions of the Trickster utilized an "ornate, even pseudo-classical" vocabulary. Smith recalled, "I was amused to walk into the audition and see several actors I had worked with doing Shakespeare plays."
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  (#9) The Trickster's Actor Also Provided The Voice Of Igor

  To foreshadow Michael's interest in the film's eponymous CD-ROM game, the teen's high-tech bedroom features numerous horror movie posters. The room also boasts a type of early digital assistant, a voice-activated computer character named Igor who mostly dials the phone for Michael and alerts him when someone is calling. Igor's voice - which replies to verbal commands with things like, "Yes, Master" - is provided by Smith, who also plays the Trickster.

  As Smith later recalled, producer Michel Roy was still looking for someone to voice Igor when the actor volunteered. Smith provided multiple variations of the voice, including imitations of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Peter Lorre. Roy ultimately chose the Karloff version for the film. Smith said, "We never told anyone I did the voice, and it wasn't listed in the credits. I laugh every time I hear it."
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  (#10) 'Brainscan' Was The First Produced Screenplay By 'Se7en' Scribe Andrew Kevin Walker

  Adapted from a story by Brian Owens, who wrote and directed the 1992 slasher film Happy Hell Night, Brainscan was the first feature-length screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker to be produced. Walker would go on to much greater fame the following year with the screenplay for Se7en. Walker's other screenplay credits include Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow and the 2010 remake of The Wolfman starring Benicio Del Toro.

  According to director John Flynn, Walker "thoroughly researched that whole VR scene" for the screenplay.
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  (#11) The Director Wasn't A Fan Of Edward Furlong

  Furlong may have been a hot commodity when Brainscan was released, but director John Flynn wasn't a fan. "Eddie Furlong was a 15-year-old kid who couldn't act," he later told Shock Cinema. "You had to 'slap him awake' every morning."

  Not everyone had such a negative impression of the young actor, however. Smith remembered Furlong as a "shy and genuine guy, trying to navigate the pressures of early fame as well as some difficult personal situations. It wasn’t easy, and he did it with a lot of dignity. He was serious about the work in the film, too, always trying to get it better each take."
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  (#12) One Of The Director's Prior Films Inspired Quentin Tarantino

  Before making Brainscan, director John Flynn had worked on more than a dozen other movies. He worked with many of the biggest actors in the business, directing Steven Seagal in Out for Justice and Sylvester Stallone in Lock Up. One of his best-known films, however, was the 1977 revenge thriller Rolling Thunder, starring William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones.

  Director Quentin Tarantino liked Rolling Thunder so much that he borrowed the name for his short-lived specialty label at Miramax, Rolling Thunder Pictures. The distribution company was intended "to give the theatrical experience to films that might never be seen in this country."
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  (#13) The Characters Read Plenty Of 'Fangoria'

  "Watching a couple of teenagers into horror, gum-flapping away on the phone, thumbing through a print issue of Fangoria, and getting excited about a CD-ROM game is a microcosm of '90s flashbacks," says a Dread Central review of the Brainscan Blu-ray. Luckily for Fangoria fans, there are plenty of shots of the magazine in the film.

  Michael and Kyle initially find the Brainscan game through an ad in Fangoria #95, which features a cover story on Total Recall. Other issues that appear in the film include #111, the first to feature the annual Chainsaw Awards.
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  (#14) The Director Was Inspired By Val Lewton's 'Cat People'

  Dread Central describes Brainscan as a "dark, moody movie." Eagle-eyed horror fans will find plenty of classic horror movie posters on Michael's bedroom walls, and his school's horror club actually watches part of a 1973 Spanish film called The Dracula Saga. The film's gloomy atmosphere may be inspired by Val Lewton's classic 1942 film Cat People.

  Smith recalled that Flynn "was always trying to find ways to achieve Brainscan's effects atmospherically, via mood and implication." The director talked about Lewton's Cat People and "how deftly he had been able to create a sense of dread with just shadows and sound and editing." There are even a couple "Lewton bus" scenes in Brainscan, such as when a patroling police car startles Michael near a construction site.

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