There are a handful of science fiction movies that involve brain creatures. None of these movies are Academy Award caliber but most of them are interesting (well, to me). Here are my ten favorites, listed by release date.

1. Donovan’s Brain (1953) – A not-very-nice millionaire named Warren Donovan is injured in a plane crash. A scientist removes the brain and keeps it alive. But the brain can exert mind control and does so in evil ways. The brain is defeated in the end. This movie is based on the 1942 novel of the same name by author Curt Siodmak. The same idea was used in “The Brain” (1962) and “The Brain that Wouldn’t Die” (1962).

---

2. The Brain from Planet Arous (1957) – A criminal from the planet Arous named Gor comes to Earth. Gor is a floating brain with glaring eyes and he can possess people. Gor meets his end with an ax to his fissure of Rolando. Ouch.

---

3. Fiend without a Face (1958) – A scientist experiments with materializing his thoughts. A bad idea when the thoughts turn into murderous crawling brains. Excellent stop-motion special effects.

---

4. The Brain Eaters (1958) – The plot of this movie makes no sense at all and infuriatingly to me, changes directions repeatedly. The brain eaters are little brain-like parasites. Weird movie that has a certain charm, and also some of the best movie poster art of all time.

---

5. The Crawling Eye (1958) – A surprisingly effective film. A strange fog descends upon a mountain in the Alps. People who go into the fog don’t come out. The aliens are giant brains with an eye and tentacles. Known as the Trollenberg Terror in the UK where the film was made. This is my favorite movie on this list.

---

6. Journey to the 7th Planet (1962) – An international team travels to Uranus. Odd things happen. It turns out there’s an evil brain creature that can do mind control. This is a fairly decent film if you are a fan of bad B movies, like I am.

---

7. The Brain that Wouldn’t Die (1962) – A scientist’s fiance is critically injured in a car accident. He finds a way to keep her brain alive and searches a beauty pageant for a woman to transplant his fiance’s brain into. It doesn’t end well for anyone.

---

8. The Brain (1962) – Another brain-in-a-tray movie (like “The Brain that Wouldn’t Die” and “Donovan’s Brain”). In this version the brain looks for his own murderer with the help of the scientist who is keeping him alive.

---

9. The Thing (1982) – Scientists at an isolated Antarctica research station run into a nasty alien that can take on different shapes. One form is a creepy head/brain with crab-like legs.

---

10. The Brain (1988) – An evil scientist and a big bad alien brain creature use a TV show for mind control with a view towards world domination. A lot of B movie fans people like this film a lot but I rate it so-so at best.

---

Honorable Mention

---

11. The Space Children (1958) – features an alien that sort of looks like a brain. The (benevolent) alien can control people, including a group of children he uses to defuse the nuclear arms race. Not a very good movie, but I’ve seen worse.

---

12. This Island Earth (1955) – Aliens from the planet Metaluna come to earth to recruit scientists to help Metaluna in a war against another planet. The Metalunans have helper mutants that have large brains. But the brains aren’t separate so this movie doesn’t make my main list.

---

13. Frankenhooker (1990) – This is a not-very-funny comedy movie. A medical student tries to put his dead girlfriend back together using body parts from hookers. The brain doesn’t feature prominently so this movie doesn’t make my main list.

---

14. Big Trouble in Little China (1986) – I like this movie a lot. When Jack Burton (played by Kurt Russell) gets into the headquarters of the evil Lo Pan, a floating head creature menaces. When I first saw the movie, I thought it was a floating brain but it’s not so it doesn’t quite make my main list.

---

15. Mars Attacks (1996) – The aliens have large brains. This movie was directed by Tim Burton. I’m a big fan of his movies but not this one so much.

---

16. Robocop 2 (1990) – The brain of an evil drug dealer, Cain, is placed into a big robot. Robocop stops him/it.

---

17. The Creature from the Doom Game – I don’t play video games but I vividly remember the first time I saw Doom on a primitive PC in 1995. I was astonished by the combination of graphics, sound, and game-play, which was a quantum jump better than anything I’d seen before.

---

18. Project X (1968) – In the year 2118, the U.S. and China are the only two super powers. An American spy infiltrates China and learns of plans to destroy the U.S. but his memory is erased. U.S. scientists extract his brain to try and retrieve the information. This movie has a decent story but the execution isn’t very good.

---

19. In the “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” TV series, the season three episode “Monster from the Inferno” (1966) featured an alien brain creature. The brain is not nice and uses mind control to try and take over the Seaview submarine to pave the way for an invasion. Pretty good effects.

---

20. In Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” (2023), the adventurers (Edgin the planner, Holga the barbarian, Xenk the knight, Simon the wizard, Doric the elf-girl) are in the Underworld seeking the helmet of dysjunction. They are briefly menaced by intellect devourers — brain creatures about the size of a large dog that walk on two legs.

---

21. The Head (1959) – A middle-aged scientist creates a serum that keeps a dog’s severed head alive. The scientist has a heart attack and his younger assistant lops the older man’s head off and uses the serum to keep the head alive. A West German film that was dubbed into English and released in the U.S. in 1961. Not a good movie by any means but a bit better than I expected.

---

22. Re-Animator (1985), Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Beyond Re-Animator (2003) – Many people seem to like these movies, but I’m not a big fan. The movies don’t directly feature brains, but they have living heads so I sneak them onto this list.

---

23. The Man Without a Body (1957) A dying millionaire businessman wants to replace his brain with that of Nostradamus. Nostradamus is not fond of the idea. This movie is no award winner, but it’s not as bad as you might expect. I give this movie a C grade.

---