Directed by Alex Birrell
Eileen Daly, Joe zaso, Raine Brown
Zaso stars here as “Dr. Cornwall, an unhinged university professor who is responsible for a wave of violence caused by the experiments he performs at the school,” he tells Fango. “Raine plays Hannah, his estranged niece who goes to live with her crazy uncle (shades of RETURN OF SWAMP THING) and then unravels a frightening mystery at the school. Eileen Daly plays a wicked nurse named Nurse Audra who assists in the dark doings, and the cast also includes Billy Garberina from"NECROVILLE" and Eleanor James from Ivan Zuccon's "COLOUR FROM THE DARK. Also appearing are two names known well to British television viewers: "HOLLYOAKS"' Leon Lopez and "THE IT CROWD"'s Matt Berry.”
Eileen Daly and Joe Zaso first met director Alex Birrell when the latter served as "DARKNESS"' cinematographer; also encoring from the movie is composer Marco Werba, who was since tapped by Dario Argento to score his latest feature "GIALLO". The climatic and scheduling problems on this low-budget project are also familiar to Zaso, but he says, “While the weather in Liverpool might be freezing at the moment and the pace on the set hectic, the people here are amazingly kind, and the city itself has a very unique look and feel. It's a great place to make films. Alex is very meticulous in all departments, and his love of the Italian and Eurohorror styles has made the experience very positive.”
Joe Zaso said “The opportunity to film in England is so amazing; I'm in love with the country, the landscape and the people,” Brown adds. “"BRAINCELL" is such an artistic and atmospheric piece. My character is a big departure from the spunky leading ladies I usually play. She's lost, sad and trapped in a world that she does not understand. This film mixes the dream world into the already fantastical reality that Hannah is facing, so that one is never sure what the truth is.”
Birrell himself says, “This is a real rough-and-ready experience in microbudget filmmaking that will hopefully capture some of the demented anything-can-happen tone of a feverish nightmare.” It has clearly made an impression on Daly, who raves, “This has been the most exciting and chilling horror film that I've ever worked on. Alex is a true visionary. The gore effects are extraordinarily horrific!” Filmed in Liverpool this is a tale of mad doctors, science gone wrong and very gory killings. Eileen plays Nurse Audra assistant to a doctor working on the boundaries of science and unleashing horror as a result. The film is influenced by both Videodrome and Dreamscape as thoughts become flesh and technology becomes organic.
