The Brain Eaters is a 1958 science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

-horror film

Horror film

Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 about alien parasites who invade the small Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 town of Riverdale

Riverdale, Illinois

Riverdale is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,055 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Riverdale is located at ....

 and are able to take over any living thing, mind and body, by attaching themselves to their host's back and inserting two mandibles into the base of their spines. The film was directed by Bruno VeSota and stars Ed Nelson

Ed Nelson

Edwin Stafford Nelson is an American actor.Nelson has appeared in numerous television shows, more than fifty motion pictures, and hundreds of stage productions. Until 2005, he was teaching acting and screenwriting in his native New Orleans at two local universities there...

, Alan Jay Factor, Joanna Lee

Joanna Lee (actor)

Joanna Lee was an American actress, writer and producer.-Early life:Lee was born in Newark, New Jersey; by the time she was 20, she was a divorced single mother with a son, Craig Lee.-Career:...

, with a brief appearance by Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....

 (name misspelled in 10th place in the credits as "Leonard Nemoy").

Plot

Alien parasites are discovered by a team of local scientists who have been studying a mysterious, three-story-tall, cone-shaped object which has appeared outside the town. It quickly becomes obvious that the first victims of the parasites, parasites which take over a person's mind and make them subservient, are the town's leading citizens. Next in line were communication functionaries where citizens were given additional parasites so that the town can become a facilitation point for spreading further parasites across the country.

Cast

• Ed Nelson
  Ed Nelson
  Edwin Stafford Nelson is an American actor.Nelson has appeared in numerous television shows, more than fifty motion pictures, and hundreds of stage productions. Until 2005, he was teaching acting and screenwriting in his native New Orleans at two local universities there...
  
   as Dr. Paul Kettering (as Edwin Nelson)
• Alan Jay Factor as Glenn Cameron (as Alan Frost)
• Cornelius Keefe as Senator Walter K. Powers (as Jack Hill)
• Joanna Lee
  Joanna Lee (actor)
  Joanna Lee was an American actress, writer and producer.-Early life:Lee was born in Newark, New Jersey; by the time she was 20, she was a divorced single mother with a son, Craig Lee.-Career:...
  
   as Alice Summers
• Jody Fair as Elaine Cameron
• David Hughes as Dr. Wyler
• Robert Ball as Dan Walker
• Greigh Phillips as the Sheriff
• Orville Sherman as Mayor Cameron
• Leonard Nimoy
  Leonard Nimoy
  Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
  
   as Professor Cole (as Leonard Nemoy)

Production

After the film was released, it was clear that scenarist Gordon Urqhart had based his screenplay on the novel The Puppet Masters

The Puppet Masters

The Puppet Masters is a 1951 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein in which American secret agents battle parasitic invaders from outer space...

by Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein

Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...

. Heinlein sued for plagiarism and executive producer Roger Corman

Roger Corman

Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...

, avowing he was unfamiliar with Heinlein's work when presented with the script and during production, but could see the obvious references, settled out of court with a $5000 payment to Heinlein and an accession to Heinlein's insistence he receive no screen credit, as he found the film "wanting".