20 Aug

19:00

Eye Filmmuseum

IJpromenade 1, Amsterdam

A cult classic horror-comedy where a young man becomes addicted to a hallucinogenic 'juice' from a strange, phallic parasite, leading to a bizarre and gory journey.

Brain Damage

More info & tickets

A Queer Cult Classic

Queerness manifests in a multitude of ways and cinematically speaking Frank Henenlotter’s underground production Brain Damage is one of these. What about upstanding youth Brian whose hunger for the ‘juice’ from a micropenis-shaped parasite can scarcely be contained?

After its release in 1988, Frank Henenlotter’s second gore comedy was only screened at New York’s sleaziest cinemas. These were the days of the crack epidemic, AIDS was laying waste to the gay community and New York hadn’t been gentrified yet. Upstanding young man Brian (Rick Hearst) has his life upended when he is given a strange creature called Aylmer by his neighbour. The former looks like a mutant micropenis, attaches itself to Brian’s neck and injects him with a liquid hallucinant (the juice) after which the young man becomes euphorically, almost orgasmically high.

Part of Queer Power

This screening is part of the Queer Power series at Eye. Celebrate freedom, diversity, and inclusion with queer films from a wide range of countries and cultures in the spotlight all summer long.