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

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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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  (#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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  (#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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  (#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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  (#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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