He keeps his fiancée's severed head alive for days, along with a lumbering, malformed brute (one of his earlier failed experiments) imprisoned in a closet.

While driving to his family's country house, Bill and his beautiful fiancée Jan Compton become involved in a car accident that decapitates her.

Bill lures an old girlfriend, figure model Doris Powell, to his house, promising to study her scarred face for plastic surgery.

[2] Producer Rex Carlton suggested calling the film I Was a Teenage Brain Surgeon in the style of the similar titles of the time.

The monster in the closet was played, in his first cinematic role, by Eddie Carmel, a well-known Mandatory Palestine-born circus performer, who worked under the name "The Jewish Giant".

[7] The main theme, titled "The Web", was composed by Abe Baker and Tony Restaino and was noted for creating a sinister mood.

In a poll of Bring Back MST3K Kickstarter backers, which raised money for an eleventh season of the show, The Brain that Wouldn't Die was ranked #23.

The MST3K episode was released on VHS by Rhino Home Video in 1996 and as a single-disc DVD in April 2000;[13] the uncut version of the original movie was also included as a bonus feature.

[16] On his website Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings, Dave Sindelar gave the film a mostly negative review, noting that, although it managed to work up a certain amount of tension and featured some good gore effects, it was ruined by its lack of likable and intelligent characters and its "inability to decide just how it wants to be taken".

[17] Brian J. Dillard from AllMovie said of the film: "Hokey, overwrought, and poorly paced, this venerable creature feature still commands a sizable following on the basis of its campy, low-grade special effects, its T&A exploitation, and its many pseudo-philosophical soliloquies".

[21] Soon thereafter, Hollywood screenwriter Bruce Bernhard adapted the script as a staged musical comedy, creating a completely new score for it with songwriter Chris Cassone.

The official world premiere for The Brain That Wouldn’t Die!…the Musical was at the Footlight Players Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina on October 13, 2016.

This version expands on the original 1960s B-movie’s plot, adding contemporary themes such as body autonomy, ethical dilemmas in scientific experimentation, and the complexities behind good people making bad decisions.

With a professional cast and live musicians, the production highlights dark humor, bizarre science, and dramatic musical numbers.