The Film Detective’s release of the film is certainly music to the ears of fans who’ve had to sit through much lesser presentations over the years, and with a nice batch of bonus materials to go with it, it’s more than worthy of an upgrade. - Tim Salmons, The Digital Bits
Prasad provided digital film restoration for this film for The Film Detective's restoration team.
"The Brain from Planet Arous was shot by producer and cinematographer Jacques R. Marquette on 35 mm black-and-white film, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The Film Detective brings the film to Blu-ray for the first time from a “new 4K restoration” of what may or may not be an interpositive or internegative element, with the option of viewing it in the original 1.85:1 or more commonly seen 1.33:1 aspect ratio. It’s worth nothing that this release was made possible through Wade Williams, who owns a number of sci-fi and horror B movies from this era. Up until now, many of them (including this, Invaders from Mars, and Monster from Green Hell) have been unavailable on home video. As such, this presentation begins with a “Wade Williams Productions” logo before the film starts.
The positives are clear at the start as this is definitely a step up from lower quality presentations over the years. Grain is heavy to moderate, though the encode handles it well, allowing for fine clarity. Transitions, including fades and wipes, are intact, and the majority of the damage is limited to vertical scratches that occasionally run through the frame or along the sides—dependent upon which aspect ratio you’re watching the film in. The full frame presentation offers much more head room, perhaps too much, while the widescreen presentation is much tighter. Neither presentation really offers much substantially over the other, leaving it up to personal preference. Black and white gradations are decent with excellent shadow detail and strong blacks, though it also appears to be graded a bit too bright at times as whites occasionally wash out. It’s a mostly stable picture, though the element is clearly a bit worn as certain reels tend to waver. Otherwise, this is a very nice, and very much welcome, high definition presentation of the film."
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