This cult film has male nudity, trans allegory, and an extremely phallic puppet
Brain Damage, a 1988 film that’s about as unhinged as it gets.Set in the pre-NYU takeover days of New York, the film concerns Brian, a young man who goes to bed with flu symptoms and wakes up with a slithering, talking penis puppet on his hands.
Yup, that’s what happens. I swear I’m not making this up. This penis puppet is named Aylmer, and is apparently (as we learn about halfway through, because this movie is allergic to exposition) is an ancient creature who’s been passed on for centuries, finally falling into the hands of two professors.
At the start of the movie, they’ve been harboring Aylmer in their bathtub and keeping him weak by feeding him animal brains.Because what Aylmer really wants is human brains.
And he has an extremely gay way of getting them. It’s at this point that I will proudly point out that within the first five minutes of watching this film, I had already hit upon a convincing trans allegory.
