One Friday night, over a quarter century ago, I remember watching channel 7 in Detroit (when TV stations actually showed MOVIES, not reruns and infomercials) when this little "gem" showed up as the latter end of a double feature.

Sure it was cheaply made, but hey, it was kind of cool to see the "janitor in the drum" (the product was undoubtedly the inspiration for the scene). And the "cleats"… ouch. Indeed, I can't recall EVER seeing a more violent movie on TV. Heck, theatrical releases and Showtime don't even get this far over the top. I mean, a barrel of acid, with a dissolving head in it is NOT something you see every day. This is most true definition of a "cult" film. I have no idea if this ever got released theatrically, but it's reputation spread to local stations, where it got slipped in very late at night, probably without the knowledge, much less the permission of the programming director. It clearly was meant to be a joke by the people that actually had to put the movies on the air. By the people who really could relate to the "creeper". And we are all grateful to them.

It's so GOOD to hear all these memories of paper cutters, cleats and acid baths are not mine alone! I was maybe 6 when I saw it on late night TV. It's haunted me ever since. Does anyone know where I can find a copy?

While very low-budget, this is still a pretty enjoyable simple horror film. A gawky, geeky high school student gets bullied by his teachers and classmates. He gets revenge.

How he gets revenge is foreshadowed by the fact that the movie begins during an English class in which the teacher has finished showing the first half of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde movie. Twisted Brain is itself a sort of Jekyll and Hyde remake. The student accidentally handed in a biology report instead of his paper on Stevenson, and the teacher gives him an F on the Stevenson report, and chops his biology paper up with her paper cutter. Those old paper cutters are like machetes! Turns out the student was working on a potion to change the physical strength of living creatures. After his guinea pig kills the janitor's cat, the janitor forces him to drink the potion for some reason, and there's conveniently a barrel of acid in the lab....

Meanwhile, he finds he's less shy in his normal form and starts warming up to a girl he had a crush on. Like Jekyll, the potion also starts trying to change him even when he hasn't drunk it.

I watched it on one of the DVDs in Rhino's Horrible Horrors Vol. 1 box set. It's not horrible, just cheap. Apart from the gore scenes, it almost feels like a Saturday morning TV movie. It's too bad there's not a commentary track.