# Brainstorm (1983 film)
**Brainstorm** is a 1983 American science fiction thriller directed by Douglas Trumbull, in which researchers invent a device that records a person's sensory and emotional experiences so they can be replayed by someone else, and the military moves to seize the invention. It stars [Christopher Walken](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher-walken), Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher, and [Cliff Robertson](https://www.edgepedia.org/cliff-robertson), and is best known as Wood's final film; she died during production.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864) • [2](https://movingimage.org/archived-events/brainstorm-in-70mm/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / producer | Douglas Trumbull, the visual-effects artist behind *2001: A Space Odyssey*, *Close Encounters of the Third Kind*, and *Blade Runner*; his second feature after *Silent Running* (1971)[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/309216/brainstorm-1983) |
| Cast | Christopher Walken (Michael Brace), Natalie Wood (Karen Brace), Louise Fletcher (Dr. Lillian Reynolds), Cliff Robertson (Alex Terson)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864) |
| Writers | Robert Stitzel and Philip Frank Messina, from a story by Bruce Joel Rubin[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864) |
| Release | 30 September 1983 (MGM); 175 70mm prints for exclusive initial engagements, believed at the time the largest 70mm opening to date[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864) |
| Cost and gross | Final cost reported at $18 million; domestic gross $10,219,460[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864) • [4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085271/) |
| Format | Point-of-view sequences shot in 65mm at a 2.2:1 ratio, the rest in 35mm at 1.66:1, with sound shifting between mono and Dolby stereo[5](https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1959_super_panavision/1983_brainstorm/in_65mm/index.htm) |
| Reception | 57% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (21 reviews); Metascore 57 on Metacritic (14 critic reviews)[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003017-brainstorm) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/brainstorm/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Scientists Michael Brace (Walken) and Lillian Reynolds (Fletcher) develop a system that records and plays back a person's thoughts and sensory experiences onto tape, allowing another person to feel what the subject felt, including emotions.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003017-brainstorm) The project spins out of control as the team explores intense sexual and near-death experiences; when Reynolds suffers a fatal heart attack, she records her own death, and Brace later plays the tape back.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003017-brainstorm) • [8](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/09/30/brainstorm-a-bad-idea/ab51ca94-6db0-4974-aa1c-ad84952c0221/) Meanwhile Brace's marriage to Karen (Wood), a product designer, is near collapse, and his boss Alex Terson (Robertson) wants to sell the invention to the military; Michael and Karen work together to keep it from the government.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/309216/brainstorm-1983)
## Production history
**Origins in Showscan.** Producer Joel Freedman brought the project to Trumbull in 1977.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/309216/brainstorm-1983) The film was originally developed at Paramount as the first feature released in Showscan, Trumbull's high-speed 70mm process that photographed and projected at 60 frames per second, more than double the standard 24, to create what Trumbull described as a tremendous illusion of three-dimensionality.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/309216/brainstorm-1983) • [5](https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1959_super_panavision/1983_brainstorm/in_65mm/index.htm) Paramount chairman Charlie Bluhdorn wanted a film that would be partly normal and partly Showscan, but the exhibition technology proved prohibitively expensive, and Paramount abandoned both the project and Showscan development.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/309216/brainstorm-1983) • [5](https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1959_super_panavision/1983_brainstorm/in_65mm/index.htm)
**The dual-format solution.** Trumbull then reworked the concept for MGM: the point-of-view sequences, the material of the mind, would be shot in full-aperture 65mm at 2.2:1 and shown with full Dolby stereo, while the rest of the film was shot in 35mm at 1.66:1 with mono sound, so the recorded experiences felt more vivid than reality rather than gauzy like conventional flashbacks.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/309216/brainstorm-1983) • [5](https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1959_super_panavision/1983_brainstorm/in_65mm/index.htm) The 35mm material was optically fitted into 65mm negatives so a complete 65mm negative assembly could be made, then reduced back to 35mm retaining both aspect ratios.[5](https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1959_super_panavision/1983_brainstorm/in_65mm/index.htm)
**The screenplay.** The film was based on Bruce Joel Rubin's original screenplay, titled *The George Dunlap Tape*; Rubin received onscreen credit for the story.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864) Trumbull said the original script was too complex, dense with ideas but weak in character development, and screenwriter Robert Stitzel was brought in to simplify it.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/309216/brainstorm-1983) Rubin, whose story dwells on afterlife experiences, later wrote *Ghost* (1990) and *Jacob's Ladder* (1991).[9](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/brainstorm)
**Natalie Wood's death.** [Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began in September 1981, entirely on location in North Carolina, in the Raleigh-[Research Triangle](https://www.edgepedia.org/research-triangle) area.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864) Wood, who had been absent from films for several years, joined the cast as Karen when producer John Foreman asked her.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/309216/brainstorm-1983) In late November 1981, with most of her critical scenes finished, Wood drowned, and the film's completion was left in doubt.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864) • [10](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/1983/1027/102708.html) Trumbull later said only one scene was rewritten to finish the film without her.[8](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/09/30/brainstorm-a-bad-idea/ab51ca94-6db0-4974-aa1c-ad84952c0221/) MGM worked to squelch rumors linking the film's subject matter to her death after a [United Press International](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-press-international) story drew a parallel between the film and her drowning.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864)
## Release and box office
The film premiered on 6 September 1983 in [Raleigh, North Carolina](https://www.edgepedia.org/raleigh-north-carolina), and was released nationally on 30 September 1983, a week earlier than scheduled.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864) It opened on 169 screens with a weekend gross of $1,196,965, reached a peak of 498 theaters in its fourth week, and finished with a domestic total of $10,219,460 against a reported final cost of $18 million.[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085271/) • [11](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Brainstorm-%281983%29) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864) [James Horner](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-horner) composed the score and Richard Yuricich was the cinematographer.[12](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085271/credits/)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed. The film holds a 57% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metascore of 57 on Metacritic, labeled mixed or average.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003017-brainstorm) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/brainstorm/) Roger Ebert gave it 2 of 4 stars, writing that the characters take secondary importance to the gadget.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003017-brainstorm) The *Washington Post* called the effects mundane given Trumbull's work on *Close Encounters* and *Blade Runner*.[8](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/09/30/brainstorm-a-bad-idea/ab51ca94-6db0-4974-aa1c-ad84952c0221/) More favorable critics praised the technical ambition: the *Toronto Globe and Mail* placed it just below *WarGames* among popular entertainments of the moment, and *Newsweek* singled out Fletcher's performance as a passionate scientist while faulting the cosmic ending for leaving key questions unanswered.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/brainstorm/)
## Legacy
The film's premise, a device that records and replays sensory experience, anticipated consumer virtual reality by decades, and its aspect-ratio and sound shifts between the ordinary world and recorded experience remain its most discussed formal feature.[13](https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/movies/a25654064/sci-fi-movie-brainstorm-natalie-wood-final-film/) • [5](https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1959_super_panavision/1983_brainstorm/in_65mm/index.htm) Trumbull said no home video release has retained the original aspect ratios and sound changes.[5](https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1959_super_panavision/1983_brainstorm/in_65mm/index.htm) The Science on Screen program, which pairs films with scientific talks, has screened it for its treatment of recording thought and perception.[14](https://scienceonscreen.org/films/brainstorm)
## References
1. [Brainstorm (1983), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/57864)
2. [Brainstorm in 70mm, Museum of the Moving Image](https://movingimage.org/archived-events/brainstorm-in-70mm/)
3. [Brainstorm (1983), Turner Classic Movies article by Andrea Passafiume](https://www.tcm.com/articles/309216/brainstorm-1983)
4. [Brainstorm (1983), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085271/)
5. ["Brainstorm" in 65mm, in70mm.com (Trumbull letter to Peter Anderson, ASC)](https://www.in70mm.com/presents/1959_super_panavision/1983_brainstorm/in_65mm/index.htm)
6. [Brainstorm, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003017-brainstorm)
7. [Brainstorm Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/brainstorm/)
8. ["Brainstorm": A Bad Idea, The Washington Post, 29 September 1983](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/09/30/brainstorm-a-bad-idea/ab51ca94-6db0-4974-aa1c-ad84952c0221/)
9. [Brainstorm, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/brainstorm)
10. [Struggles to complete 'Heart,' 'Brainstorm' were worth it, The Christian Science Monitor, 27 October 1983](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/1983/1027/102708.html)
11. [Brainstorm (1983) box office information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Brainstorm-%281983%29)
12. [Brainstorm (1983) credits, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085271/credits/)
13. [The True Story of the Lost Sci-Fi Movie 'Brainstorm,' Popular Mechanics](https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/movies/a25654064/sci-fi-movie-brainstorm-natalie-wood-final-film/)
14. [Brainstorm, Science on Screen](https://scienceonscreen.org/films/brainstorm)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works) › Science fiction and fantasy films of the 1980s › Released 1980 to 1985*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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