at the 1988 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, as part of the festival's "Midnight Madness" series. Home media In July 1988, Brain Damage was released on Betamax and VHS by Paramount Home Entertainment. The "zipper scene" remained truncated for the VHS release, and would not be made available uncut until the film was released on DVD. In 2007, the uncut version of the film was released on DVD by Synapse Films. On May 9, 2017, Arrow Video released a restoration of the film completed by Deluxe, London, on Blu-ray and DVD. The release includes such bonus features as a retrospective audio commentary by Henenlotter and interviews with the cast and crew (both produced for the release), as well as the animated short film Bygone Behemoth, which features Zacherle in his final on-screen film credit. In 2022, Brain Damage was made available for streaming on the streaming service Fandor. Reception Contemporary reviews Joe Kane, writing for the New York Daily News, called Brain Damage "one of the year's more original fright exercises, blending visceral shocks with twisted black humor and low-budget psychedelic tableaux to rival the old Joshua Light Show." The Los Angeles Times Leonard Klady referred to the film as "a veritable crazy quilt of ideas that manages to engage our attention while our heads continue to dart away from the shocking images on screen". John Brooker of the Cheshunt and Waltham Mercury called the film "a charming little chiller", and "a compelling mix of wacky humour and gory special effects". The New York Times Walter Goodman called Brain Damage a "brainless movie", criticizing the acting and special effects. Lou Cedrone of The Baltimore Evening Sun wrote, "The producers did try to be funny, but their film is more revolting than it is amusing", and concluded that, "At heart, it is little more than a meaningless exercise in slime." The Ages Neil Jillett called it "a comedy in somewhat poor taste", and wrote, "While Brain Damage is not advocatory [of drug abuse], its message is hardly helpful to the anti-drug campaign." Retrospective assessments In a 2013 interview with Fangoria, Henenlotter said that the film was initially disliked, stating that, "Even the Basket Case fans didn't embrace it... they just wanted another Basket Case! People loved Basket Case and they just want you to make the same film over and over again." However, he noted that appreciation for the