Entertainment
Extremely R-Rated 90's Sci-Fi Thriller Is A Mind-Bending Hidden Gem
By Robert Scucci
| Published
Nearly a decade before The Matrix proposed the whole brain in a jar idea that we all know and love, or are genuinely afraid is an accurate depiction of our simulation-induced reality we are not yet ready to face, writer director Adam Simon gave us 1990’s Brain Dead. While there is not a red or blue pill to be found in Brain Dead, we are taken on a trip through the human psyche at its most fractured, resulting in a visually disturbing journey through the subconscious that is not afraid to hallucinate your greatest fears into existence. Starring and carried by Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton, Brain Dead is one of those increasingly odd trips through the human mind that is willing to get violent and kaleidoscopic to drive its point home.
With a reported budget of $2 million dollars, Brain Dead was always destined to become a cult classic thanks to its cheap but clever special effects, surreal set design, and constantly unraveling narrative that keeps you questioning what is real versus what is imagined. Bill Pullman’s straight-faced concern with his own mental wellbeing as his research sends him spiraling is especially effective here, because this film fully commits to taking you on a trip. Any overacting would have softened its impact, and Pullman wisely avoids that trap.
What makes the experience even stronger is Bill Paxton, who also plays things surprisingly straight. He brings a level of corporate scumbaggery to the mix that only he could convincingly deliver, grounding the film’s more outlandish ideas in something that feels uncomfortably familiar.
Brains In A Jar, Near And Far
Brain Dead introduces us to Dr. Rex Martin (Bill Pullman), a highly respected neurosurgeon who focuses his research on mental abnormalities through brain mapping. Rex knows his stuff and takes his work seriously, so seriously that when he is approached by old friend Jim Reston (Bill Paxton), a successful entrepreneur working with the Eunice Corporation, the offer immediately raises red flags. Jim looks the part, with slicked back hair and a fixation on results and the bottom line in whatever experiments Eunice is overseeing without any regard for their ethical implications.
Jim’s proposition to Rex is simple but morally grey. He wants Rex to map the brain of a psychotic mathematician named Jack Halsey (Bud Cort), who previously worked for Eunice before going off the deep end and destroying his own research. Rex’s job is to poke around inside Halsey’s brain in hopes of either recovering the lost research or wiping his mental slate clean so the information cannot be shared with competing companies.
Conflicted about the work, Rex decides to interview Halsey to size up the job. What he finds is a broken man who talks a mile a minute and speaks almost exclusively in conspiracy theories. After Rex is struck by a van, he wakes up and inexplicably decides to move forward with the research, setting off a chain reaction of traumatizing events that he can no longer distinguish as real or imagined.
Rex soon learns that Halsey murdered his family and research assistants after completing his work, and that a man named Conklin (Nicholas Pryor) may actually be behind the slayings for reasons that remain unclear. As Rex begins exhibiting the same paranoid behavior as Halsey, especially after losing his grants and laboratory access, he finds himself trapped inside a labyrinthian mystery involving Halsey, Conklin, Jim, and Eunice. Solving it may be the only thing standing between him and the complete loss of his faculties.
A Stylish, Low-Budget Cult Classic
Brain Dead thrives on showing rather than telling, forcing the viewer to piece the mystery together with the same creeping paranoia its protagonist experiences in real time. The film earns serious points for suggesting that we might all be brains living in jars housed by the Eunice Corporation, while never fully committing to that explanation. Just because the idea is implied does not mean it is true, and that uncertainty is part of the appeal.
Bill Paxton delivers the goods as a corporate sleazebag desperate to placate shareholders by extracting valuable research at any cost, which perfectly offsets Rex’s more ethically driven approach to the work. The tension between those perspectives gives the film its emotional weight beneath all the hallucinations and fractured realities.
Is Rex losing his mind because he has gone too deep into his own research, or is he on the verge of exposing a conspiracy involving brain manipulation at the hands of the Eunice Corporation? The only way to find out is by watching Brain Dead, which is currently streaming for free on Tubi.
Entertainment
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Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 2, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition will require some knowledge of popular U.S. sports and pop culture.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: A Pittsburgh Athlete
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Green: Seen on an MLB Scorebug
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Blue: Teams in the PWHL Playoffs
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Purple: Horse Racing Triple Crowns
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #585 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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A Pittsburgh Athlete: PANTHER, PENGUIN, PIRATE, STEELER
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Seen on an MLB Scorebug: COUNT, INNING, OUTS, SCORE
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Teams in the PWHL Playoffs: CHARGE, FLEET, FROST, VICTORIE
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Horse Racing Triple Crowns: AFFIRMED, CITATION, JUSTIFY, WHIRLAWAY
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to today’s Connections.
Entertainment
NYT Pips hints, answers for May 2, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.
Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.
How to play Pips
If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.
The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.
Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:
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Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.
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Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.
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Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.
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Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.
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Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.
If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.
Easy difficulty hints, answers for May 2 Pips
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed horizontally.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed horizontally.
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally.
Less Than (6): Everything in this space must be less than 6. The answer is 1-1, placed vertically.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for May 2 Pips
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically.
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-5, placed horizontally.
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Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed vertically.
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 2-6, placed vertically; 5-6, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-6, placed vertically.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for May 2 Pips
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 4-5, placed vertically; 2-5, placed vertically.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically.
Number (15): Everything in this space must add up to 15. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.
Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically; 1-3, placed horizontally.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally.
Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally; 0-1, placed horizontally.
Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 0-1, placed horizontally.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
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