Shrunken Heads

A truly surreal amazingly funny work. I knew the Elfman clan was unhinged, but this movie just blew me away. The concept of three little shrunken heads fighting crime was just way too much for me.

If you laugh at really bizarre movies, or just really like "Evil Dead" and "Brain Dead", this is definitely a must see.

I picked up a copy of this at a boot sale last sunday for a pound. It's a quality low budget comedy/horror about 3 kids who are gunned down by Vinnie and the Viper Gang. Luckily Mr Sumatra the local newsagent and witch doctor revives them as 3 nasty little shrunken heads. If you are a fan of films like 'idle hands', 'Ghoulies' or 'Critters' you will love this film. It has an excellent Danny Elfman score great special effects and a tongue firmly lodged in it's cheek! It also comes from producer Charles Band who produced 'Dolls' & 'Puppet Master'. This is definitely one of the better full-moon horror movies. If you see this film - grab it! This movie has only been released in the UK once- on rental video. Time for a DVD!!!!

This turned out to be a lot more of a comedy than a horror film. Seeing shrunken heads flying around was pretty unique and cool-looking but a lot more funny than scary. That's okay; I enjoyed it as a comedy.

There really wasn't much to this Grade B-horror flick expect a lot of voodoo nonsense, which was taken quite seriously in here. What a croc! I actually believe would take this stuff seriously.

Nevertheless, it's always satisfying to see a bunch of hoods get what's coming to them as our headless heroes did in here, seeking revenge on those responsible for their odd condition.

Talk about an original story! Fun stuff.

This is a poorly acted- and cheesy as all hell- yet fun, 90's cult horror-comedy. It's kind of odd, because it starts out like it's supposed to be a children's film....but quickly delves into content that is clearly inappropriate for young children. It seems to be made for the teenage market- a type of film that is a rare breed these days.

We start by following a group of comic-loving teenage boys- Tommy, Billy & Freddy. The boys have become good friends with the local newspaper clerk, Mr. Sumatra- a former member of the Haitian Police who moonlights as a Voodoo witch doctor. They and the local community are victims of bullying stalked by a gang called The Vipers, who are led by a thug named Vinnie. Vinnie particularly has it out for the 3 youngsters, as he desires Sally- the local beauty who is in love with Tommy.

To end the torment, Tommy decides to capture evidence of the gang's criminal activity, so that he can turn it over to the police. To achieve this, he uses his camcorder to covertly tape the gang stripping down a car, which leads to their arrest.

But snitches get stitches...as his actions, inevitably, anger the local mafioso who controls the gang- Big Moe (played by Meg Foster).

After a run-in with the 3 kids, Big Moe orders Vinnie to whack them, as she feels they've become a nuisance that requires elimination. Vinnie is tasked with the hit and guns down the 3 boys in the street. But this is witnessed by Mr. Sumatra, who plans to bring them back from the dead so that they can reap vengeance on the malefactors who have been preying on the local community.

To do this, he holds a Voodoo ceremony during which he turns the boys into re-animated shrunken heads that are equipped with special powers and hardwired for revenge. Billy becomes a sort of vampire; Tommy is endowed with the ability to control electricity; while Freddy becomes quite adept with a switchblade...oh, and all 3 possess the ability to fly, of course.

A year later (after receiving training from Mr. Sumatra) the 3 shrunken heads- now animated with the souls of the deceased boys- are deployed into the streets, so that they can embark on their quest to weed out and destroy all the malefactors who are plaguing society.

Together, they go on a killing spree. Particularly keeping an eye out for Vinnie and The Vipers. Interestingly, the malefactors whom they attack and kill, return as zombies that are sort of vampirically attached to- and controlled by- the shrunken heads. In that they've become driven to assist the boys on their search and destroy mission.

However, Tommy has not only returned from the dead for revenge...he has some plans of his own. Mainly, to prove the love that existed between Sally and himself did not die with his body. A phenomenon which Mr. Sumatra has never witnessed before...

Like I mentioned before, there is a really weird mix of stuff going on here: seems like a children's film, but heavily reliant upon issues of sex and violence, and all framed through an occult lens. That being said...it has a really nice style. Reminds me of Sam Raimi's Crimewave, in this regard. The film also uses a nice diversity of special fx: miniatures/dioramas used for shots of the town, traditional makeup fx for the shrunken heads and zombies, and the use of early computer animation for the animated heads, and powers, and such.

It's also worth noting that despite playing a virginous little Goddess, 17 year old Rebecca Herbst will certainly have you pondering very deviant thoughts...as she is quite the little babe. Can't help but laugh when she offers up her tits-as-pillows to Shrunken Head Tommy, in order to prove she still loves him- despite his gruesome, cranial, form.

Shrunken Heads is one of those bad films that's fun to watch. If this is what you're into, you will likely enjoy it.

5.5 out of 10.

Okay, if you've seen Richard Elfman's brilliant slab of cult film cheese "Forbidden Zone", don't be expecting the same level of quality from this film. The fact that Richard didn't write this one is probably the main reason for that, but the direction, too, is merely workmanlike, for the most part. Don't be expecting the wild stylistic flourishes seen in "Zone"'s tribute to 1930s cinema.

This (1994) film does sort of seem to be a tribute to low-budget 1980s cinema, but this may have just been because the film had been in development since then. Or maybe this was due to the hand of schlock horror producer Charles Band, who probably wishes that the 80s had never ended. (But schlockmeister though he may be, he does deserve some credit for keeping Richard Elfman off the streets.)

As a more-imaginative-than-average B horror flick, this movie does have some things going for it. First off, the premise is indeed enjoyable for its sheer ridiculousness. I think the film would have done well to get into this good stuff much quicker than it did. Pretending to be a non-supernatural "kids in a tough neighborhood" film for the first half hour was pretty pointless, although anyone coming across the movie on TV and not knowing what it was about would be in for an amusing shock at the end of the first act when the "how will our heroes get out of this one?" moment arrives and they _don't_ (or at least, not exactly).

Other things to recommend the film include the wonderfully twisted idea of living dead zombies who are doomed to clean up litter in back alleyways, the hot little piece of jailbait ass portrayed by Rebecca Herbst, the Danny Elfman theme, the inspired use of a mostly instrumental remix of Oingo Boingo's "No One Lives Forever", and, as someone else mentioned, one of the most circumstantially hilarious instances of the ubiquitous ripping off of Elfman's "Edward Scissorhands" theme.

I just wish the filmmakers could have gotten Julius Harris to fake a Haitian accent (even a shaky one would have done). This would have lent a smidge of credibility and would have made Sumatra's oddly flowery dialogue go over better.

Someone else said to run away if you see this flick on the Sci-Fi Channel, but I'd say if you have a taste for this sort of entertainment, _seek_it_out_ there, as this film is out-of-print on video and is hard to come by. Indeed, Sci-Fi Channel's "Elvira"-derived "William Shatner's Full Moon Fright Night" horror film festival series made a good platform for the film, though the cuts to clean up the R-rated gore were somewhat jarring.