In THE HEAD HUNTER, the protagonist, a hulking solitary warrior scarred by the loss of his daughter goes monster-hunting whenever called upon by a nearby castle, bringing back the heads of his kills and pinning them against a trophy wall. One day, the monster that killed his daughter comes back.
At heart, the movie tells a simple story, but the atmosphere created by the production design is just so outstanding that one cannot be helped but be drawn in. Considering that this entire film was shot for about 30,000 dollars, it is incredible how much quality was put into the visuals. The movie looks better than some which cost literally hundreds of times as much.
Alas, the lack of a budget did show itself indirectly. The movie skips most of the fight scenes, showing us merely the aftermath, except for the final fight between the two old enemies, but even neat camera tricks cannot cover up the shortfall created by the lack of a budget.
If there had been enough money to stage a couple exciting fight scenes, and also a visual depiction of the backstory leading up to the daughter's death, this could have been propelled to the top of the fantasy genre. I think for fans of medieval fantasy this film is still a must-see.
For others, there is a feast for the eyes, made possible by meticuluous attention to detail and brought to the fore by large stretches without any dialogue at all. The story structure gives the ending, in which ironically the final shot is nearly identical to the opening shot, unexpected emotional heft.
I would normally give this 6/10, but it is so close to being a good film, and I can still hardly believe the shoestring budget it was made on, that I still give it the rating of a good movie.
