Die Nackte und der Satan

"The Head" is a genuinely odd German horror film. Although it dealt with contemporary themes and had a contemporary cast and production design, the sound, cinematography and direction are more like a silent. A "mad scientist" protege uses his teacher's discovery to perform a head transplant. He grafts the head of a beautiful young hunchback onto the body of a stripper. That's pretty much the plot. The scenes in the strip club work all right, but in every other film location, there's an absence of "room tone". That's local sound a film sound recordist adds to create a consistent "atmosphere" in a movie scene. Otherwise, a scene comes across as flat and otherworldly. The photography also lends to this silent or early 30ish atmosphere. The editing contains many fades for no good reason that to cover bad continuity. The acting varies from contemporary to exaggerated theatrical. It's too bad writer/director Victor Trivas fails to establish a consistent style. It's also too bad, but only a minor quibble, that actress Karin Kernke, who plays the hunchback is a lot bustier than actress Christiane Maybach, who plays the stripper. At 63, director Trivas might not have noticed, but most younger guys would. With consistent storyline, fairly good music and fine sets, I think "The Head" is worth at least a "5".