The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant

It seems funny that for all the well-deserved plaudits this grade-Z gem attracts, nobody mentioned the great performance by the actor playing Danny's father, Larry Vincent! That's right, none other than "Sinister Seymour" himself doing the honors as good old Andrew Norton, the doc's faithful gardener in one of his too-few appearances on the big screen. All I can say is, if you were too young to remember the early 70's, you definitely missed one the best things about watching late-night TV in Los Angeles. Long before MST3K or Elvira, Seymour's "Fright Night" on Saturday nights was THE thing to watch. Nowadays, if I see "-Transplant-" in the local listings, I turn it on in the first fifteen minutes (before the killer gives him a messy send-off with a garden hoe) just to watch his rare talent. Ah, Larry, you left us too soon...

Casey Kasem, Marilyn Munster, Bruce Dern, and Seymour in a campy horror cheapsterpiece that is good for some laughs.

Bruce Dern is a mad doctor/scientist, and of course, nobody has ever seen a mad scientist in a movie before. He concocts a plan to take a dead head off one guy, and surgically attach it to another guy. Neither he nor you will ever know why he wants to do this, but it provides the backbone for this juicy camp novelty, that looks to have been made on a budget of about ten bucks, and two S&H green stamps. Casey Kasem was not doing a top 40 show or Scooby Doo cartoon that week, so he drops by. He's a colleague of Dern, but not nuts like Dr. Dern is. I love the scenes where our hero, Dr. Kasem, turns on the radio, to listen to his own voice doing the radio news announcer. Pat (Marilyn Munster) Priest is the blonde bombshell romantic interest (of more than one character, if you catch my drift). And of course, the two-headed transplant: both actors combine to actually give this awkward looking beast some real emotion.

They're all good, in a campy way, but a special treat this movie had was a popular local late night horror host seen here in L.A. in those days, named Larry "Seymour, the Master of the Macabre" Vincent. He used to offer up golden turkey monster flicks, in order to poke fun at their awfulness, MST3K style. He roasted himself for doing "Transplant," although his all-to-brief screen before making a routine horror film exit, was actually pretty good acting. Sadly, Seymour died fairly young, leaving this as one of his few film appearances.

The idea is goofy, but the script has enough going on that the actors can work with it. They all seem to have had fun making the flick, too. Considering the z-budget, it's not bad at all. This can actually be entertaining if you go in expecting dumb but amusing camp.

Okay, I'm in a big minority, but in my view the cheap horror flick is very shrewdly done. Except for a hammy Albert Cole as Cass, the acting is pretty good, with Dern refusing temptation to go over the top. Also, the hulking John Bloom amounts to a casting inspiration. His massive frame dominates every frame he's in. Plus he manages the difficult role of the slow-witted in convincing fashion.

Staging takes place in the boondocks where there's more bang for the buck, and while the massive monster may be too slow to be scary, the shrewd camera angles make the two-headed effect more credible than expected. Oh sure, the movie's title is a tip-off to the target audience. Still, I wouldn't put it in the same league as the rubber monsters of Roger Corman yore.

Good to see an elderly Berry Kroeger picking up a payday. Was there ever a better shyster lawyer in a slew of 40's noirs than the moon-faced actor. And speaking of cast, blonde leading lady Pat Priest could double for Doris Day in her bouffant heyday. Anyway, I found the flick mildly entertaining and not as hokey as I expected. And before I forget—is there ever a menaced girl in these movies who isn't scantily clad and sexy. Certainly not here

Call me demented but I loved this absolutely silly piece of 1970s Drive-In schlock! Director Anthony M. Lanza only made one other movie as far as I know, one I've been wanting to see for years, a 60s biker flick starring Dennis Hopper and Casey Kasem called 'The Glory Stompers'. Kasem returns in this one to play the concerned best friend of "mad" scientist Dr. Roger Girard played by cult favourite Bruce Dern (Kasem and Dern had previously played brothers in another 60s biker movie 'The Cycle Savages', a trash classic I highly recommend.) Dern, just like those scientists in 'Donovan's Brain', has his own lab in his home which he conducts his own private research, assisted by his crippled mentor Dr. Max ('Demon Seed'). Research, by the way, involving head transplants. So when a psychopath (Albert Cole) escapes on a rampage and kidnaps Dern's pretty blonde wife (Pat Priest of 'The Munsters'), it doesn't take long to figure out that the Doc is going to be operating on him soon. Especially when there is a handy mental defective (John Bloom, from 'The Hills Have Eyes 2') available (his caretaker's son). Now Bruce Dern is one of my favourite 1970s actors ('Bloody Mama', 'Silent Running', 'The King Of Marvin Gardens'), and I'd watch him in just about anything, but this must be the stupidest movie he has ever been involved in! Disinterested viewers who don't enjoy 60s and 70s exploitation and monster movies may find it just TOO stupid to get into, but I thought it was an absolute hoot, and loved every minute of it!

What can you expect from a movie when Pat Priest and Casey Kasem are the most famous people in it? You say I'm insane, Bruce Dern is the most famous person in it? But you're wrong. He's not famous at all because I've never heard of him. I assume he was famous in the 60's or the 20's or whenever you thought you were cool but no one under 50 knows him. Anyway,this is much better than The Thing With Two Heads.The plot is much better and although there's less action, it's somehow less boring. Unlike that other movie this transplant was done by a rogue mad scientist, using unwilling subjects. He uses the body of a huge mentally challenged teen and the second head is from a psychotic rapist and you know that can't be a good combo. So of course the giant goes crazy and wreaks havoc. My only problem with the movie is the inclusion of Casey Kasem. His part was completely unnecessary and his acting was atrocious.You could literally edit him out and no one would notice. All we know about Kasem's character is that he is a doctor in the city. From what they say and what we see, it looks like the city is not close. Yet for some reason, when a body washes up on a river bank, Kasem is there with the sheriff. What?? Not to mention that when they turn on the radio it's Kasem's voice coming out. Those little things don't really hurt what is a very average movie. This is definitely worth watching.