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...

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

An absolute riot. The kind of movie Edward Wood could only aspire to make. And Bruce Dern is always worth watching. No matter the quality of the movie, there's just something about the guy that guarantees a good time.

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.

A maniacal killer's head is fused to the lumbering, gargantuan body of a man with the mind of a small child by a scientist who just happens to specialize in fusing two-headed creatures in his spare time. Why? He says to show everyone what a genius he is. Why on Earth would anyone want to create a monster with two heads - neither containing the brain of anything remotely resembling worthiness? Such is the premise in this bizarre, fascinating, and God awful film made in 1971. Bruce Dern plays the "mad" scientist with decided disinterest. Can you blame him? He strolls around with drink in hand and never shows any real depth of character. By the film's end, his performance just caves in. The two-headed monstrosity, which battles bikers on bikes wielding chains and has a cumulative IQ of 60, is a true sight of ineptitude to behold. John Bloom, who would later get an even worse role as Frankenstein's Monster in Al Adamson's horrendous opus Dracula Vs. Frankenstein, plays Danny - a hulking man that lost his mind when he was left for dead in a mine shaft years ago. Now an adult, Danny is dutiful to his father, is treated like a mental defective by all concerned, and sweats a lot. The head of Albert Cole, a man who we see leering or laughing with crazy glee, is attached when Cole tries to rape Dern's wife(more on her in a minute) and kills Danny's father. Dern and his limp-wristed former surgeon assistant(Barry Kroeger) feel the time is right to make a two-headed freak with the body of Cole at their disposal and the mentally deficient Danny just there. This movie is a real hoot to sit through as every minute in bad - bad but fun. The story stinks. Director Anthony Lanza has little savvy. The production values virtually non-existent(although the head thing looks better here then some of the other two--headed monsters of the same era). Acting? What acting? C'mon - Casey Kasem as a doctor/hero? Dern looks like he lost a bet and had to be in the picture. Cole is annoyingly disgusting and ridiculous. Bloom is okay at best. But I really liked Pat Priest as Dern's wife. She sure didn't give a great performance, but she made a believer out of me as she fainted(several times), ran from crazy Cole, lounged in a chair by the pool, laid in bed either of her own accord or bound and gagged, and finally was tied and put in a cage in the lab - all in either a bikini, a small nightie, or some other light attire that showcased her attributes, the brightest things about this dreadful dreck. This movie is very, very bad, and I must confess I loved every minute of it. I laughed and laughed and laughed. Just hearing that soundtrack where every beat foreshadows something suspenseful will happen and rarely does. Or how about the dialog used in the picture? Whew! This is one of the all-time great of le bad cinema.