Shrunken Heads (1994)

A trio of young boys love comic books, but their reading is interrupted when a gang moves into the neighborhood. Showing no mercy, the gang slaughters the boys. Lucky for them, the comic book dealer is a former shaman from Haiti and can resurrect the dead...What brought this film to my attention was the fact it's directed by Richard Elfman, the creator of "Forbidden Zone" and brother to the notorious Danny Elfman. If he could replicate the sheer awesomeness of "Forbidden Zone", it was to be a film worth owning. To cut a long story short, he did not match that film's intensity.While the film is fun in a low-budget, cult horror sort of way, and has some very pedophilic romance elements I found entrancing, if a bit disturbing, it doesn't have much to offer. Cheesy floating heads. If you like this, that's your bag, not mine. It's nice to see Charles Band endorses a film that doesn't have dolls... just shrunken heads. That's a big departure for him. (But if you see his newer films, such as "Dangerous Worry Dolls", you see he hasn't strayed too far from the well.) If you want to get drunk and see a bad movie, this is a good one. If you think it's a lost classic, you're wrong. I'm sorry, I respect your opinion, but no. This one is clearly a few notches below "awesome".

Aeryk Egan stars as Tommy Larson. Tommy is a good hearted boy who lives on the wrong side of the neighborhood. His city is run by the notorious mobster Big Moe and her goon Vinnie. Tommy convinces his friends Freddy and Bill to help him bring down the mob. They steal Moe's records but are gunned down by Vinnie. Mr Sumatra the Voodo priest owner of a newsstand sneaks into the crypt after the boys funeral and beheads the corpses. He brings them back as shrunken head soldiers and convinces them to fight crime. Sumatra trains them for a year in his condo. He tells the boys to loose their humanity and devote what they have to revenge. Tommy however can't do this and searches for his girlfriend Sally. Sally is now dating Vinnie. The heads come together and turn Moe's goons into zombies. Sumatra plans to curse Vinnie and Big Moe as well and Sally joins in on the fight.The movie has a unique plot and has potential but it left me disappointed. Yes the movie is supposed to be bizarre but there were moments which were too silly even for me. We are supposed to admire the uniqueness not laugh at it. I found it hard to watch the scene at Tommy's grave because it reeked of stupidity and poor writing. In the end it seemed like Vinnie and Big Moe got off easy. And I was hoping that somehow Tommy would get a body.On the plus column director Richard Elfman has done an outstanding job setting the mood. The film reminds you of an old comic book. The scenes are vibrant with color and emotion.Julius Harris steals every scene he is in as the eccentric Mr.Sumatra.The good can't outweigh the bad sadly. The main problem with Shurken Heads is it's script,which with a few re-writes could have been better.

Because this movie did not take a standard Hollywood approach to story line, I was delighted and refreshed. The dry, dark comedic effect from the heads plays out like the old voodoo curse movies of yesteryear. I was taken back to the days of reading old horror comics under the covers after lights out.

Okay. Yes. The movie is cheesy. The effects are Just Plain Awful.And yes. The plot (what little there is) is, frankly, ridiculous.And I agree. The developmnet of the nearly non-existent plot is stupid and quite undirected.Maybe the only reason I find this piece of unremitting schlock compelling was Rebecca Herbst. Hey! If she'll open her shirt for a nasty little shrunken head, there may be hope that, one day, a troll like me will get similar treatment!;-)