Headhunter (1989)

The constant bad swipes this low-rent South American horror film receives might be justified, but I didn't think it was entirely terrible. Mostly wooden, and more often vapid you could say, with the occult idea being push aside for lame (and oddly placed) soapy domestic quibbles of the two police detectives (likeably played by Wayne Crawford and Kay Lenz) who are chasing a killer that unusually decapitates its victims, and might be something supernatural of African origins. Cool! No not cool. This offbeat angle is left high and dry, and just frustrates with its sloppy pace and bland script. Quite a drag! Well up until the frenetic climax. Having the two leads being fully developed is fine, but still it leaves us with too many questions about our ugly looking demon. The underwritten premise is randomly disjointed and terribly unclear and inconsistent in its motives. Never does it become much fun, as its light on suspense, action and gratuitous splatter. Nor does it have any sort of camp value. It needed to go out on a limb to achieve excitement, because it sadly underplays itself and goes about things seriously. The convincing location choices however, seemed to invoke an effective atmospheric tenor, and Hans Kuhle's free-flowing camera-work is well done. Julian Laxton's howling music score has a thumping, menacing tone that won't let up. The rubber demon looks tacky and bulky, but decent for such a budget. Watchable fluff, but not one to lose your head over.

A forgettable little horror ditty involving two cops in Miami (Wayne Crawford and Kay Lenz) investigating some bloody murders which prove to be the work of an African demon which has pursued some refugees there. Headhunter is actually kind of plodding and uneventful and not the cheesefest the gaudy cover promised (How many times have I been let down by a dull movie with a cheesy VHS cover). There is little in the way of suspense, gore or action until the end of the movie when we finally get a look at the titular nasty which is actually a rather impressive, if rubbery, looking nasty. The dialogue is dull, the acting is decent and the plot is a little muddled (Something about the creature killing those are unfaithful to the African religion involved the movie and those who know its secret but it is unclear and underdeveloped and comes across as somewhat nonsensical and random given the events of the movie). There is some attempt at characterisation but it is of the clumsy, awkwardly inserted background personal life stuff that just eats up running time instead of seeming part of the movie – Your wife left you for a woman, boo-hoo, go and sit in the sitcom corner with George Costanza and that big nosed schlub from friends. There are some weak attempts at black humour such as an aborted baptism scene and one amusing scene involving a spontaneous late night visit to a hardware store by the films male protagonist to grab a chainsaw to do battle with the headhunter. A good sense of place and atmosphere is actually created in the seamy back blocks of Miami but it is not enough to make the film work any better. Not really terrible but mot really worth watching unless you're really stuck for something.

Headhunter is set in Miami where homicide detective Pete Giullani (Wayne Crawford) is having personal problems, his wife Denise (June Chadwick) has left him for a woman. Add that to the fact that a sicko serial killer is running around the city decapitating Nigerian people & he's not having a good time of it, is he? He, & his partner Katherine Hall (Kay Lenz), investigates the brutal & seemingly motiveless murders when some crazy dude named Professor Samuel Juru (Sam Williams) claims that an ancient Nigerian tribal demon (or some crap like that) is stalking those who have escaped from it's homeland to America &, well it wants to kill them & anyone that gets in it's way basically. Pete & Katherine are determined to find this monster or lose their heads trying...This South African production was directed Francis Schaeffer & is a rather bland, forgettable & tedious experience to sit through. The script by Len Spinell tries to mix a Friday the 13th (1980) style slasher with a police thriller & ends up as neither particularly. The character's are dull, the dialogue is stiff & boring & as a whole the film just doesn't gel together that well. It's slow & not that much actually happens in it. The murders are few & far between, this creature is also able to possess other people's bodies which would give it so much power it's untrue but what does it decide to do with this ability? It sets out to kill one cop who's after it, it could take over anyone's body & do literally anything it wants & all it does is try to kill one single bloke. It doesn't have much imagination does it? Or should that be the guy who wrote this doesn't have much imagination? Even though the end features chainsaws, magical swords, dismemberment & a demon it finishes off with an awful sequel driven final shot. There are much better films out there.Director Schaeffer pulls off a few nice camera moves here & there but generally speaking the look of Headhunter is as bland & forgettable as the rest of it. There are a few decapitated heads & dead sacrificial animals but apart from that there isn't much blood or gore, when the demon makes an appearance at the end it looks rather rubbery & is obviously just a man in a badly fitting rubber suit.Technically Headhunter is OK & is even quite impressive on occasion but these moments are few & far between. The acting is as dull & lifeless as the script.I suppose I would sum things up by saying that Headhunter is one of those films that hasn't got anything major wrong with it but it's just that it's so forgettable & bland that I doubt I'll remember any of it by the end of the week. One to watch only if your desperate.

Compared to what you might think, it's really easy to make a movie. Here's what you do: You take a tribe somewhere in Africa. You film the village witch-doctor while he's doing some kind of ritual. you place some candles around him and BANG! All of a sudden appears a hideous demon. You transfer the whole thing to Miami and you're done. All the rest are details. Bad acting, huge mistakes in the script ? So what ? You got to give the makers of this film some credit: they were obviously very enthusiast and they did create an interesting demon. I don't mind films like this being made, but the problem with this kind is that they take themselves too serious. There's ain't much humor in this story.