The Head (1959)

This is "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" meets "House of Frankenstein". Mad doctor Frank seeks out sane doctor Simon, who has discovered a serum that keeps disembodied organs alive. Sane doctor Simon has a bad ticker that is ready to go, an attractive but crippled nurse Kernke, and we all know where this is going. Frank has no apparent motivation for his behavior other than he can do head transplants or keep disembodied heads alive and he's crazy. Desperate attempts were made to give this flick some atmosphere like eerie music and misty night shots but nothing works. Frank is good as the mad doctor and Kernke is attractive but the story is a bore. This was challenging to stay awake through the entire movie.

This is a ridiculously bad German movie, dubbed (poorly) into English.Although it plumbs the same depths of cinematic ineptitude as Ed Wood's groundbreaking bad film, "Plan 9 From Outer Space" or Phil Tucker's immortal 3-D saga "Robot Monster", it brings no enjoyment to the viewer, only an intense desire for the film to come to its merciful conclusion.For fans of bad horror films (like me, for instance) this film is not without its virtues however.Despite the obvious el cheapo budget, the production values are not too bad and the acting (as far as I could deduce from the dubbing) isn't either.And I did like the talking head...

No, this isn't the psychedelic Monkees movie from 1968; that one's just called "Head." Rather, "The Head" is a West German horror production from 1959--and a very good one, as it turns out--that tells a freaky story of a wholly different kind. As "The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film" so astutely reminds us, the film was released in the same year as the similarly themed American film "The Brain That Wouldn't Die," and is just as way-out an experience. In it, Michel Simon--French star of such classic '30s films as "La Chienne," "Boudu Saved From Drowning" and "L'Atalante"--plays a scientist, Dr. Abel, who has devised something called Serum Z, which will allow human and animal tissue to survive independently of their donors' bodies, thus making possible organ transplants and other innovations (this, eight years before the first actual successful heart transplant on Louis Washkansky in 1967). When his new assistant, Dr. Ood, attempts to transplant the healthy heart of a recently deceased hobo into Abel's failing body, the operation goes badly. Good thing that Ood can then decapitate Abel's titular noggin and keep it alive and healthy with the new wonder serum! And as if that weren't enough for one film, Ood--wonderfully played by Horst Frank--soon decides to operate on his pretty hunchbacked nurse, and attach her head onto the hottie body of a local stripper! Holy mix and match!Anyway, "The Head" is a surprisingly interesting and involving film. It features better than adequate acting (Karen Kernke as Irene the hunchback and Christiane Maybach as the obnoxious stripper are both memorable), especially by Frank as the insane, ultimately pathetic and moon-raving Ood (Dr. Odd would be more like it!). Writer/director Victor Trivas brings in his film with a good deal of seedy style, and the look of the picture, with its Expressionistic sets, is often startling. Indeed, I was not surprised to learn that the set decorator here was Hermann Warm, who had earlier worked on such classic films as "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," "The Passion of Joan of Arc" and "Vampyr." Although my "Psychotronic" bible maintains that the FX are "pathetic" here, I must respectfully disagree. Actually, the sight of Simon's homely noggin, resting in a dish and connected to wires and bubbling chemical tanks, is most impressive. Throw in some moody B&W photography and a musical score by Willy Mattes and Jacque Lasry that sounds like the "Space" segment of a Grateful Dead concert and you've got quite a striking little film indeed. Even this typically crummy-looking DVD from those indolent underachievers at Alpha Video cannot ruin this experience.

A rather interesting b-movie Euro 50s entry from Germany , that relies somewhat successfully on atmosphere and music to create interest .Horst Frank is good as Dr. Ood the mad scientist with bushy eyebrows ,Dieter Eppler is amusing as the rich kid would be sculptor who spends most of his time chasing strippers .I don't know where this was shot , I believe it was some privately owned studio , but the atmosphere is bleak and dark and forbodding , it has a lot to do with any interest this film has , and the music is also dark and a good companion to the Gothic style that director Victor Trivas was apparently going for , if you've got an hour to kill there are worse ways .