Shrunken Heads

Director - Richard Elfman (Forbidden Zone, Modern Vampires)

Starring - Julius Harris (King Kong, Darkman), Meg Foster (The Lords of Salem, 31), and Aeryk Egan (Flatliners, The X-Files)

Release Date - 1994

Genre - Horror/Crime

Tagline - "Superheroes from their head to their necks"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Full Moon was my first love when it came to horror movies.  I still love the company and look forward to their new releases but nothing compares to the 80s and 90s Band produced films.  These movies were a huge part of my childhood and I spent many weekends renting this from my local ma and pop video store.  A few weeks ago I saw that Full Moon was releasing the 1994 Richard Elfman horror flick Shrunken Heads on blu.  I had seen trailers for this one on several of Full Moon's trailer compilations but I never actually had the chance to see it.  I quickly rushed to my email to request a copy and they were kind enough to send one my way.  Thanks guys!

     The film follows three teens who are bullied by the local gang of thieves and lowlifes.  When one of them records the gang stripping a car he turns the video over to the police for evidence and subsequently painting a target on their backs.  When the gang is released on bail from jail they kill the three teens.  The local shop keeper, Mr. Sumatra (Harris), breaks into the funeral home after their services and removes their heads.  He then performs a voodoo ritual to bring their souls back into their shrunken heads to get revenge on the gang that did this to them.

     Honestly, I didn't know what to expect from this one but I always thought the trailer looked fun and know how much I loved other Full Moon/Moonbeam releases from this time I couldn't wait to dig into it.  The movie did not let me down and actually impressed me a few times.  This was not a disappointment at all.  The acting in this one is the same quality that you would expect from other Full Moon films.  The cast has cheesy yet entertaining characters to bring to life and they do just that.  Harris, who is a screen legend, makes the film if you ask me.  His performance is unrivaled and as the film progresses so does his performance.  The story for this one is a voodoo superhero tale mixed with a crime thriller.  The movie could have easily been a Moonbeam release if a little bit of the adult humor and horror was toned down.  With that being said, I really liked it.  We get the pre-Night of the Living Dead zombies mixed with more voodoo and humor  along with the superhero angle kind of works in a cheesy way.  Some of you that take to the more serious side of cinema may not enjoy it but fans of campy horror will appreciate it.  Finally, this one has some practical and visual effects that are very polarizing.  The practical and make-up effects are fun.  I really liked the make-up effects on the undead and some of the practical effects are fun.  With that being said, some of the kills were very underwhelming and the effects for these were not that great.  Also, the visual effects are extremely dated.  The lightning and so forth is horrible and I'm sure they wasn't that impressive when it was released.  Overall, Shrunken Heads was very entertaining but extremely cheesy.  The typical Full Moon fan will love this one.  The blu looks great as well especially when you compare it to the quality of the trailer in most of the Full Moon compilations.  I highly recommend snagging this one.