Shrunken Heads (1994) is a Full Moon Features movie I recently watched for the first time on Tubi. The storyline follows three kids bullied by some local hoodlumns. The hoodlumns plan a robbery and as they try to escape they run into the kids they bully and kill them. The kids friend is a voodoo expert who helps them return to "life" for revenge.
This movie is directed by Richard Elfman (Streeets of Rage) and stars Julius Harris (Live and Let Die), Meg Foster (They Live), Rebecca Herbst (General Hospital), Darris Love (Waist Deep), Bodhi Elfman (New Nightmare) and Leigh-Allyn Baker (Will & Grace).
This movie does a good job of not taking itself too seriously. The depiction of the era with the settings, attire and dialogue was a lot of fun (but more fun than good). I also liked their choices of background music for the scenes. The special effects are entertaining but not particularly well done and the kill scenes are also just okay and could have been a bit more creative.
Overall this isn't a great picture but it is worth a viewing. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend seeing it once.
Shrunken Heads
1994
Action / Comedy / Horror / Thriller
Shrunken Heads
1994
Action / Comedy / Horror / Thriller
Plot summary
Three teens killed by a local crime boss return for revenge after a witch doctor revives them through voodoo magic.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
February 22, 2021 at 04:29 PM
Director
Top cast
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This movie does a good job of not taking itself too seriously
I Expect Better From Richard Elfman
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".
Bizarre little outing from Full Moon Entertainment
SHRUNKEN HEADS is one of the most bizarre films to have been put out by Charles Band's Full Moon Pictures studio, which is perhaps why I found it one of their most entertaining. It's a really oddball picture with the bad taste premise of having a trio of child protagonists murdered by gangster thugs and brought back as floating severed heads to get revenge. The film has a quirky, offbeat look which mixes in various influences and feels a bit film noir style in places. Director Richard Elfman (brother of composed Danny) does a good job with his available resources here.
The special effects aren't fantastic but they're serviceable enough. The cast boasts two veteran performers, both of whom give solid turns. Julius Harris, of LIVE AND LET DIE fame, is a delight as the scheming old witch-doctor, while Meg Foster (THEY LIVE) is unrecognisable as the big bad of the piece. The film has lots of bizarre little touches and generally entertains, even if it can hardly be described as highbrow entertainment.