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[Blu-ray Review] ‘The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant’ is a Fun Take on ‘Frankenstein’

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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has served as a starting point for countless films over the years. The entire mad scientist subgenre is likely inspired by Frankenstein in some way. Some of these films are bad, some are good and some are just interesting. AIP’s The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant from director Anthony M. Lanza falls into that third category.

Bruce Dern stars as Dr. Roger Girad, a recently married scientist who spends most of his time locked away in his lab with his assistant Dr. Max (Berry Kroeger) working on various experiments. Their most recent project is tinkering with head transplantation. This is a weird field of science/medicine to work in. Who could possibly benefit from a head transplant? I guess there could be a really freak scenario in which one person has their body crushed and another person has their head crushed so you could move the good head to the good body and manage to salvage one complete person. That seems problematic for plenty of reasons.

Whatever the reason, Roger and Max are working on it and they’ve had great success, at least with animals. Turns out they’re not replacing heads, but rather adding additional heads. They have a monkey and they give him a second monkey head. This brings a lot more questions with it. If you add a head to a perfectly good body that already has a good head, which brain controls the body? The answers ends up being both, as the two brains fight for control. We find this information out later in the movie.

So what’s the purpose of all this? What do Roger and Max hope to accomplish? I don’t know and it doesn’t matter. This is a movie called The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant. You’re not supposed to think about it too much the way I currently am. You just go with it and have fun.

Roger and Max get the change to try their experiment out on humans do to some rather unusual events. A lunatic killer named Manuel Cass (Albert Cole) escapes from a nearby prison. He happens upon Roger’s home and ends up killing his caretaker (Larry Norton) and kidnapping his wife, Linda (Pat Priest). Roger tracks Manuel down and takes him out with a shotgun blast to the back, rescuing his wife along the way.

Manuel is badly injured, but not quite dead. This gives Roger an idea – he’s going to attempt to save Manuel heads by moving it onto Danny’s body. Danny (John Bloom) is a large hulking man and the son of the caretaker. Despite being fully grown, Danny has the mind of an 8-year old do to an accident he suffered as a child. Roger’s logic is simple – without his father Danny has no one and Manuel is maniac so no one will miss him, thus making both the perfect lab rats!

The experiment works! Danny now has Manuel’s head in addition to his own. Still not sure the point, but it works. What Roger didn’t account for is the whole issue about which brain would control the body. Manuel has a stronger brain than Danny and is able to control Danny’s body. Now in control of a much larger and stronger body, Manuel is able to break free from Roger’s lab and go on a deadly killing spree across the town.

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I wonder how they pulled off this effect.

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant is really stupid but it is a lot of fun. Dern is terrific and plays the whole movie so straight. In fact most of the actors play it straight, aside from Cole’s Manuel who is a little too over-the-top compared to the rest of the cast. This is what helps make the film entertaining – they’re not trying to be extra goofy. This really works in the first part of the movie when things are actually kind of dark and grim. The human transplant doesn’t come until the later third and that’s when the actors do begin to ham it up a bit, but at that point it’s acceptable.

In a smaller supporting role is Casey Kasem as Dr. Ken, a former colleague and good friend of Roger’s. He’s fascinated and impressed with the work Roger has done, but when it gets to people he realizes it’s gone too far and assists Roger in tracking down his “monster.” Kasem didn’t do a ton of live-action films, so it’s fun to see him pop up in things like this.

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant is now out on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber and I think it’s one of their better B-movie releases when considering the whole package. The transfer is pretty good and what you’ve come to expect from Kino Lorber. It’s not the type that will blow you away like something from Arrow or Vinegar Syndrome, but it’s more than adequate. I will say the finale of the film is a little rough, but that’s not Kino Lorber’s fault. The film had a weird creative choice that resulted in the original print being damaged on purpose to help sell a cave crumbling in. This choice doesn’t really help sell the cave thing and just results in a rough looking image.

The reason I view this as a standout release from Kino Lorber is because it includes a RiffTrax audio commentary! What a cool addition! Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy make this already fun movie and lot more enjoyable. It would be cool to see Kino Lorber do this more in the future. They release a lot of stuff that seems to be in the RiffTrax wheelhouse. There’s also an interview with the film’s writer James Gordon White. This is about 10 minutes long and actually doesn’t talk about The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant very much, but it is a bit interesting. I must say I disagree heavily with White’s assessment of critics.

If you like the old AIP stuff you’ll probably dig this. If AIP movies aren’t your thing, you’ll probably want to skip this. I happen to be a huge AIP fan and am very glad to have this in my collection.

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant is now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

*By the way, this should not be confused with the Blaxploitation film The Thing with Two Heads which James Gordon White also wrote.

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Chris Coffel is originally from Phoenix, AZ and now resides in Portland, OR. He once scored 26 goals in a game of FIFA. He likes the Phoenix Suns, Paul Simon and 'The 'Burbs.' Oh and cats. He also likes cats.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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