Director
Anthony M. Lanza
Cast
Bruce Dern - Dr. Roger Girard
Pat Priest - Linda Girard
Casey Kasem - Dr. Ken Anderson
Albert Cole - Manuel Cass
John Bloom - Danny Norton
Berry Kroeger - Dr. Max
This wasn't going to be the review I had planned for this slot. I have anthology films I want to get to. But I came across this by chance, and wanted to see it.
I first heard of this movie from a review I saw somewhere. Honestly, I don't remember where I saw that review. It may have been James Rolfe of Cinemassacre who reviewed it.
After watching this film and then looking it up on Google, I realize that I may have The Incredible 2-Head Transplant confused with the "blaxploitation" film, The Thing With Two Heads from 1972 starring Ray Milland and Rosey Grier. Now that I think of it, I'm certain that's the movie I once heard about.
The movie begins with a homicidal mental patient named Manuel Cass (Albert Cole), who escapes from jail and is now on the loose.
Bruce Dern plays wealthy scientist Dr. Roger Girard who spends all his time experimenting with head transplants on animals. His assistant, Dr. Max (Berry Kroeger) works eagerly alongside him.
Dr. Girard's wife, Linda (Pat Priest - The Munsters) is upset because he's been spending several days in his private lab without coming out.
Linda turns to their family friend, Dr. Ken Anderson (Casey Kasem), to ask him if he can try and talk her husband into spending more time with her.
Their caretaker's son, Danny (John Bloom) is gifted with being tall and built. But he has the mentality of a young child thanks to a mine accident in which he sustained a head injury.
Manuel makes his way to Dr. Girard's property, and murders his caretaker.
He breaks into the doctor's house, kidnaps Linda and takes her to a secluded place so he can have his way with her. Fortunately, he doesn't get far.
Dr. Girard finds them and shoots Manuel, seriously injuring him. He takes him back to his lab where
Dr. Max gets the bright idea to take their experimentation to the next level and transplant Manuel's head onto Danny's body.
So, that's what Dr. Girard does.
The experiment is a success. But Manuel's head takes control of Danny's body, and uses it to go on a killing spree.
This is one of those horror movies were the random victims of the "monster" could have easily escaped their fate. But then what would be the point of the movie?
Any opportunity to explore the anguish and horrific turmoil of the two-headed monstrosity is set aside for, I'm guessing, a portrayal of fallen human nature.
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| John Bloom (left) and Albert Cole (right) in The Incredible 2-Head Transplant |
If there's something to take away from this movie, it's the underlying message of a person's lower passions taking over a their intellect and better judgement.
We all have two sides to ourselves. It's up to us who takes control.
The Danny portion of the monster is helpless as the Manuel side, which is just a head, growls and snarls like the quintessential homicidal sex maniac he is at the site of women and innocent victims.
Danny just looks on with a sad expression like an eight-year old, muttering "no, no, no".
Otherwise, this movie has all the feels and appearances of a 1950s low-budget science fiction horror flick loaded with shot after shot of mad scientists, and a deformed "monster" that's both maniacal and dumb, praying on young innocent and vulnerable girls. Exploitation.
Evidently, the movie was filmed in six days out in California. The quality of the rushed production may not loom like the two-headed person. But it's just as evident.
Manuel's escape from jail looks like one of the easiest escapes in jailbreak history. When he walks out of the police station, not one cop chases after him. Not one cop is out in the parking lot. Cass leaves like he's exiting a department store.
Dr. Max gets the idea to transplant Manuel's head to Danny's body after they sedate the two, which makes me wonder what their initial plan was before coming up with this scheme. That's what their whole operation is about in the first place.
While the effect of having Albert Cole's head surgically attached to John Bloom's body is obvious - he's simply standing behind him - the effort to pull that much off deserves an applause. It must have been uncomfortable for both actors to move as naturally and quickly as they do while trying to convince the audience that this is a two-headed person.
The Incredible 2-Head Transplant is bad like a terrible car accident occurring right before me. I don't want to see it, but I can't turn my head. It's exactly what I expected it to be. I couldn't look away while watching this movie. It reminded me of a standard 1950s B-horror movie, in color, inspired by earlier Frankenstein movies. Or better yet, the story is like something that would be found in a horror comic from the same era, like Tales from the Crypt, right down to the film's expositional dialogue.
If it's not a great bad movie, it's pretty darn close.
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