BA_Harrison
A pair of Miami cops, Kat (Kay Lenz) and Pete (Wayne Crawford), investigate a series of grisly murders in the city's Nigerian community, in which the victims have been decapitated, their heads stolen. The pair's enquiries lead them to believe that a shape-shifting African demon is behind the slayings, which puts them both in danger of losing their own heads to the supernatural being.There's potential for a lot of over-the-top fun with the notion of a Nigerian demon lopping off people's heads in Florida, but Headhunter fails to do the idea justice, the meandering script focusing way too much on Pete's boring relationship issues with his wife, and on routine police work.Director Francis Schaeffer handles his visuals well enough - the film looks stylish throughout - and the decapitations, when they happen, are entertaining, but for much of the time the drama makes the film feel like a made-for-TV movie, at least until the rousing finale which makes up somewhat for all of the dull stuff. After discovering his wife and her girlfriend dead (some decent gore in this scene), Pete purchases a chainsaw and rushes to rescue Kat from the demon (which we finally get to see in its true form). Pete and Kay battle the monster, successfully dismembering it, but a final scene sees the demon brought back to life by its Nigerian worshippers, ready for the sequel that never happened.
sasquatchismyhero
Could have been a cult classic. Everyone and anyone who gravitates to these type of movies knows what they are getting, gore and lots of it. Sadly, there was not enough. The "action scenes" are choppy and, having seen worse movies, done poorly. This is just a majority of the scenes, however. There are some scenes done very very well. If the action scenes were as up front and to the point as the final scene, or the dream sequence, the movie would just make more sense. Period. I happened upon this movie in a goodwill store and i am, although a little disappointed with the gore, glad that i bought it (probably being the only one in the world with a copy on VHS...hehe). The scenes that are done well, almost bring it to cult status. Overall, i would advise to see it because of a little bit of b-movie humor and some b-movie horror. Hopefully there is a remake, one that will heed this advice and become a cult classic!
Skutter-2
A forgettable little horror ditty involving two cops in Miami (Wayne Crawford and Kay Lenz) investigating some bloody murders which prove to be the work of an African demon which has pursued some refugees there. Headhunter is actually kind of plodding and uneventful and not the cheesefest the gaudy cover promised (How many times have I been let down by a dull movie with a cheesy VHS cover). There is little in the way of suspense, gore or action until the end of the movie when we finally get a look at the titular nasty which is actually a rather impressive, if rubbery, looking nasty. The dialogue is dull, the acting is decent and the plot is a little muddled (Something about the creature killing those are unfaithful to the African religion involved the movie and those who know its secret but it is unclear and underdeveloped and comes across as somewhat nonsensical and random given the events of the movie). There is some attempt at characterisation but it is of the clumsy, awkwardly inserted background personal life stuff that just eats up running time instead of seeming part of the movie Your wife left you for a woman, boo-hoo, go and sit in the sitcom corner with George Costanza and that big nosed schlub from friends. There are some weak attempts at black humour such as an aborted baptism scene and one amusing scene involving a spontaneous late night visit to a hardware store by the films male protagonist to grab a chainsaw to do battle with the headhunter. A good sense of place and atmosphere is actually created in the seamy back blocks of Miami but it is not enough to make the film work any better. Not really terrible but mot really worth watching unless you're really stuck for something.
Coventry
Compared to what you might think, it's really easy to make a movie. Here's what you do: You take a tribe somewhere in Africa. You film the village witch-doctor while he's doing some kind of ritual. you place some candles around him and BANG! All of a sudden appears a hideous demon. You transfer the whole thing to Miami and you're done. All the rest are details. Bad acting, huge mistakes in the script ? So what ? You got to give the makers of this film some credit: they were obviously very enthusiast and they did create an interesting demon. I don't mind films like this being made, but the problem with this kind is that they take themselves too serious. There's ain't much humor in this story.
AD
