BA_Harrison
Imagine a bizarre fusion of Terry Gilliam's Brazil and TV sitcom I love Lucy. Now add a dash of Cronenbergesque body-shock horror and a soupçon of sixties sci-fi idealism. The result might look something like Meet The Hollowheads, the only directorial effort (to date) from movie make-up maestro Tom Burman. And then again it might not.Set in a strange world where all of life's necessities are supplied (and disposed of) via tubes, where strange creatures are used both as food and household tools, and where clean living wholesome folk are driven to violence, Meet the Hollowheads is definitely a film that needs to be seen to be believed.Henry Hollowhead (John Glover), loving husband and father of three, is United Umbilical's top meter reader. Hoping for a promotion, he brings home his new boss, Mr. Crabneck, to meet his family and stay for dinner. But Mr.Crabneck proves to be a less than perfect house-guest, insulting Henry's youngest son, and leching after both Henry's tasty wife and his jail-bait daughter (played by a very sexy and very young Juliette Lewis). Soon enough the situation turns ugly and the Hollowheads are forced to fight back.Extremely imaginative and downright freaky in places, this movie is certainly not going to be to everyone's taste, but those with a taste for the unusual and absurd should really give this one a try, if only to witness the sight of Juliette Lewis singing and dancing whilst her (real-life) brother plays a 'half-mutant-chicken/half-trombone' musical instrument.And if that isn't enough to tempt you, the film also contains these treats: Ms. Lewis trying on a range of garish but very-body-hugging dresses, Ms Lewis feeding her grandpa green goop though a tube while he gropes her, Near Dark's Joshua Miller playing 'Splatspray' with huge lice, Bobcat Goldthwait (credited as Jack Cheese) talking normally, and Anne 'Throw Momma From The Train' Ramsey (in her final role) requiring subtitles due to her throat cancer.Quite insane and quite possibly brilliant (but don't quote me on that), Meet The Hollowheads is well worth checking out if you love obscure cinematic oddities.
Jason Akamatsi
I wouldn't have given this movie more than a five if it hadn't been so inventive. The mother and daughter both gave fabulous performances, but I can't say the same for the rest of the crew. The sets were overcolourful and far too "Saved By The Bell" for my tastes. I would have liked this movie even more if we'd been allowed to have seen more of the world in which the Hollowheads live in. There were a few moments in this where I just had to fast-forward because nothing was happening (the Splatspray game, for instance). Very inventive, and a few good lines. But for the most part, the awful oversaturated sets and nauseatingly bad acting just kind of brought it down. A few moments made me feel as if I were riding a bad haunted house.This would be an interesting movie to remake with better production values.
vandino1
This is certainly one cheery little pile of glop but, with its rainbow-dessert/Good n'Plenty visual design, it is hard to digest and rather nausea inducing. It's like a bad dream channeled through a nether world where the brains of Terry Gilliam and Steven Spielberg (in his Goonies phase) connect. Meet the Hollowheads? More like the Jetsons-meets-Brazil-meets-a-hamster-habitrail... well, it's certainly not the usual "meetings" I'll grant that. But it's all contrived weirdness and goopy effects, and worst of all not funny. There's no wit, just a lot of Sid & Marty Kroft-like ('Lidsville/H.R. Pufnstuf', etc.) goings on that might appeal to kids. There's even a section with Anne Ramsey that is so badly acted and recorded that it required post-production sub-titles in order to figure out what was being said (granted Miss Ramsey died, presumably before she could loop her dialogue). There's also a cheesy 80's-cliche guitar & synth music score that ironically dates this futuristic film. Or maybe it's not futuristic, but an alternate universe... being the same place where this film came from, like some of the actors listed: Shnutz Burman, Lightfield Lewis, Shotgun Britton and Jack Cheese (yes, these are the actors names not their characters). Yet it was probably a blast to make, at least for the Burman clan: from the credits it appears the entire Burman family tree worked on this. Then again, Tom Burman is a make-up artist, so this may be the finest directorial achievement of any make-up artist in Hollywood history. Bravo... now let's put a Key Grip in the directorial chair and see what one of THEM can do.
BadWebDiver
This is sort of like a lite version of BRAZIL; which takes a standard 60s sit-com plot of a middle-class working father who has to impress his boss with a dinner at the family home; and sets it in some futuristic/alien world.It has quite impressive production values, great set design, and a fairy tight little script.All the child actors especially show a lot of enthusiasm and great personality.Very enjoyable if you like escapist storytelling. It would probably make an enjoyable rainy-day video for the family during holidays.
AD
