Less straightforward than one might expect for a tale about a racist surgeon whose head is transplanted onto an African American man's body, the vast majority of 'The Thing With Two Heads' is actually played straight (not as a comedy), nor does the surgeon gradually overcome his prejudices as one might expect. The difficulty of pinpointing what exactly the filmmakers were going for here has lead to the film acquiring a mixed reputation, but it is a decidedly different sci-fi tale at least. As mentioned, the comedy angle does not take off until rather late in the piece (around halfway in) and it is furthermore a good thirty minutes before the transplant takes place with the film going into glorious detail regarding its head grafting pseudoscience and how host bodies need to learn to accept newly transplanted heads before the original heads can be removed and so on. This early part of the film also features a two-headed gorilla, wonderfully crafted by Rick Baker. It is really only as the comedy angle starts to warm up that the film loses its way with prolonged racing and chase scenes when the better moments are the ones in which the Thing interacts with others, including the African American's girlfriend, curious if he has two of anything else (!). If not a film that be unreservedly recommended, the movie's strangeness alone might make it worth a look for some.
Review of The Thing with Two Heads
