I worked in a video store when I was in high school - not Blockbuster, but a local independent establishment that had a far more substantial library, and much more variety. I never had nearly enough time to watch all the films I'd have liked, and in hindsight, I deeply regret the missed opportunities. One of those movies I never watched nonetheless had cover art that distinctly caught my attention, so one day I knew that for better or worse I had to check out 'Head of the family.' Now that I have, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that decision.
In theory this is a horror-comedy. Any attempted outright jokes and gags frequently outright fail to land. Dialogue is often tired and tawdry at large, nevermind more than a few instances of sexism, ableism, fatphobia, and other nonsense. Some lines bear a spark of cleverness, yet too much of the potential earnest fun is quashed by hopelessly leaden pacing. For that matter, the writing generally and plot development specifically are also heavily dulled by the bizarre slothfulness, and by undeniably excessive dialogue. The narrative, characters, and scene writing are pretty decent, I think - there are actually some swell ideas here in the assemblage. It's too bad they're trapped in tree sap that's halfway to becoming amber.
On the other hand, the cast is obviously having fun, and it's hard not to get a little bit caught up in that spirit. The production design and art direction are swell, at their best faintly recalling genre flicks of the 80s, or arguably British horror from the 70s; that's almost kind of impressive given the usual standards of Full Moon Pictures. In every instance the costume design, hair and makeup work, prosthetics, and effects look really great, on par with like contributions in more reputable titles. I'm as surprised as anyone to say that from a technical standpoint this is quite well made, including lighting, cinematography, and editing.
'Head of the family' isn't half bad. There's real entertainment value here, for the horror vibes and to a much lesser extent for fragments of comedy. The screenplay is, in fact, much better than not, and Charles Band's direction. Yet arguably as much as half of the dialogue could be cut without losing anything, and thereby a few entire scenes and a fair bit of the runtime. Had the length been thusly trimmed, the end result would have meaningfully and substantially improved. For all that is done well here I'd love to say that I like this more than I do; my enthusiasm, however, is restricted by how meekly the movie limps along. A smidgen more mindfulness would have gone a very long way, and it wouldn't have even required anything more by way of a budget.
Believe it or not, ultimately this is rather worthwhile, and probably among the better features Full Moon has ever churned out. It simply didn't need to be this long, or this verbose, and the execution frankly needed a stimulant or four. Still, if you have the chance to watch 'Head of the family,' it's an enjoyable, cheeky genre romp; just don't get your hopes up.
In theory this is a horror-comedy. Any attempted outright jokes and gags frequently outright fail to land. Dialogue is often tired and tawdry at large, nevermind more than a few instances of sexism, ableism, fatphobia, and other nonsense. Some lines bear a spark of cleverness, yet too much of the potential earnest fun is quashed by hopelessly leaden pacing. For that matter, the writing generally and plot development specifically are also heavily dulled by the bizarre slothfulness, and by undeniably excessive dialogue. The narrative, characters, and scene writing are pretty decent, I think - there are actually some swell ideas here in the assemblage. It's too bad they're trapped in tree sap that's halfway to becoming amber.
On the other hand, the cast is obviously having fun, and it's hard not to get a little bit caught up in that spirit. The production design and art direction are swell, at their best faintly recalling genre flicks of the 80s, or arguably British horror from the 70s; that's almost kind of impressive given the usual standards of Full Moon Pictures. In every instance the costume design, hair and makeup work, prosthetics, and effects look really great, on par with like contributions in more reputable titles. I'm as surprised as anyone to say that from a technical standpoint this is quite well made, including lighting, cinematography, and editing.
'Head of the family' isn't half bad. There's real entertainment value here, for the horror vibes and to a much lesser extent for fragments of comedy. The screenplay is, in fact, much better than not, and Charles Band's direction. Yet arguably as much as half of the dialogue could be cut without losing anything, and thereby a few entire scenes and a fair bit of the runtime. Had the length been thusly trimmed, the end result would have meaningfully and substantially improved. For all that is done well here I'd love to say that I like this more than I do; my enthusiasm, however, is restricted by how meekly the movie limps along. A smidgen more mindfulness would have gone a very long way, and it wouldn't have even required anything more by way of a budget.
Believe it or not, ultimately this is rather worthwhile, and probably among the better features Full Moon has ever churned out. It simply didn't need to be this long, or this verbose, and the execution frankly needed a stimulant or four. Still, if you have the chance to watch 'Head of the family,' it's an enjoyable, cheeky genre romp; just don't get your hopes up.