Head of the Family

1996 "Mastermind of death!"
5.3| 1h22m| R| en| More Info
Released: 29 November 1996 Released
Producted By: Tanna Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

In the midst of a torrid affair, Lance discovers that Nob Hollow's weirdest residents, the Stackpoole family, have been doing hideous human experiments in the bowels of their basement.

Genre

Horror, Comedy

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Head of the Family (1996) is now streaming with subscription on AMC+

Director

Charles Band

Production Companies

Tanna Productions

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Head of the Family Audience Reviews

Konterr Brilliant and touching
Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation
Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Aaron1375 This film was brought to us by Charles Band who did a lot of horror movies back in the day. I do believe he was the person behind Full Moon studios which brought us many horror films, some good and a lot of them bad. One thing that can be said about his films though whether good or bad is that they were generally very short! This one was actually one of the longer films I have watched that he did and it was not horribly bad, but it was not good either. Basically, this film had a lot of talking and a lot of sex and nudity, but not a lot in the way of horror. I was not quite sure what to expect when I chose to watch it as I had it on one of those sets of DVDs that has a bunch of other films on it, but I sure as heck was not expecting this. I do not know if that is a good thing or not as I just watched this thing unfold and all I was getting was sex scene, talk, sex scene talk and maybe someone getting punched in the face to change things up. The positive about this formula is that the lead girl was super cute and another girl featured was also rather attractive, but I think the Loretta character was way more attractive than the Ernestina character though Ernestina was the one who was supposed to be super sexy and irresistible.The story has three rather zoned out people to start and then flashes to a restaurant/store where an obnoxious biker who is apparently hated by most people in the town is making deals and being completely oblivious that his wife is having sex with the guy who owns the place. One night while he and the woman are continuing their affair they witness a strange roadblock and the guy investigates only to discover that there are some strange happenings at the house of the three zoned out people. He soon hatches a plan to use this strange family to take care of the woman's husband; unfortunately, he gets a bit too greedy and even after the family takes care of the husband he continues to blackmail the family until the head of the family devises a plan to get the man into his custody where he intends to torture the man for a while, but the guy who seems so stupid seems to somehow be able to counter the super smart head every step of the way.One of the reasons that this film kind of doesn't work is the fact that the lead guy does seem to be able to easily outmaneuver the super intelligent man who lives within the house that is a lot bigger on the inside than the out as it looks like a large house, but not large enough to have a fairly large basement and sport an auditorium. Another problem is the fact that most of the movie is just talk, they discuss things a lot and then there is the sex, which is good because the lead girl is so cute and she is more than willing to take it all off more so than the one that is supposed to be super powered sexy. If this were a porn, it may be okay for it to follow this formula, but it is a horror film...granted it is one of those Full Moon horror comedies. Not going to say the comedy fell completely flat, but the horror was nonexistent. The payoff at the end sucks too. It was not terrible by any means, but it certain was not at the head of its class either.
slayrrr666 "Head of the Family" is one of the best of the Full Moon horror films.**SPOILERS** On a street in an unassuming neighborhood, a family of freaks, Otis, (Bob Schott) Wheeler, (James Jones) and Ernestina, (Dianne Colazzo) lives that causes the others in the town to be paranoid of them. Loretta, (Jacqueline Lovell) a local, is secretly having an affair with bar owner Lance (Blake Bailey) over her boyfriend, Howard (Gordon Jennison Noice). While traveling one night, Loretta and Lance witness the family capturing a traveler and dragging him into their house. Doing a little digging, Lance learns that the family is a family of freaks that is run by Myron, (J.W. Perra) a giant head that wishes to have a normal body. Lance ends up blackmailing them into helping him get rid of Howard and giving him tons of money. Not wanting to become associated with him, Myron sends Otis and Wheeler to spy on him in case of a slip-up to end the deal. Loretta and Lance are captured and tortured into revealing his plans for the family. Loretta is forced into a play with the other victims of Myron's doing, until Otis comes to her rescue and is able to save her from the set being accidentally burned down.The Good News: The real asset, or assets, to this film is the casting of Jacqueline Lovell. Not only is she a good looking actress, she also went topless three times in the film, including two for long periods of time. Also included in that was three more instances of full nudity in the film. She really was nude in at least thirty percent of her on-screen appearances. Also included was a member of the freak family going topless. There really was a lot of nudity in the film. What I also thought was original was that there was a completely original story that had hardly been seen in horror films. It is more of a pervert's movie and it is something new that I haven't seen in a while. Even though there wasn't a whole lot of special effects in the film, the ones that are seem pretty realistic. The giant head of Myron is plausibly done, and looks like something that could exist. The play set was pretty expensive. The designs of the freaks that they keep in the basement are very creepy and look threatening upon first glance.The Bad News: For a horror film, you need jumps. This film has no jumps, shocks or even jolts. It really needed something to cure the boredom. Without the nudity, the film would be just a drag with nothing else to go for it. This film needed something else, a jump or something.The Final Verdict: With no nudity, this film would probably not be very well received. Still, this is a lot better than a lot of Full Moon films. It is more for perverts because of the high amount of nudity and violent acts, not violence, for Full Moon fans. All non-Full Moon fans will be bored stupid by the film.Rated R: Nudity, several strong Sex Scenes, Violence, and Graphic Language
Backlash007 ~Spoiler~I decided to have a Blake Bailey double feature and watched...well, just about the only two movies he ever starred in: Lurking Fear and this, Head of the Family. Head of the Family is a decent attempt at a horror/comedy from director Robert Talbot (Charles Band, we know it's you). It takes place in the small Southern town of Nobs Hollow and revolves around The less-than-normal Stackpool family and a diner owner who is blackmailing them. He is blackmailing them because he saw them do what all weird families who live in isolated places do: kill and torture innocent passerby's. Oh, and because they're stinkin' rich. Surprisingly, it did make me laugh a few times. I enjoyed it because, it being a Full Moon flick, it was thirty times better than their usually horror dealings. When you're used to seeing Seed People and Curse of the Puppet Master, Head of the Family is a delightful masterpiece. I also dug it because I was in the mood for something dumb. Just some old fashioned, check-your-brain-at-the-door kinda fun. If you go into the movie that way, I don't see how you can't have fun with it. It is just a B-movie after all.
mooro7 A couple of friends and myself visited the video shop a few years back and we were in one of those moods to rent some cheesy non seen flicks. My friend grabbed Head of the Family and we were greeted by a head sitting in a wheelchair. Well that set us off laughing and we decided to have a bet to see who would be the one who had to go to the desk and pay for the movie. Well you guessed it, it was me!!!!!!!! I have never been so embarrised in all my life. We got home and put it on and we rolled about the floor laughing for about 45mins because this was the funniest film in the world. I cant remember much about it but one thing i do remember was the blonde girl getting it on with some guy in the back of a shop every 5 mins. That head made me laugh and when i look at other peoples comments aboout this movie it makes me laugh even more. Head of the family is so good and the head is funny and im still laughing ha ha ha ha ha ha ha