La maldición de shaman

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.

This looks nothing like Miami to me. I know it says this was partially shot in Miami, but this doesn't feel like it is set in America, or populated by Americans for that matter. The scene in the meat processing plant doesn't strike me as anything like what you would see in America, even in the 80's in a bad neighborhood. Maybe they thought setting this in America would make it easier to get it distributed.

Plots revolves around an evil voodoo spirit terrorizing a neighborhood in Miami which is mostly populated by Nigerian refugees, chopping off and stealing their heads. Police detectives Crawford and Lenz are given the unenviable task of investigating the murders, and soon find out for themselves that they are in WAY over their own heads.

Sometimes creepy, sometimes boring, but its sense of humor perks things up throughout and helps hold your interest. Unfortunately when you do finally get to see the killer is a big let down, and it most resembles what you'd expect a living-dead pro-wrestler with a machete to look like, except made out of foam-rubber. Crawford and Lenz do an excellent job in their roles and help hold things together despite this films serious weaknesses, with Crawford delivering some pretty good one-liners.

5 out of 10, not for everyone but a passable time killer.

Detectives Katherine Hall (Kay Lenz) and Pete Giullani (Wayne Crawford) are investigating a bizarre series of beheadings in Miami. With Christopher Lambert nowhere to be seen, they focus on a small community of Nigerian immigrants who believe they are being haunted by a vengeful spirit from their homeland. Before you can say THE BELIEVERS, our heroes find themselves targets and their personal lives attacked. This is a pretty average 80s horror flick that loses points for being boring. It is too bad because director Francis Schaeffer stages some effective scenes (all of the kill scenes are well done), but then bungles the human drama. The end has Crawford chasing the main beast - that looks kind of like Rawhead Rex - around a tiny backyard with a chainsaw. The movie needed more crazy stuff like this, and less stuff like Crawford arguing with his wife. The film ends with Headhunter being resurrected back in Africa, but no sequel arrived.

"Headhunter" is a low-budget horror movie shot in Cape Town but set in Miami. It's a little flick with a good and intriguing premise but a sloppy script. Director Francis Schaeffer counterbalances that by trying to make the movie as stylish as possible. You can definitely see the influence movies such as "The Evil Dead" had on this one. The cinematography in general is pretty good, provided you're watching the movie on Blu-Ray (the disc is out-of-print and I had to retrieve it on eBay myself about 10 years ago). Despite the director and the camera team using every trick in the book, the very low-budget prevents the movie from having a great-looking monster and decent gore: had they spent a bit more on the FX and fixed the script, it could've become a cult classic. I personally still love it as an obscure flick from the video rental days.