Head Case

Attempting to live a quiet life together, a pair of serial killers decide to document themselves and their everyday lives while trying to hide their crimes from everyone as well as their children, but as time goes on it soon grows to increasingly more difficult proportions trying to ensure their lives together.

For the most part, this was quite an impressive serial killer effort. One of its better aspects is the outright chilling mundane-ness associated with their action that should be heinous and brutal yet comes off another ordinary day. Initially shown to be bickering in a friendly manner over who gets to hold the camera while videotaping themselves killing a victim, this is then almost immediately followed up with their spirited discussions on the decorations of the murder-room in their house and all the decorations and accouterments that need to be there comes off with quite a disturbing air realizing the conversations are about the space in which they're going to murder their victims. That carries over into the matter-of-fact kills that they partake in. from the opening scene of them dunking a victim under running water to suffocating under a pillow, being drugged and carved into pieces while the victims' unconscious and can't feel anything. These are done with a mostly calm, calculated manner that denotes more of a business-as-usual approach that doesn't spark any kind of emotional outburst from them about anything, yet there's nothing much on display here. Later on, when they're out hunting for victims whether they're successful or not keeps that dark and disturbing air to it with their focus on keeping the grisly features off-screen and only getting an idea through the sounds and glimpses we get about everything. These are what make this a fun time over its negative aspects. Overall, there isn't much wrong here but it does have some slight, nagging flaws. The fact that it's so home-made and down-to-Earth can make this one feel like a total drag and become quite dull. The very nature of this one tending to be very much of their own-filmed scenes can make this come across so flatly and underwhelming that it's boring. The lack of blood and gore in the kills could be a slight disappointment in the sense that it keeps cutting away without showing anything resulting in some rather unremarkable deaths. As well, the finale is quite underwhelming with a low-key and generally just a downer, ending without much resolution or impact as it seems to be as if they ran out of money with what happens. These few factors are what draw this down the most.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

In this subtle, yet unsettling compilation of "home movies" created by Wayne & Andrea Montgomery, filmmaker Anthony Spadaccini affirms his instinctive aptitude for creating both a successful cinematic showpiece and an unnerving playground for his actors to perform.

The realism that this film contains is both distressing and comical; a compound genre that I feel is rather difficult to accomplish. Through the camera's scope, the viewer does not witness an organized, calculable story, rather an intelligently assembled collage of personal movies filmed by Andrea and Wayne to both document their quite casual domestic family life as well as their gruesome escapades that are performed in secrecy.

Wayne Montgomery (Paul McCloskey) portrays the ordinary American Family Man with a quite shocking hobby that he has excelled into an elusive art form that he takes very seriously. To withhold a family infrastructure, fulfill his talent of dismembering bodies, and filming the murders for later satisfaction, Wayne affirms himself to be quite the bachelor of demented serial killers! His accomplice and spouse, Andrea Montgomery (Barbara Lessin) is not any less motivated. (Her character, the candid matriarch, is comparable to a contemporary Lady Macbeth.)

At the beginning of the film, Wayne decides to end his long era of reticence. Now that his children are older, he can return to his former hobbies previously restrained by raising his two children. This time, Andrea doesn't want to feel left out, so they form a successful duet, picking up strangers, dismembering their bodies, and cleaning up afterward. However, while this film initially appears to be geared towards horror fans, it has the quite unique and mature characteristics of a dark comedy.

As Spadaccini's first horror film, he is proving himself to be quite an evolving polymath of film genres. As the category of serial killer films is not uncommon, I have to point out this film carries a quite deviant approach to realistic story telling. The hand-held filming quality allows for the audience to take the voyeur's point-of-view into a world that appears identically parallel to our own. The loose cinematography is quite remarkable.

This is a film that I would suggest for everyone to watch no matter what genre of film you prefer. Also, anyone interested in good film-making, I promise that you will not be let down. This film is remarkable.

Wayne Montgomery (A nicely underplayed and not bad performance from Paul McCloskey) is a suburbanite, in insurance and married to his domineering older wife Andrea. (Barbara Lessin) They have two kids, Todd (Bruce De Santis) and Monica (Emily Spiegel).

Wayne however, sometimes gets stressed with life. Some of us listen to Bach, drink a beer or smoke a joint to unwind, when life gets on top of us. Wayne on the other hand likes to kill people. He's also an avid fan of home movies and recording in general, and is more than happy to document his acts for posterity. Andrea has no problem with this and in fact helps him dispose of the evidence, all the while hen pecking him. And it's all captured on camera...

Head Case, despite its rather lurid title, is actually a not bad fly-on-the-wall look at murderous psychopathy as a way of life.

Wayne and Andrea bicker regularly in a banal, ordinary manner, and chit chat when they're not disposing of their victims, and the whole thing comes across as intentionally boring, yet absorbing at the same time.

In terms of content, it's pretty restrained, probably due to budgetary constraints, and owing more to the likes of Shane Ryan's Amateur Porn Star Killer series than to Fred Vogel's August Underground films. (although it's shot better) However in tone, although purposely banal, it's extremely mean spirited in parts, with director Anthony Spadaccini getting under your skin with some wince-inducing concepts, and disturbing sound effects, even if it isn't full on in-yer-face grue.

Overall, I rather liked it and it held my attention for its entirety. Worth checking out for horror fans, but gore hounds will feel shortchanged. 6/10, but a not bad film and worth a watch.

Headcase has one of the most interesting plots I've ever heard of or seen in my life. The filmography was amazing and extremely effective in what the film was trying to accomplish.

If you aren't fond of blood and gore, this movie might not be for you, but if you are a fan of the horror and gore movies, this one is certainly one to see. You never know what is going to happen next and Spadaccini keeps you guessing.

Altogether I very much enjoyed this film and I would recommend this movie to anyone who loves a good horror story or appreciates great filmography.

With a few exceptions, most horror films are scary but there's a certain unreality to them. You watch them and jump when you're meant to jump and you scream when you're meant to scream, but at the same time you're thinking that this could never happen to you.

Head Case is different. The way it's filmed as to be edited from home movies certainly helps to make it seem realistic, but even more so it's the way the characters act and interact. So many of the exchanges between the husband and wife are just so ... ordinary. Their bickering tends to be rather boring, something you've heard a thousand times from listening to your dull neighbors. At times I began to tune them out. However, when they're planning or carrying out their horrific murders, they're just as casual about it! The way they can nonchalantly describe to each other the way a woman is chewing up ground glass or how it's so difficult to saw through a spine, as though they're doing nothing more than talking about the weather, is what makes this film so absolutely chilling.

This film being so realistic, it has to be one of the most horrifying I have ever seen. I will never again accept a car ride or a glass of ginger ale.