Trophy Heads

Basement trash-horror fan teams up with his brownie-baking mother to ghoulishly preserve the magic of the passing generations of scream-queens.

Comedy horror mostly pisses me off, but this is a great idea. The genre is splashed all over the screen and, although a bit coy on the sex, this should hit the spot for experienced fans of US slasher movies. Myself, I can't ref the films or actresses.

Clunky production that gets into its stride, and I liked the performances as it went along. Dialogue and editing a bit slow, so the humour sometimes fails to spark and a lot of jokes are left at the table, but the pace is good. Favourite scene was at the audition, where the actors get to play it up. Plus the ending doesn't disappoint.

It also hits a good note on the nostalgia of a film fan - the first reaction to watching a movie recedes, the regret becomes overwhelming. Kill it before it dies. Mom!

Overall - low rent, dirty irony, but lack of sharps on the sleaze and humour.

Living with his psychotic mother, a deranged movie fan decides to start leaving a different legacy than he has and kidnaps the scream queens he loved in his youth to recreate his favorite scenes with them against their will only to kill them at the end, forcing them to find a way to stop his plans.

Overall, this was a fairly fun genre effort. One of the stronger efforts with this is the generally impressive psychological character study here that gets this one involved in a chilling enough setup. Getting to know the main lead and the relationship dynamic he has with his mom gives everything its main focus, whether it be the deranged mindset that allowed the hunting and gathering to go on or the highly deranged obsession with the films that fostered his desire to take the movies literally. Seeing how the loser lifestyle has left him living like a pathetic antisocial virgin stuck in his mother's basement watching everything over and over again until he formulates this particular plan is a fine way to delve into his particular psyche to concoct and pull off the type of plot featured here. As they continue with the capture and recreations of the various films from their career, the taunting and tormenting the disembodied voices pull off with their quips and comebacks to how it's all taking place complete the picture incredibly well. This sets up the film's main focus where it focuses on a rather loose interpretation of famous sequences involving the main characters and their past movie careers. Featuring cheesy and somewhat silly abduction scenes that are silly enough for what they are, the main series of encounters that take place here involve the fateful recreations as best they can which allows for a solid series of scenes here. Starting with the initial sequence with the alien abduction, the chase through the woods, or the flashlight-driven search through the compound, the sequences in place here are quite intriguing with how they manage to bring about the idea of the whole thing being done as a cheap imitation of the original sequence if not being an outright recreation. That makes the brutality displayed during these segments quite nice as everything is changed around into a new outcome as the action takes place throughout here as the comedy of the situation helps to add another fine layer over everything, making for a really fun time here. There are a few minor drawbacks to be had with this one that hold it back. One of the main flaws here is the film's odd structure of how the various women get introduced into the storyline which comes off rather bizarrely. With the idea of the girls getting kidnapped at random and forced to stay chained in the basement until it's their time, interrupting everything to then go kidnap someone else and keep them locked up before going back to someone they had kidnapped before, there's a decidedly unconventional structure here that comes about with not having them together the whole time. Abducting the girls and forcing them to go through everything knowing what's going on from the very start is a much better use of time here instead of having to repeat the idea every time someone else comes into the equation. As well as some rather obvious low-budget limitations that are in place here, these are what bring the film down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and Nudity.

I am fan of Charles Band watching his movie for past some time. Unlike his other movies in the past, this movie has focus on killing screaming B queens in a different passion. The story is known to everyone at the beginning. No complaints on Charles Band as there is nothing in the story. Unlike other Charles Band movies, this movie has no surprising start and no surprising end. But all the characters in the movie done a good job.**** worth to watch scene in this movie is actress Irena Murphy topless gag scene! (yes she did nude finally, no fake or body double). The Full moon productions website has additional scenes of Irena Murphy topless bondage scenes.

TROPHY HEADS is a cheapo Full Moon production that pays homage to the classic scream queens of the 1980s and 1990s, throwing them together in a self-referential production that acknowledges their heyday. The loose plot involves a serial killer who captures and imprisons said actresses before brutalising them in various cheesy death games. The highlight here is seeing the likes of Michelle Bauer, Brinke Stevens, Linnea Quigley and Denise Duff teaming up to revisit their careers, but the script is pretty poor which renders the whole thing something of a talky bore, and of course the endless old movie clips don't help much.

Trophy Heads (2014)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Max (Adam Noble Roberts) is a loser of a man who has no job, lives in his mom's basement and all he wants to do is watch horror movies from the 80's. Frustrated that nothing stays the same and that his beloved Scream Queens are getting old, he decides to kidnap them with the help of his mother (Maria Olsen) and cut their heads off, which is what gives the film its title.

TROPHY HEADS actually has a very good idea in its head. The idea of a mentally messed up man, who lives for movies and finally cracks and begins to go after the people he sees in movies, is something that would have made for a terrific drama and I can only imagine what some top-tier directors could do with it. This film isn't that though as it's a Full Moon production and on that level the thing actually remains somewhat charming and at least is a great throwback to those, such as myself, who grew up watching these type of direct-to-video horror movies back in the 80s.

The real reason to watch this movie is because it features some of the biggest Scream Queens from this era. Brinke Stevens working as a massage therapist. Michelle Bauer is selling juice and signed posters to whoever knows her.Then there's Jessica Morris and Darcy DeMoss who are still out there trying to score auditions. Best of all is Linnea Quigley who finds herself selling the word of Jesus before she's kidnapped. It was great getting to see all of the actresses and another selling point of the movie is that it shows clips from their previous movies. Stuff like CREEPOZOIDS, SORORITY BABE IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-A-RAMA and HEAD OF THE FAMILY are seen and spoofed. We also have Stuart Gordon making a hilarious cameo.

The film was obviously shot on a very low-budget so most of the deaths are off screen, which is actually a good thing because the one that is on the screen looks horrible with its cheap CGI. The film's tone is quite charming in its own right as Charles Band is obviously winking at his fans and also showing off various Full Moon films. The pace of the movie is also quite good as it certainly manages to hold your attention throughout but you're enjoyable factor will depend on how old you are or what type of films you like. If you have no idea who these Scream Queens are or what Full Moon is then you're just going to find this boring as the same thing happens over and over.

However, if you're a fan of these Scream Queens then you're going to enjoy seeing them all together on the screen again. TROPHY HEADS isn't a masterpiece but I think it really does succeed at what it tried to do and that's be an 80's horror movie with these Scream Queens.