Duo pour une mort noire

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.

"Pete Giullani" (Wayne Crawford) and "Katherine Hall" (Kay Lenz) are two Miami detectives who are partners and are given an assignment to investigate a series of brutal murders among the small Nigerian community in their city. At the same time Pete has just learned that his wife is having an affair and because of that he has decided to move out of the house. Not knowing where else to turn he goes to the only person he can trust-who happens to be Katherine--and asks to move in temporarily with her. She reluctantly agrees even though she has a boyfriend and a private life of her own. Unfortunately, if that wasn't enough, the murders begin to increase and soon both Pete and Katherine begin to suspect that the person responsible for these grisly murders may not be human after all-and it has now targeted them. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, although the plot certainly seemed interesting enough, I found this film to be somewhat disappointing overall. For starters, the demon wasn't depicted until the end of the film and when it was finally shown it looked quite ridiculous. Likewise, too much time was spent on the subplot involving Pete's marriage which wasn't even remotely interesting. Additionally, other than Kay Lenz, none of the actors really stood out and for that reason it was hard to get overly enthused about this movie at all. That said, I have rated this movie accordingly. Slightly below average.

A cop (Wayne Crawford) whose wife is having an affair on him finds himself facing off against an African demon that has just arrived in the USA and is cutting off everyone's head. Kay Lenz is his partner and love interest. This film is very crudely made and lifelessly acted, but somehow or another it manages to move along at such a fast pace and also manages to be very entertaining and exciting the entire running time that you really don't care.

Could have been a cult classic. Everyone and anyone who gravitates to these type of movies knows what they are getting, gore and lots of it. Sadly, there was not enough. The "action scenes" are choppy and, having seen worse movies, done poorly. This is just a majority of the scenes, however. There are some scenes done very very well. If the action scenes were as up front and to the point as the final scene, or the dream sequence, the movie would just make more sense. Period.

I happened upon this movie in a goodwill store and i am, although a little disappointed with the gore, glad that i bought it (probably being the only one in the world with a copy on VHS...hehe). The scenes that are done well, almost bring it to cult status. Overall, i would advise to see it because of a little bit of b-movie humor and some b-movie horror. Hopefully there is a remake, one that will heed this advice and become a cult classic!

My review was written in February 1990 after watching the movie on Academy video cassette.

"Head Hunter" is a less than engrossing horror film set in Miami that was filmed in South Africa in 1988.

Kay Lenz and Wayne Crawford are Miami cops stuck with the case of gory murders breaking out in the city's Nigerian community (if such a subculture actually exists there). Victims have their heads cut off, and our sterling heroes trace this to an ancient voodoo-style ritual. Predictable climax has the heroes' friends possessed by a demon.

Poor shot matching fails to meld convincingly the Miami locale with the African-lensed principal photography. Worse yet, this is a screen portrayal of Miami with no Latin Americans in sight.

Adding to the insult of pic's premise is the set of bored walk-throughs by the cast, plus unconvincing makeup effects for the demon's final reel appearance.