Edward Lee's the Bighead

This was a great teaser to a brutal, disturbing novel. This movie is not for the weak or easily disgusted. It is very faithful to the novel and does include a graphic rape/ murder. I was at the movie premiere in LA since I was a kickstarter donor, so I am a bit biased. Everyone there was excited and thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

The bottom line is that this is a brutal, graphic adaptation of a "splatterspunk" novel. It is a short movie with selected scenes intended to shock and draw interest to make this into a full movie. This was a great low budget short horror film that I hope gets turned into a full length film.

I had the extreme displeasure of sitting though this film at a shorts festival last night. The entire audience (except the filmmaker) was horrified (in a bad way) to watch one of the most exploitive, graphic rape scenes ever filmed. Since this is not "The Accused" or a film that is trying to point out the tragedy of rape, the scene was merely for "entertainment" and had nothing to do with the title's monster. The comeuppance to the rapist was merely being punched by a priest. I'm aware the film is based on a book, which touts itself as "wildly controversial" but the choices in scenes to show for the short is tasteless and pointless. On top of that, the Bighead monsters is just wasted, only one attack is seen. So the centerpiece of the film is the revolting rape scene. But I'm sure the masochism of the film is lost on the production company that calls itself "Big Melons". Avoid this film at all costs. I'm still angry I can't un-watch it.

I'll say right off that nothing in this short film offended me. Complaining about a violent rape scene in a movie based on an Edward Lee story is like complaining there's milk in your milkshake. It's just part of the territory... and rape IS horrible right? So if anything it amps up the stakes... because a scary monster that just kills and eats you is kind of boring.

That said. This was crap. It looked good and the acting was decent... the monster is a nasty piece of work... but the writing is just awful. Having not read the book I can't say who is to blame, but the dialogue is just juvenile. Even though brief it's certainly better than Header... but that's not saying much at all. Still, if this ever does get developed into a full length movie I'd be willing to give it a second look, but I'd keep my expectations VERY low.