TWO UNPUBLISHED IN THE THING WITH TWO HEADS (USA, 1972) Address: Lee Frost. Cast: Ray Milland (Maxwell Kirshner), Roosevelt Grier (Jack Moss), Don Marshall (Fred Williams), Roger Perry (Dr. Philip Desmond), Chelsea Brown (Lila), Katherine Baumann ( Patricia), John Bliss (Donald), John Dullaghan (Thomas), Lee Frost (Sergeant Hacker), Kellen Jane (Mrs. Mullen), Wes Bishop (Dr. Smith). Duration: 93 minutes .
Symptoms: Dr. He Kirshner, of an eminent surgeon misogynist, racist and decidedly devilish, suffers from terminal cancer. To circumvent his fate has been investigating with the possibility of transplanting animal head on the body of another individual to go slowly absorbing the powers of the host body and get rid of the head "original." When the time comes, get a volunteer, a prisoner sentenced to death. Little does he know Dr. Kirshner is that the subject in question is black and also has her own escape plans.
Diagnosis: When talking about the collaboration of the great Ray Milland
with AIP often cited
essential to obsession and The Man with X-ray eyes , both directed by Roger Corman
likewise passed sideways for the title that concerns us and that is without certainly the most bizarre of the three. Despite this, and go ahead, this film does not deserve the bad reputation that some critics have always prejudiced as a sambenito loaded, calling him the same level as (this indeed unfortunate)
Sea Serpent, as reviewed here.
slipstreaming Made of another film with the same premise, The Incredible
2-Headed Transplant (1971) technically and artistically inferior to that which concerns us, what makes this film (entitled by reason of its video editing in Spain with the inappropriate title of Evil Experiment
) a film so nice to see is his strong comedic tone (not parody) throughout the film, with Ray Milland really fun showing his undeniable professionalism despite being forced to be literally stuck for most of the shooting to a black 2 meters tall, the former American football player:
Roosevelt Grier. Against all odds, this is also Grier the most successful in its composition and achieved an effective chemistry with veteran Milland. Discussions between the two (remember, an old scientist grumpy, racist and a black death row who are forced to "cohabit" in the same body) provide some really funny situations and dialogues, as the time when Grier tries to convince his girlfriend to make love Milland's head covering. As a curious remark that Grier would go down in history before acting as a bodyguard, Robert J. Kennedy (brother of John) to be one of the pad to Shirhan, the young fundamentalist Palestinian who fired the shot that eventually killed Democratic Senator.
Returning to the tape in question, mentioning that is directed by Lee Frost
(here he plays a police sergeant). Frost may not say anything to most fans but this is one of the most efficient producers of black-exploitation genre of the time with such famous titles as
Love Camp 7 (1969) or The black
Gestapo (1975). The experiment result is as curious as it tells the story: to produce a hybrid of two of the most popular genres in the Series B 70. On the one hand science fiction films, with "mad doctor" including, showing the excellence of an emerging technique of transplanting (remember that Dr. Christiaan Barnard had performed the first successful heart transplant only four years before ) with black Exploitation of the time who also had gained in strength in the fantasy genre (remember that
Blacula, without going further). Without doubt, the bad reputation that pulls the film is due to its psychotronic premise: the graft from one head to another body so that, after a short period of time, go slowly encroaching on motor skills and, as final operation, is removed, the former head, unserviceable. This argument could only attack from one premise (and here, again, lies the main success of the film): the constant ironic situations, dialogue and characters that keep us take the film too seriously.
That
The thing with two heads has a very low level budget is something that is evident at various moments of the film (the chases are always on deserted roads or directly in the middle of the countryside, scenarios are limited to a few inside) but never affect the technical end, much more efficient than the production of these features can be envisaged. The special effects are well made (in the sequence of the operation came to be used even a robotic head of actor Ray Milland) and it is not surprising if we consider the great team of specialists who make up the department among them Thomas R.
Burman, head of the makeup effects for productions like
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1987),
The Cat People (1982) or The Goonies
(yours is the makeup of the unforgettable Sloth) to name a few examples, Daniel C.
Striepeke (
Planet of the Apes and sequels,
Patton, Saving Private Ryan) or the very
Rick Baker (
The Star Wars, Howling, Ed Wood ...) in one of its early work where he also plays the ape that appears in the first part of the film.
In short, a minor but entertaining title, with abundant (and sometimes exhausting) car chases, technically flawless finish and a final unfinished curious where suspense leaves some plot points perhaps to avoid getting into certain moral treatises (and given the easy tone of the film) would have been more. At the end of the day that a film leaves us with the feeling of wanting more is always a point to consider in their favor, right?
Trailer original "The Thing With Two Heads" can not miss it: The great lover of 70's punk .
Refrain: He who seeks an argument with feet and head. This is only the latest, and also twice.
Direct Download (in VOS):
in Castilian (Pass: PARADISE)
