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Shrunken Heads (1994)


Cast:

Julius Harris is Mr. Sumatra
Meg "I AM EVIL-LYN!!!!!" Foster is Big Moe
Aeryk Egan is Tommy Larson
Rebecca Herbst is Sally
A.J. Damato is Vinnie


What the box says:

When young Tommy Larson and his two friends Bill and Freddie videotape the neighbourhood gang The Vipers stripping a car and turns the tape over to the police, The Vipers swear vengeance. The three of them are captured and taken before the local mobster Big Moe. But they manage to make an escape and steal all of Big Moe’s gambling receipts. Ordered to get the receipts back, The Vipers instead shoot Tommy and the others. But their friend, the Haitian comic-book dealer Mr Sumatra, a former member of the tonton macoute, sneaks into the funeral home, cuts off and shrinks the boys’ heads and then brings their spirits back to life inside the heads. He then teaches them how to harness their powers and sends them out into the neighbourhood to seek vengeance against Big Moe and the Vipers.


Plot:

In the city, Bill and Tommy Larsen head to Mr. Sumatra’s newsstand to pick up some comic books. Vinnie and his goons are hassling Freddy, the new nerdy, kid.


Cobra Kai is going to beat you at the Karate tournament
They let him go. Bill, Tommy, and Freddy pick some up some comic books. Later, the bullies hassle the kids again. Mr. Sumatra is able to get the kids away and tells them about how he was a Haitian police and information gathering.

You must never invoke Baron Samedi

Sally, Vinnie’s girlfriend, apologizes to Tommy. Vinnie tries to apologize to her. Sumatra uses some powder which causes Vinnie’s car to swerve into a phone pole.

The kids decide to stand up to Vinnie and his goons. Sally talks with Tommy. She’s decided to dump Vinnie for someone more kind, etc…like Tommy.

Bill and Freddy radio Tommy who grabs his camera. Sally tries to warn him not to cross Vinnie. Tommy is able to video the goons stripping a car. The cops stop the goons and Tommy shows the video of the crime. The cops haul the goons off.

Vinnie meets with his boss, Big Moe. He needs some money to bail his gang out. Moe will give him the money if he grabs the kids. Later, the just bailed gang grabs Tommy, Freddy, and Bill off the street.

At Moe’s hideout, she warns the kids to knock it off or else. The gang brings in the night’s haul: number slips. Tommy decides to grab the slips which will make Moe have to pay everyone off. They escape through the air vent.

Big Moe discovers the slips are gone. She wants Vinnie to handle things and gives him some guns.

The kids are gunned down on the street by Vinnie and his gang.

Big Moe congratulates Vinnie for eliminating the problem. He is ready to manage the neighborhood.

Sally tells Mr. Sumatra about the kids being gunned down. At the funeral, Sumatra pays his respects. Late that night, he returns to the funeral home with a hacksaw. In his apartment, he takes the heads into a bubbling cauldron.

Vinnie lays on the charm to win Sally back. He claims he’s going straight and attending night school.

Sumatra keeps adding more things to the cauldron and readies the shrunken heads before reanimating them. The shrunken heads awaken and discover they can fly.


A vampire shrunken head, dude, that is so cool
Sumatra trains them.

1 year later, the bullies collect protection money from Mr. Larsen’s grocery store. Vinnie has his crew to make Mr. Sumatra pay.

Sumatra sends the shrunken heads out. The goons try to mug some woman when the Shrunken Heads attack the goons. Tommy flies off into Sally’s room and sees she still has a picture of him and still pines for him.

The goons awaken and start to pick up trash.

Vinnie still wants Sumatra handled. The goons try to scare Mr. Sumatra who terrifies them away. He lets the Shrunken Heads out to eliminate those goons.

Vinnie tries to convince Sally to go all the way. However, she won’t. He kicks her out of his car.

Later, Vinnie tries to explain to Mr. Sumatra how protection is very important. He finds his goons who are zombiefied in a nearby alley.

The next day, Sally goes to Tommy’s grave. Shrunken Head Tommy flies up which freaks Sally out. He implants his memories to her and how Sumatra reanimated him.

Sally finds Mr. Sumatra. He explains how the shrunken heads have no emotions and only crave revenge. Sally is still knows that Tommy still has emotions and loves her.

Vinnie is getting worried when the zombie goons chase him. The Shrunken Heads fly up to Vinnie.

Sumatra is working on a new formula for Vinnie and Big Moe. He readies to handle things but needs Sally to complete the formula.

Vinnie tells Big Moe about the gang and the shrunken heads when Mr. Sumatra walks in.


When the Tonton Macoute comes knocking, don't answer
The zombified gang members attack Big Moe’s gang. Sally and the Shrunken Heads come in. Big Moe is able to grab Sally and shot Sumatra. Escaping, the Shrunken Heads chase. The zombies take Mr. Sumatra to chase after Big Moe’s car.

The Shrunken Heads fly to chase Big Moe’s car. Freddy is able slash a tire, and Bill bites Big Moe. She is able to shoot Bill. Freddy gets flattened. Tommy crashes into Vinnie’s mouth when the car crashes. Big Moe is still using Sally as a shield. However, her girlfriend, Mitzi grabs the gun.

Sumatra picks up Freddy and Bill.

At Sumatra’s condo, Vinnie and Big Moe are tied up. Sally will take care of the Shrunken Heads. She begins the rite. Later, the Shrunken Heads fly off.

After the credits roll, Mitzi runs into a zombiefied Big Moe and Vinnie.


What I say:

Burning down the house
Hold tight wait till the party's over
Hold tight We're in for nasty weather
There has got to be a way
Burning down the house

How could I not do at least one Talking Heads jokes? Without my feeble attempts at humor, I wouldn't have any...But, it's time for another roundtable? Hopefully, for someone a bit more B-movie-like rather than say dedicating time to the made-for Sci-Fi Channel original movies like Terminal Invasion.

When a man has never met a movie he wrote, directed, or produced that couldn't have a sequel or a crossover except Dr. Mordrid, you know have found the reincarnation of Roger Corman save Corman hadn't died or probably the spirtual son of Roger Corman: Charles Band. After a number of movies in the 1980s, Charles Band hit his stride in the early to mid 1990s. He directed or produced the Puppet Masters and Trancers series and quite a few other low budget movies. Charles Band may be known more as the man that in the 1990s brought more jobs to Romania than Dracula tourist guides.

Julian Harris was one of those character actors that you don't recognize until seeing him. He is probably best known as the voodoo henchman in the James Bond movie, Live and Let Die, from a number of his blaxsploitation roles in Black Caesar and Shaft's Big Score, to a number of low budget action movies like Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man and Prayer of the Rollerboys

Meg Foster may be best known as "the woman from all those 80s movies with the freaky scary eyes": Evil Lynn in Masters of the Universe, Leviathan, and the chick from They Live. Though her appearing as the crime lord, Big Moe, who has a ditzy blonde girlfriend is even pretty strange. Here, she pretty much just is doing an impression of the Edward G. Robinson gangster impression.

This is a pretty tame movie for involving decapitations and reanimating the dead nothing as graphic as say Re-Animator. Full Moon movies never were very graphic. Shrunken Heads had to be R-rated more of the random F-bombs and color metaphors. The gore is non-existant compared to the disposable PG-13 Hollywood version of Japanese horror movies that floods multiplexes and video stores now.

The shrunken head monotone and how each killing will help feed their vengeance to purge their emotions makes them sound like psychotic disembodied Vulcans. "That is not logical for those criminals that their life processes should continue to allow them to exist after removing ours..." Well even such a monotone voice will show more emotion that most politican or reality-TV actor...

The Tonton Macoute, or Pappa "Doc" Duvalier's secret Haitian militia, weren't anything like this movie portrayed. However, from what little I've learned about them, they definitely had the concept of terrorizing and cultivating the entire "boogey man" is out to get the general populace down. Tonton Macoute is so barely known in the US to appear even more ominous than many police orgainizations for other dictators.

Update: 3-26-08

A week after posting this review, a truly ninjaliscious reader had to email to remind of a few facts that I had forgotten to include. I'm glad that they reminded me. Shrunken Heads was directed by Richard Elfman. I forgotten to mention Mr Elfman's greatest work, Forbidden Zone. The black and white musical with Herve Villachez, Tattoo from Fantasy Island...("Yes, the Plane!! the Plane!!!") Anyways, if that name sounds familiar, Elfman. His brother Danny Elfman from the 1980s band Oingo Boingo, that gave us the theme song to "Weird Science."



3 1/2 NINJAS

Quotable Dialogue

"Bill's a jelly bean junkie."
"Big Mo, you're so mean."
"Here's a nice fat pussycat for seasoning, my boys."
"This has been a tragic loss truly like a dagger in my liver."
"The doctor of cats has soon predicted he will soon be bursting with health."
"Go ahead, malefactor, make our day."
"Are you ready for capital punishment Haitian style?"


Morals of the Story

Potato flavored jelly beans are tasty.
Cats reanimate the dead.
Shrunken heads are able to project their thoughts.
Telepathic flashbacks of death aren't very emotional.
Shrunken heads embrace women by going to first base.
It doesn't pay to anger any voodoo priestess who's just been trained to turn malefactors into permanent zombies.


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