The Head (1959)

Undescribable Perfection

good back-story, and good acting

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Very interesting "b" movie about a mad scientist that manages to keep a dog's head alive after severing it from it's body, well another scientist is very interesting,, almost too interested in trying this on a human subject,, after he meets the man they get into an argument and the mad scientist severes his head and has a bunch of suction cups thingys and pumps that keep oxygen flowing to the brain,, then there is this girl that works there and she walks like a hunchback, so the mad scientist wants to help her, and he finds a stripteaser with a perfect little body,, he performs an operation and there you have it,, no more hunchback,, but this is where it just starts to get interesting, but I won't go any further you will just have to watch and see,, very comparable to the brain that wouldn't die,, but I think actually better than that one.

A rather interesting b-movie Euro 50s entry from Germany , that relies somewhat successfully on atmosphere and music to create interest .Horst Frank is good as Dr. Ood the mad scientist with bushy eyebrows ,Dieter Eppler is amusing as the rich kid would be sculptor who spends most of his time chasing strippers .I don't know where this was shot , I believe it was some privately owned studio , but the atmosphere is bleak and dark and forbodding , it has a lot to do with any interest this film has , and the music is also dark and a good companion to the Gothic style that director Victor Trivas was apparently going for , if you've got an hour to kill there are worse ways .

Here's a perfectly creepy little bump in the night flick that should appeal to most fans of the decapitated head genre. One's first thought if you've been around the block with these films is "The Brain That Wouldn't Die", and the plot of both appear remarkably similar. "The Head" is certainly more atmospheric and brooding, no doubt owing to it's German origins, while 'Brain' has a much more camp flavor. Which leads me to consider that if the star of 'Brain' was Jan in the Pan, this one features what you might call Abel on the Table.Here's something a bit odd, the opening scene has the picture's protagonist Dr. Ood (Horst Frank) slinking around in the shadows of Dr. Abel's laboratory home, and he stops to pick up a turtle walking on the pavement! Where in the world did that come from? Very strange, and I kept looking for that turtle the rest of the way, but he never showed up.I wonder why the film makers decided the story needed a one hundred seventeen day interlude before Irene Sanders (Karin Kernke) came out of her coma with a new body. On screen, it played out like she awoke the very next day after the operation. Ood's explanation had to do with reshaping her organs and a lot of other such nonsense, when all he did was take stripper Lilly's body for the experiment. At least they came up with some kind of explanation for the missing stripper, but gee, throwing her under a train was kind of gruesome, don't you think?Anyway with all that said, you should have some fun with this one, even if it's played much more seriously than it needs to be. It's just the ticket for the proverbial dark and stormy night, huddled up on the couch with all the lights off. The picture provides all the remaining atmosphere you'll need.

It was fun to read other commentators concerning the actors in this film. Otherwise, the whole thing would have been a pretty disappointing effort. As it is, the premise is kind of dumb. We must suspend our disbelief and accept the fact that a head can be kept alive. I suppose I'm not supposed to ask why the guy can talk without lungs and other respiratory apparatus. The scientist is mad (why are they always so crazy?). A kindly hunchbacked nurse gets a new body from a stripper and has trouble dealing with it (as most of use would). There is this kind of German Aryan thing going on. I can't quite put my finger on it. The movie has an interesting atmosphere but it is pretty bleak and painful. Of course, the talking head thing has been done again, including by prime time news commentators. Still, once you buy into it, it's an OK presentation.