Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Shrunken Heads Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 1, 2021

Three murdered kids get “awakened” as shrunken head avenging angels (and/or demons, as the case may be) in this film from 1994, though I personally wouldn't be all that surprised if some current day “woke” sensibilities may engender what might be called the “outrage machine” in terms of reacting to Shrunken Heads' depictions of supposed “voodoo” practices that, in the film, anyway, are purported to not just remove heads from corpses, but to shrink them and then reanimate them. That passing (and hopefully obviously joking) obstacle aside, Shrunken Heads is goofily enjoyable on its own terms, and it’s no doubt going to be a nostalgic field day for many who either saw it as kids in an actual theater, or who later discovered it in its broadcast iterations. There’s a fun Videodrome supplement on this disc which gets into the film’s then groundbreaking use of motion control cameras to create many of the special effects, and if those effects look almost charmingly quaint to eyes now more acclimated to the blandishments of CGI, they’re still enjoyable and reasonably believable, if, that is, you can believe a story that revolves around a transplanted voodoo priest who resurrects three young boys (or at least their miniaturized heads) to give some street toughs a good deal of comeuppance.

Shrunken Heads was something of a family affair on a couple of fronts. Full Moon Features’ head honcho and this film’s producer Charles Band enlisted the aid of his brother, Richard, to help score the film, as was often case with Charles’ films, but there’s another composer on tap providing the theme music, namely Danny Elfman, and the Elfman surname crops up a few more times in the film, as well. Danny’s brother Richard directed the film, and Richard’s son Bodhi appears as one of those aforementioned street toughs. (Another Elfman, Louis, is mentioned and seen in the making of supplemental feature as a stunt double.) And in fact the entire film has a kind of “family fun” feeling about it, though there are definitely some troubling subtexts for those who think long enough about them, including the fact that three pretty sweet young boys are killed in the film.

Those three teen(ish) boys are Tommy Larsen (Aeryk Egan), Bill Turner (Bo Sharon) and Freddie Thompson (Darris Love), the last of whom is a newcomer to the neighborhood and has the misfortune to be both black and asthmatic, two “afflictions” which make him the target of a bunch of gang types who maraud through the streets, but who kind of hilariously back off every time a concerned adult tells them to get lost. One of those adults is Mr. Sumatra (Julius Harris), who runs a newsstand where the boys come to purchase the latest issues of their favorite comic books.

The boys' wish to teach the gang members a lesson turns out to be an unwise decision, and in an actually kind of shocking plot development, the trio of kids is gunned down. Though it's not explicitly shown, Mr. Sumatra saws off their heads, returns to his domicile and promptly goes about bringing them back to live, in miniaturized form. The three are then kind of trained, Mr. Miyagi style, in a brief montage that ultimately leads to the main part of the film, where they wreak havoc on a number of the villains.

Shrunken Heads has a number of frankly gonzo elements, as if the foregoing plot summary wasn't enough to indicate that. One of the strangest is the head gang honcho (honchette?) character played by the fantastic Meg Foster, whom some might assume is meant to be a male, which may be one reason why the film rather oddly gives the character introduction an on screen identifier, one assumes to prevent any "gender confusion" (see screenshot 19). There's also a sweet if peculiar love interest for Tommy in the form of Sally (Becky Herbst), who is otherwise sought after by one of the main gang goons.

The film is oddly sanguine about the boys' deaths, which may be one reason the humor can seem a little misplaced. While there is a brief funeral scene, any ramifications for the kids' families is left largely to the imagination, and instead Sally serves as the main "mourner" throughout the story. This was the last feature film of the great Julius Harris, who seems somewhat bemused to be playing this character. He does bring a surprising amount of gravitas to the role, helping to anchor a film that, kind of like the three shrunken heads, threatens to fly off into some kind of netherworld at any given moment.

Shrunken Heads Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shrunken Heads is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Full Moon Features with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Both the front and back covers tout that this transfer was "digitally remastered from the uncut 35mm camera negative". This is a rather impressive looking presentation overall, though the special effects work, especially the "blue screen" head moments, can definitely show its seams. Also, some of the miniatures are not very well detailed, which makes some of the supposed aerial shots more than a bit hokey looking. In terms of the actual humans and practical items like costumes and props, detail levels are commendable throughout, and the palette pops agreeably, emphasizing the kind of comic book hyperbole that was evidently intentionally aimed for. Grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation.

Shrunken Heads Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Full Moon is another niche label which doesn't seem to want to include lossless audio on its Blu-ray releases, and Shrunken Heads features only lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 tracks. The surround track definitely opens up the underscore as well as some of the marauding scenes of the three shrunken heads, which frequently involve zooming hither and yon through the air. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly, which is probably a good thing since this is another Full Moon Features Blu-ray release without any optional subtitles.

Shrunken Heads Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Videozone (SD; 27:31) is an archival Full Moon episode that has an introductory "making of" segment on Shrunken Heads, followed by other segments, including stuff about the Trancers franchise.


• Trailers includes Shrunken Heads (SD; 1:41) and Shrunken Heads - Alternate Trailer (SD; 1:57), along with trailers for other Full Moon Features releases.

Shrunken Heads Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The depiction of supposed "voodoo" practices may be met with umbrage by some avid members of the PC police, but I think a more reasonable objection to the basic story is how the deaths of the three boys is just kind of glossed over to get to the central premise of the film. While they will probably look decidedly "old school" to younger eyes in particular, the special effects in this film were relatively groundbreaking in their day and they continue to delight if not always amaze. Performances are generally very good, with several of the young actors doing creditable work in unusual circumstances. Technical merits vary from solid (video) to improvable (only lossy audio), for those who are considering a purchase.