''Shrunken Heads'' is a 1994 American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

comedy horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary genre, literary, television genre, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three ty ...

film directed by

Richard Elfman Richard Elfman (born March 6, 1949) is an American actor, musician, director, producer, screenwriter, journalist, author and magazine publisher. Early life Richard Elfman was born in the Watts district of inner-city Los Angeles. His mother, B ...

and written by

Matthew Bright Matthew Bright (born June 8, 1952) is a former film director, writer and actor. His first credits were as writer and actor in Richard Elfman, Richard Elfman's 1980 film ''Forbidden Zone'', portraying the twins Squeezit and René Henderson. The ...

. The film follows three preteen boys who, after being murdered by a vicious gang, are resurrected via

voodoo Voodoo may refer to: Religions * African or West African Vodun, practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups * African diaspora religions, a list of related religions sometimes called Vodou/Voodoo ** Candomblé Jejé, also known as Brazilian Vodu ...

shrunken head A shrunken head is a severed and specially prepared human head that is used for trophy, ritual, or trade purposes. Headhunting has occurred in many regions of the world, but the practice of headshrinking has only been documented in the northwes ...

s. Produced by

Full Moon Entertainment Full Moon Features is an American Film, motion picture production and distribution company headed by B movie, B-movie veteran Charles Band. It is known for the direct-to-video series ''Puppet Master (franchise), Puppet Master'', ''Trancers (fran ...

and released by

Paramount Home Video Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...

, this was the last film in which

Julius Harris Julius W. Harris (August 17, 1923 – October 17, 2004) was an American actor who appeared in more than 70 movies and numerous television series in a career that spanned four decades. Harris is best known for his roles in 1970s films such as '' ...

appeared. Director Elfman's brother,

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

, provided the main theme music, while the rest of the score was composed by

Richard Band Richard Howard Band is an American composer of film music. He has scored more than 140 projects, including '' From Beyond'', which won the award for Best Original Soundtrack at the Sitges Film Festival. Lately he scored ''Exorcism at 60,000 Feet' ...

. Richard's son, Bodhi Elfman, appears in a supporting role.

Premise

New Yorkers Tommy Larson and Bill Turner are best friends who spend their time reading comic books which they buy from Mr. Sumatra's newspaper stand. However, they are also under constant bullying from local hoodlums Vinnie Benedetti, Booger Martin, and Podowski. Tommy also has a major crush on Sally, who happens to be Vinnie's girlfriend. Vinnie works for mob boss "Big Moe", always doing the dirty work. When newcomer Freddie Thompson gets bullied by Vinnie and the boys, Tommy's attempt to stand up to Vinnie proves futile until Mr. Sumatra saves them as Booger tells Vinnie that something is off with the newspaper stand owner. When Tommy, Bill, and Freddie hatch a plan to have Vinnie and the boys getting busted, Big Moe gets word and she orders Vinnie and the boys to kill the three teens. When they are killed in cold blood, Mr. Sumatra, revealed to be a voodoo priest, resurrects the trio as shrunken heads. Tommy has the power to emit electricity. Bill becomes a vampire. Freddie has the ability to unleash a switchblade from his mouth. The trio uses their new powers to exact revenge and make New York a safe place to live again.

Cast

as Aristide Sumatra, a voodoo priest. *

Meg Foster Margaret Foster is an American film and television actress. Some of her many roles were in the 1979 TV miniseries version of ''The Scarlet Letter'', and the films ''Ticket to Heaven'', ''The Osterman Weekend'', and '' They Live''. Early years F ...

as Maureen "Big Moe", a tough lesbian mob boss. * Aeryk Egan as Tommy Larson *

Rebecca Herbst Rebecca Ann Herbst (born May 12, 1977) is an American actress, known for playing nurse Elizabeth Webber on the ABC Daytime drama ''General Hospital'', a role she originated on August 1, 1997, and Suzee, an alien, on the Nickelodeon show, '' Spa ...

as Sally * Bo Sharon as Bill Turner * Bodhi Elfman as Booger Martin * A.J. Damato as Vinnie Benedetti *

Darris Love Darris Love (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor, most notable for his role as Raymond 'Ray' Alvarado in Nickelodeon's ''The Secret World of Alex Mack''. Since the show's ending in 1998, he has made appearances in episodes of numerous Ame ...

as Freddie Thompson * Troy Fromin as Podowski *

Leigh-Allyn Baker Leigh-Allyn Baker (born March 13, 1972) is an American actress. She had recurring roles on ''Charmed'' and as Ellen on ''Will & Grace'', and a starring role as the matriarch Amy Duncan (Good Luck Charlie), Amy Duncan on the Disney Channel sitcom ...

as Mitzi *

Paul Linke Paul Linke (born May 6, 1948) is an American actor, known for his role as Officer Arthur "Artie" Grossman in the television series ''CHiPs''. Linke has worked in film and extensively in television, mostly portraying mild-mannered everyman role ...

as Mr. Larson * Billye Ree Wallace as Mrs. Wilson * R.J. Frost as The Vipers * Randy Vahan as The Plumber

Reception

Emanuel Levy Emanuel Levy is an American film critic and professor who has taught at Columbia University, New School for Social Research, Wellesley College, Arizona State University and UCLA Film School. Levy currently teaches in the department of cinema ...

of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "only mildly entertaining". J. R. Taylor of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' rated it B and wrote, "Elfman's fun-loving touches manage to get this new series up and running with twisted enthusiasm". Writing in ''The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia'', academic

Peter Dendle Peter Dendle is a professor of English at Penn State Mont Alto, teaching classes on folklore, 20th and 21st century representations of the Middle Ages, Old and Middle English (language and literature), and the monstrous (in film, folklore, and s ...

said that the characters "lovingly exaggerate every preposterous line with relish, yielding some outrageous dialogue in an otherwise treadmill production."

Legacy

In 2021, the film received a comedic commentary by

Michael J. Nelson Michael John Nelson (born October 11, 1964) is an American comedian and writer, most known for his work on the television series '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's origi ...

, Kevin Murphy and

Bill Corbett William Daniel Corbett (born March 30, 1960) is an American writer and performer for television, film and theatre. He was a writer and performer on the cult television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''), for which he voiced the r ...

RiffTrax RiffTrax is an American company that produces scripted humorous commentary tracks which are synced to mostly public domain feature films, education shorts, and television episodes. With the talents of former ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''M ...

, an offshoot of movie-mocking cult TV series ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...

''.

References

External links

* * 1994 films 1994 horror films 1994 independent films 1994 LGBT-related films 1990s comedy horror films 1990s thriller films American comedy horror films American comedy thriller films Films about undead Films about Voodoo Films set in New York City Films shot in Los Angeles Films scored by Richard Band Films scored by Danny Elfman American supernatural horror films Full Moon Features films Films with screenplays by Matthew Bright 1994 comedy films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Resurrection in film American vampire films Lesbian-related films {{comedy-horror-film-stub