Head Of The Family / Hideous: Full Moon’s Noir Collection Blu Ray Review (Full Moon Features)

Head of the Family is a 1996 horror comedy produced, story, and directed by Charles Band (Crash and Burn, Blood Dolls, Puppet Master franchise, Evil Bong franchise, Doll Graveyard, Quadrant, and Death Streamer) as Robert Talbot. It was written by Neal Marshall Stevens (Thir13en Ghosts, Monsters, Super Hybrid, The Killer Eye, Death Streamer, Hellraiser: Deader, Hideous!, and Witchhouse) as Benjamin Carr. It was shot in 10 days/nights. It was produced by Kirk Edward Hansen (Subspecies franchise, Puppet Master franchise, Blood Dolls, The Creeps, and Shrieker). Blood Dolls is considered a spin-off. A sequel was planned at one point but it never happened. Howard (played by: Gordon Jennison Noice from Virtuosity, Phoenix, and Running Time) is the meanest nastiest thug in town, a Harley riding criminal with a hot wife Loretta (played by: Jacqueline Lovell from Hideous!, Virtual Encounters, Lolita 2000, and The Exotic House of Wax). Loretta’s problem is she’s having an affair with Lance (played by: Blake Adams from Lurking Fear, Cursed in Baja, and The Killer Eye) owner of the town diner and Howard is starting to get suspicious. After driving back from one of their nightly flings, Lance witnesses the local family of weirdos, the Stackpools dragging a man from his truck and into their house. Seeing this as an opportunity, Lance discovers the Stackpools terrible secret and he decides to blackmail them. They are quintaplets but instead of being born as a normal human, they each have one of the traits of one human being: Otis (played by: Bob Schott from In the Line of Fire, Up!, Force: Five, and Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight) is extremely strong, Wheeler (played by: James Jones from North Shore, The Lord Protector, and Dark Honeymoon) has extremely well-developed senses, Ernestina (played by: Alexandria Quinn from Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, Major Rock, and Alley Cat) is extremely attractive, and Myron (played by: J.W. Perra from Kraa! The Sea Monster, The Creeps, and Mystery Monsters) is extremely intelligent. The whole family is run by the one who has super intelligence!!!! Hideous! (aKa Deformed Freaks) is a 1997 body horror film produced and directed by Charles Band (Parasite, Metalstorm, Trancers franchise, The Dungeonmaster, Meridian, Doctor Mordrid, Prehysteria!, and The Gingerdead Man franchise). It was written by Neal Marshall Stevens (Head of the Family, Cutter’s Club, The Werewolf Reborn!, Frankenstein Reborn!, Ravenwolf Towers, Sideshow, and Trophy Heads) as Benjamin Carr. It was produced by Vlad Paunescu (Pulse, Oblivion franchise, Mandroid, Seed of Chucky, Hellraiser franchise, Trancers franchise, Anaconda franchise, The Prophecy franchise, and Pumpkinhead franchise). The Dr. Lorca character showed up in various Full Moon related projects later on. Dr. Lorca (played by: Michael Citriniti from GoodFellas, Ravenwolf Towers, Demonic Toys: Personal Demons, and Cemetery High), an eccentric collector of biological oddities has just acquired his greatest specimen with the help of his henchwoman Sheila (played by: Jacqueline Lovell from Head of the Family, Femalien, The Killer Eye, and You Only Live Until You Die). It’s a horrible mutant born of noxious waste but the creature’s rightful owner Napoleon Lazar (played by: Mel Johnson Jr. from Total Recall, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, On the Air, Intimate Stranger, and Jessica Jones) wants it back. Lazar gets assistance from both Detective Leonard Kantor (played by: Jerry O’Donnell from Alias, Dexter, Mad Men, and Bosch), Belinda Yost (played by: Tracie May-Wagner from The Game, Shattered Lies, and Sliders), and Elvina Shaw (played by: Rhonda Griffin from The Creeps, Naked Fear, and Lost in Reality) to track it down. The collector’s clash is cut short though, as the sickening specimen comes to life, re-animating an angry, oozing little army of similar ferocious freaks. They want their revenge!!!! This double feature has two of the most underrated from legendary producer and director Charles Band. During the 90’s, Full Moon Features were on fire and that’s when they did some of their best work back in the day. Both were written by the skilled Neal Marshall Stevens under the alias Benjamin Carr. Head of the Family and Hideous! are lower budget body horror with some dark comedy thrown in the mix. Both of these independent movies deal with all kinds of unlikable people so the audience is kinda rooting for most of them to be killed in some gruesome way. This is an unexpected Jacqueline Lovell double feature, it’s probably her two best roles and performances during her wild career. She is extremely important to each storyline. She’s done some horror in the past but she was mainly known for softcore. She’s not shy at all in either especially in Hideous! where she’s topless for the most part. I love her accent and how she delivers her lines. She is basically a villain in each film. She’s top notch eye candy, she’s one of the main reasons to watch these over the top features. The other lead actors includes Gordon Jennison Noice, Blake Adams, Bob Schott, James Jones, Alexandria Quinn, J.W. Perra, Michael Citriniti, Mel Johnson Jr. , Jerry O’Donnell, Tracie May-Wagner, and Rhonda Griffin. There’s more than a few familiar faces that were in bigger projects here. Neither one of these productions backs away from sleaze and nudity. All of the gore, monsters, deaths, and violence are way better than expected. Those moments really shine for this double feature. The special fx artists Mark Rappaport (Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Tremors, Child’s Play 3, Demonic Toys, Army of Darkness, and Predator 2), Christopher Bergschneider (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, Doll Graveyard, Society, Puppet Master franchise, and Blood Dolls), Tom Irvin (Species, Lord of Illusions, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The Fear, and The Langoliers), and Russ Herpich (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Man of Steel, The Arrival, Scary Movie franchise, and Blood Dolls) really killed it for Full Moon here. Head of the Family is all about when greed backfires. Head of the Family has a crime thriller vibe to it before it gets chaotic into something much darker. That family stands out like a sore thumb in their community so they have others trying to take advantage but it ends up a fatal mistake. Hideous! is a really weird and original concept to it, it’s definitely a creative approach when it comes to small creatures which Full Moon is famous for. It has awkward tension and it’s so unpredictable. The energized soundtrack adds a whole new atmosphere to it all. Hideous! Is a battle between 2 wealthy eccentric collectors that want the same subject at any cost which leads to a brutal war. The additional supporting cast members includes Vicki Skinner (Fugitive Rage), Robert J. Ferrelli (Kraa! The Sea Monster), Gary Anello (Boston Public), Steven Novak (Born on the Fourth of July), Van Epperson (The Green Mile), Mircea Constantinescu (Mimic: Sentinel), and Alexandru Agarici (Dark Angel: The Ascent). I prefer Head of the Family a little more than Hideous! but they both go together perfectly for this set. Turn off your brain, they are mindless entertainment but a total blast with some nasty violent scenarios with the correct balance of comedy. The replay value is strong, they are honestly much better than their reputation. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Full Moon! These 1080p (1.78:1) transfers are both from their previous upgraded restorations for their color home video releases. Head of the Family and Hideous! both look really great with this Noir update. It feels like complete new experiences for this 90’s horror double feature. The Black and White brings out additional visuals that you would have never expected or maybe didn’t notice before. Full Moon has been doing these alternate Noir versions for awhile now but these are the first ones to get their own physical media disc rather than just being streamed. I’m hoping that they do more of this in the future. It has English: Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks on the disc. Head of the Family and Hideous! both have their explosive moments when the audio shines. Composer Richard Band (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Puppet Master franchise, Laserblast, Ghoulies, Troll, The Resonator, Shadowzone, Seedpeople, The House on Sorority Row, TerrorVision, Silent Night Deadly Night 4, and Castle Freak) always manages to make everything better with his powerful sound when it comes to this universe. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the lunacy is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has brand new exclusive “Introductions” from Full Moon’s own Charles Band for a total of a little over 4 minutes. It has “Noir Trailers” for both Head of the Family and Hideous! on this home video release. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!