| Head of the Family | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Credits | |
| Title: | Head of the Family |
| Directed by: | Robert Talbot |
| Written by: | Charles Band; Benjamin Carr |
| Produced by: | Robert Talbot; Kirk Edward Hansen |
| Music by: | Richard Band |
| Cinematography: | Adolfo Bartoli |
| Edited by: | Poppy Das; Lazar Djokic; Steve Nielson |
| Production | |
| Distributors: | Full Moon Entertainment Kushner-Locke Company |
| Released: | November 29th, 1996 |
| Rating: | R |
| Running time: | 72 min. |
| Country: | USA |
| Language: | English |
| Navigation | |
| Previous: | — |
| Next: | — |
Head of the Family is an American independent feature film of the dark comedy genre. It was directed by Robert Talbot with a screenplay written by Charles Band. It was produced by Full Moon Entertainment and premiered direct-to-video in the United States on November 29th, 1996.
Plot[]
Howard and Loretta at the diner.
Howard Oats is a biker with a really terrible mullet. He is at a diner with his wife Loretta, grousing about various things, not the least of which is his concern of his wife's perceived weight gain. Loretta scoffs and dismisses his remarks, but mostly because she has other things on her mind. She is having an affair with diner's owner, Lance. Loretta excuses herself to the restroom where she has a quickie with Lance. Later, Howard wants to talk to Lance, who is now nervous, suspecting that Howard might be aware of the affair. Howard is clueless about the adultery, but instead tries to shake Lance down by forcing him to take him on as a silent partner in his business.
Later that evening, Loretta sneaks away to have another sexual rendezvous with Lance. They are driving in Lance's car, when they get unexpectedly distracted by a fake detour gate. This leads them towards the Stackpool residence.
Meet the Stackpools.
The Stackpools are a bizarre family of quadruplets, each of them characterized by strange birth defects. Myron Stackpool is the literal head of the family, as he is little more than a giant head in a wheelchair with shriveled up vestigial limbs. Otis Stackpool is as strong as he is stupid. Ernestina is a buxom blonde-haired mute, and Wheeler Stackpool has over-sized lidless eyes and enhanced senses. Myron is a scientific genius, who can communicate with his sibling via telepathy.
Myron Stackpool. The literal HEAD of the family.
Lance and Loretta witness the Stackpools murder the young driver of a truck and drag him into their house. Lance decides to use this to his advantage. The following day, Lance approaches Myron Stackpool and blackmails him into murdering his rival, Howard Oats. He tells Myron that he has written a letter detailing the crime he witnessed, and left it with a lawyer. If something should happen to Lance, the letter would be immediately sent to the state attorney's office. Myron feels that he must submit to Lance's blackmail scheme, so he has Howard abducted and brought to the basement of the Stackpool house where he is experimented on.
Lance and Loretta believe they are on easy street now. He continues to blackmail Myron for $2,000 a week. However, Myron has Wheeler use his enhanced hearing to listen in on a telephone call that Lance has with his lawyer, Arthur. Afterward, he has Otis kill the lawyer.
Now I ain't sayin' she's a gold digger...
The Stackpools then capture Lance and Loretta and bring them back to their house. Lance tells Myron that he already prepared for this sort of treachery, which is why he had made a similar arrangement with a second lawyer. Myron decides to torture Loretta in order to get Lance to give up the identity of the second lawyer. He forces Loretta to participate in an amateur stage production of Joan of Arc, with his brain-addled freak experiments playing the other characters. The play ends when the characters set fire to the kindling laid at Loretta' feet. The dumb brute Otis, who has taken a liking to Loretta, does not want to see her die. He betrays his family and frees her. He brings her down to the basement with the other freaks and throws some electrical switches, which sets the house on fire.
Lance manages to break free and fights with Myron. He pushes Myron's wheelchair down a flight of steps, and Myron cracks his big giant head open and dies. Otis manages to get Loretta out of the burning building in time.
Loretta, realizing that Otis is now the heir to the Stackpool family fortune, decides to forget all about Lance, and sets her sights on the family inheritance. She convinces Otis to marry her. After the priest concludes the quick wedding ceremony, Otis lets out a particularly malignant peal of laughter, which greatly disturbs Loretta. Perhaps there is more to this "dumb" brute than she was led to believe.
Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Blake Bailey | Lance |
| Jacqueline Lovell | Lorretta Oats |
| Bob Schott | Otis Stackpool |
| James Jones | Wheeler Stackpool |
| Dianne Colazzo | Ernestina Stackpool |
| Gordon Jennison | Howard Oats |
| J.W. Perra | Myron Stackpool |
| Vickie Lynn | Susie |
| Robert J. Ferrelli | Weasel |
| Bruce Adel | Ticket agent |
| Gary Anello | Arthur |
| Dyler McHenry | Truck driver |
| Rob Roeser | Justice |
| Steve Novak | Cauchon |
| Van Epperson | Chorus |
| Ruth Townsend | Receptionist |
| Suzie Chidley | Pretty girl |
| Tamarah Talbot | Freak #1 - Snow |
| Rick Phares | Freak #2 |
| Gary McNab | Freak #3 |
| Loray Quain | Freak #4 |
| Samara | Freak #5 |
| Russ Herpich | Freak #6 |
| Chris Bergschneider | Freak #7 |
Notes & Trivia[]
Keep an eye on this guy. Or he'll keep an eye on YOU!
- The tagline to this film is "Upset the head... and your dead!"
- There are a total of twenty-four credited cast members in this film.
- Charles Band is credited as Robert Talbot in the role of director on this film.
- Screenwriter Neal Marshall Stevens is credited as Benjamin Carr in this film.
- Actor Blake Adams is credited as Blake Bailey in this film.
- Actress Alexandria Quinn is credited as Dianne Colazzo in this film.
- Actor Gordon Jennison Noice is credited as Gordon Jennison in this film.
- Actress Vicki Skinner is credited as Vickie Lynn in this film.
- On the movie review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, Head of the Family has an audience score of 33% based on more than one-thousand user ratings. It does not have a Tomatometer rating. [1]
- This film has a rating of 2.6 on Letterboxd.
- Archival footage from the film was used in the Monsters Gone Wild! compilation video in 2004.
- Albert Band, father of Full Moon Entertainment founder Charles Band, makes a cameo appearance as an elderly diner patron. He is uncredited for his participation in this film.
- Actor Blake Bailey has also appeared in The Killer Eye and Lurking Fear.
- The final shot with Otis laughing implies that Myron has used his telepathic powers to supplant his own consciousness into Otis' body.
Recommendations[]
- Basket Case
- Castle Freak
- Evil Bong
- TerrorVision
External Links[]
- Head of the Family at IMDB
- Head of the Family at Trakt.TV
- Head of the Family at Wikipedia
- Head of the Family at Letterboxd.com
- Head of the Family at Themoviedb.org
References[]
- ↑ Rotten Tomatoes; Head of the Family (1996). User reviews.