This 1971 film directed by Anthony M. Lanza (who never really did anything else of note before or after this picture) takes a refreshingly serious tone with its obviously schlocky premise. The Thing With Two Heads, which would arrive the following year, was more of a tongue-in-cheek semi-blaxploitation film. In the case of this film, the script tries for hard science and the actors, some very notable ones, try for genuine expressions.

Dr. Roger Girard (played by award-winning actor Bruce Dern, who went on to bigger and better with Hitchcock's farewell film Family Plot and Bruce Willis' Last Man Standing) is working on a way to revolutionize transplants. If someone's body is dying, he wants to be able to transplant the head onto a new, healthy body and allow that person and their brain to live. He is doing pretty well with his experiments so far, too. He has a whole petting zoo of two-headed animals, including a fox, a rabbit, and real-live two-headed snake. Roger's pal, Ken (played by famed radio DJ Casey Kasem, who went on to provide the voice of the beloved Shaggy in Scooby Doo) stops by his house because Roger's wife Linda (played by Pat Priest, who is best known as Marilyn from The Munsters) is worried that he hasn't left his lab in days. Ken finds out about Roger's bizarre experiments and instead of being freaked out and calling the cops immediately, he congratulates his friend and asks to be kept in the loop. On the grounds of the house lives the gardener and his massively-built yet retarded son Danny (played by John Bloom who went on to play other giant people in movies), who likes to dance around with an axe.

Meanwhile, a crazy psycho dude named Cass (played by Albert Cole, who was in The Roommates, reviewed on this site) escapes custody and finds himself at Roger's doorstep. He kills Danny's dad, hogties Roger, and escapes with Linda. Danny sort of comes to the rescue, but gets traumatized when he sees his father with his skull bashed in. Roger is freed by his weird lab assistant and they go off to save Linda. They manage to track Cass down and shoot the bastard in the back with a double-barrel. They cart the body back to the lab and decide to try the head switch on the dying corpse, but they need a body, and dumpy Danny seems like the perfect candidate. They sedate Danny and perform the operation. Soon the two heads awaken, and instead of either of them being freaked out or worried or at the very least angry, they just accept their situation. Being on a nice, strong body gives Cass the chance to escape again and take to the hills.

Here, against Danny's wishes because Cass has somehow taken full control of the body, they kill a pair of necking teenagers and get into a rumble with a pair of bikers who messed with the wrong two-headed retarded convict. Ken arrives to spend the weekend with his friends, and realizes something is wrong. He finds Linda tied up in bed and she recounts what happened with Cass and how she stumbled onto the two-headed thing that was Danny. Trying their best to avoid the posse led by the sheriff, Ken teams up with Roger, who is losing his marbles Dr. Frankenstein style, and they track the deadly duo to a cave, where the climax features an altruistic decision for Dr. Roger and the gang.

This was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Lacking a lot of silliness, besides the inherent stuff that comes along with the premise, the fact that the actors play it very straight turns this into a very believable drama. Whether or not a body could survive with a new head grafted onto it makes no difference. The idea is fun enough, and the ok direction and rather good acting make it rise above the schlock that it could have been. Is it great? No, that's why it only got 3 coffins. There are dull spots and pacing issues, but the film is constantly surprising you, and I enjoyed that. I loved the chase for Cass and how Bruce Dern guns him down. It was like a revenge film wrapped up in a sci-fi potboiler. Despite a few flaws, mostly in the camerawork and pacing, this is a solid midnight movie.

- Jose Prendes