The Head — The Head( DVD)
The Head (aka Die Nackte und der Satan) is a late 50’s blend of Euro horror & sci-fi, with touches of gothic and noir weaved in here 'n' there. Here from Cheezy Movies is a recent region-free DVD of the film.
The Head is from the year 1959 and is a West German production- which here has a fairly competent English dub. It was written & directed by St. Petersburg-born Victor Trivas. Between the late 20’s and late 50’s, he had five directors credits to his name- these went from WWI set war drama Hell on Earth (1931), and Paris set comedy Tovaritch (1935). The Head was his final feature- which is a great shame, as sure there are a few technical issues here & there- but it features some damn great creepy & ghoulish moments and the droned-out/ spectral soundtrack that is inspired.
The film kicks off in the creepy/ shadowy house-come- lab of Prof. Dr.Abel(Michel Simon) a gruff & floppy moustached scientist- who at some point in the past had managed to keep a severed dog's head alive for some days. Keep popping by the lab is Schwester Irene Sander(Karin Kernke) a beautiful-faced woman with a hunch back & limp- she’s hoping Abel will do an operation on her.
Fairly soon up pop’s the mysterious & decidedly creepy Dr Ood(Horst Frank) who is a spit for serial killer Ed Gein, but more well-spoken/ manipulative. He wants to help Abel, who wants to give a heart transplant from himself to another person….it seemingly all goes wrong with Abel dying- but instead of letting him rest, Ood wires up his severed head- brining it back to severed life.
As the film unfolds we have a Tiki-themed bar/ club, a femme fatale dancer who knows a bit about Ood’s past, and a sculptor who is obsessed with her. The film wonderfully blends deranged/ creepy doctor horror tropes, with light sci-fi touches, and darts into both creaky gothic, and shadowy noir.
The film rolls in at the one hour and thirty-four minute mark, and normally I’d say that’d be a tad too long for this type of thing. But it all flows by well enough- with the hypnotically creepy & ghoulish Horst Frank being most captivating as the villain of the piece.
As with all of Cheezy Movies this is a (seemingly) untouched scan of the film. Sadly this is somewhat of an issue- as the black & white film is very murky/ dark in places- so this is rather impacted by the ropy state of the scan. Though that said I’d say it’s still (largely) watchable. And we as with all Cheezy Movies get no extras aside from a trailer reel
When we got through The Head for review, I was expecting a run-of-the-mill mad doctor horror, but there is much more to the film than simply that. With very effective gothic & noir elements mixed in as well as some decidedly creepy & wonderfully ghoulish moments.