The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant [With Optional Rifftrax]

Director: Anthony M. Lanza Anthony M. Lanza

Overview

This ridiculous '70s exploitation quickie is notable mainly for its casting: Bruce Dern toplines as the crazed doctor Girard, with Munsters star Pat Priest as his beleaguered wife and top-40 DJ Casey Kasem (who also lends his talents to various voice-overs throughout the film) as a medical colleague. Girard's semi-successful attempts at surgically attaching additional heads to various lab animals leaves him a bit unfulfilled, and it's no time at all before he goes about performing the operation on a human being. He chooses as his first subject his caretaker's simple-minded but kindly son Danny (John Bloom), onto whose massive shoulders he adds the head of a demented killer (Albert Cole) who was recently gunned down while trying to invade Girard's home. The result is less frightening than pitiful as the morose Danny's personality is subjugated to the evil will of his unwelcome new head, whose psychotic rage continues unabated in his hulking new physique. Shoddy effects, a cheesy (and horribly miscued) psychedelic score and laughably bad dialogue have ingratiated this film to many bad-movie buffs' top-ten lists.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/24/2015
UPC:	0738329193928
Original Release:	1971
Rating:	R
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:27:00
Sales rank:	39,520

Special Features

RiffTrax audio commentary by Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett; Interview with screen writer James Gordon White; Radio spot; Original theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Bruce Dern	Roger
Pat Priest	Linda
Casey Kasem	Ken
Albert Cole	Cass,Young Danny
John Bloom	Danny
Berry Kroeger	Max
Larry Vincent	Andrew
Jack Lester	Sheriff
Jerry Patterson	Deputy
Darlene Duralia	Miss Pierce
Robert Miller	Station Attendant
Janice Gelman	Teenager
Mike Espe	Teenager
Andrew Schneider	Teenager
Eva Sorensen	Teenager
Laura Lanza	Nurse,Actor
Carolyn Gilbert	Nurse
Don Brodie	Actor
Bill Collins	Actor
Jack English	Patrolman
Gary Kent	Actor
John Barber	Composer

Technical Credits

Anthony M. Lanza

Jonathan Lawrence

James White

Ray Dorn	Special Effects
Anthony M. Lanza	Director,Screenwriter
John Lawrence	Producer
Nicholas Wowchuk	Executive Producer
Alvin Fast	Producer
Jonathan Lawrence	Producer,Screenwriter
James White	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Spurred by his success at transplanting a second head onto various lab animals, Dr. Roger Girard (Bruce Dern) seizes upon the opportunity to perform the same experiment on a human being after an escaped mental patient (Albert Cole) breaks into his home. Girard grafts the lunatic's head onto the body of his simple-minded maintenance man (John Bloom from Dracula Vs. Frankenstein). The two-headed creature escapes the laboratory and runs amuck, driven by the convict's crazed desires. An enormously silly but enjoyable science fiction-horror effort, The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant's knuckleheaded but straight-faced attempt to portray science gone awry is a pleasant throwback to such '40s-era "mad doctor" efforts as Captive Wild Woman and The Monster Maker. Dern, on the cusp of mainstream stardom in films like The King of Marvin Gardens, gives a credible if low-key performance as the determined but misguided medico; the same can't be said for the supporting cast, which includes Casey Kasem as Dern's concerned pal and Pat Priest of The Munsters as his wife. Fans of low-budget horror will find the film easily digestible and amusing to boot. Director Anthony Lanza is better known as an editor on such Arch Hall Jr. titles as The Sadist and Deadwood '76; his only other directorial credit is the equally entertaining biker film The Glory Stompers.