The Thing with Two Heads

Starring:Rick Baker, Kathrine Baumann, Wes Bishop, John Bliss, Chelsea Brown, Jerry Butler (II), George Carey, John Dullaghan, Roger Gentry, Roosevelt Grier, Phil Hoover, Jane Kellem, Bruce Kimball, Don Marshall (II), Ray Milland, Britt Nilsson, Roger Perry, Rod Steele, Michael Viner
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Scared the S**t out of me
Double the Genre - Double the Fun
2 movies! 2 Heads! 2 Fun!!
Ultra-schlock

The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant/The Thing With Two Heads
Starring: MGM Double Feature
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007R4T1C
Release Date: 2005-02-15

Description

THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT: Original Theatrical Trailer THE THING WITH TWO HEADS:

Customer Reviews:

Scared the S**t out of me.......2006-12-13

I know it probably wouldn't phase kids today when watching "The Incredible Two-headed Transplant" but when I saw this one Saturday morning on Creature Feature when I was a little kid, it messed me up for days. I couldn't sleep. My older bro and sis laughed at me when I ran out of the room right when the two-headed farmer started extracting the screaming female through the roof of a car.

The scene must have been at Lover's lane cuz there was another car parked on the dark road with a couple in it making out. This first car was the initial target for the killer(s) but when the "monster" heard the female from the second car he went towards her.

Her boyfriend freaked out and ran away leaving his date to deal with the attack on her own. While the good head was crying and pleading, the evil head was laughing with the joy of rape in his eyes.

I'm in my late 30's and still remember that scene. I haven't seen it since so I'm sure it's pretty cheesy now. I'm curious to see it again though.

Double the Genre - Double the Fun.......2005-12-24

The brilliance of AIP was that they didn't merely make an indie film - like Miramax, they made Indie genres. Any other studio would be happy with only one Two headed creature movie on the slate. But Sam Arkoff knew that a year later, the drive-in audience would be begging for a second - second head film. I remember as a kid hearing about these amazing films.

Who would imagine that Casey Kasem and Bruce Dern would be acting against each other in "The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant." But they're not sharing heads in this classic. Arkoff knew that the audience wanted to see a two headed superstar in the second flick and a year later, he gave us "The Thing With Two Heads" featuring Oscar winner Ray Milland and football superstar Rosie Grier sharing a body and a motorcycle.

And for Munster fans, you get to see Pat Priest.

The great part about the Midnite Movie Double Features series is that you get entire 2 headed grafted 70s genre in one box.

2 movies! 2 Heads! 2 Fun!!.......2005-08-22

This is certainly a double feature if I've ever seen one! Both films deal with the still unapproved surgical procedure of grafting a second head onto a human body. Just imagine how many lives will be saved when science finally gets this far. The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant is first on the bill. It's awfully funny, though it seems to be taking itself seriously. Wacky scientist, fired and disgraced from his surgeon job(for reasons never explained) decides to show the medical world he's worth something by creating a two-headed man. Sounds simple enough, he already has numerous two-headed animals. When an escaped rapist/killer tries to assault the doctor's wife, the doctor blows him away and sticks the head onto the local retarded handyman. Neither men consent to this. The operation is a success, and it certainly is incredible-incredibly stupid, that is. The doctor and his assistant actually seemed surprised that the thing goes on a killing spree after it escapes. I guess the doctor didn't think that he had just revived the head of the guy who tried to rape his wife. And to add to the fun, Casey Kasem is in it too! Some of the editing looks like this could have been a lost Russ Meyer movie...minus the boobs of course.
Next on the double bill is The Thing With Two Heads. This time the movie is going for laughs, and does succeed in a few spots. Though it's less serious, the explanation of grafting a second head is more believable this time. This is definately a career low for Ray Milland, who is established early on as a racist surgeon. He doesn't want to hire a black doctor even though he has a great reputation. Milland is dying of cancer and wants a body donor from death row to graft his head onto, then after his head adjusts to the body, remove the convict's head and replace it with his own. With time running out for Milland and only one donor, it turns out to be a black man who has other plans-he wants to clear his name of the crime he was accused of. Lots of chasing, including a long motorcycle chase where a record number of police cars are trashed. So, get yourself Domino's two for one pizza deal, kick back and enjoy the two-headed double feature.

Ultra-schlock.......2005-06-21

Where did people get the idea for silly movies like these? Who knows. Both flicks are about putting two heads on one body. Why is this an important scientific advance that will benefit humanity? You tell me and we'll both know.

"The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant", despite the idiocy of its premise, is actually a fairly well-made bit of cinema, with a plot that clips along nicely, with plenty of cheesy action and melodrama. The point, of course, is for mad scientist Bruce Dern to sew the head of a psycopathic killer onto the body of a retarded farm hand. Why? Well, because it's there, I guess. Naturally, things get even more ridiculous after the surgery, but the movie ends before you get too fed up with it.

"The Thing with Two Heads," on the other hand, is basically a bore. It has a nice idea for the setup. Racist doctor Ray Milland is dying and needs a new body. Convict Rosy Grier is taken from death row so that Milland's head can be sewn onto Grier's body. The plan is for Milland to take over the body and lop off Grier's head at some point.

Of course, Milland is in a coma and doesn't know who the subject is, so he wakes up to find himself attached to a black man's body. Horrors! It's all played for laughs, of course, but it just isn't funny. Ray Milland has rescued more than one movie from absurdity, but he can't pull it off with this one. It gets old fast.

These two features certainly qualify as "midnite" movies. If you're in the mood for something utterly ridiculous, this will certainly fill the bill.

Average customer rating:

You know going in....
"Do you have two of anything else?"
BODY AND SOUL
The best bad movie of all time?
Uneven, but still worth a look

The Thing with Two Heads
Starring: Rick Baker , Kathrine Baumann , Wes Bishop , John Bliss , and Chelsea Brown
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005AUK3
Release Date: 2001-06-05

Customer Reviews:

You know going in...........2006-02-02

that this isn't gonna be a cinema classic. But it isn't even bad enough to qualify for a fun-for-the-wrong-reasons flick. Yeah, it has a few moments, but then completely falls apart and actually begins to get boring, cumminated by the never-ending cycle chase. It's absolutely painful to watch Milland waste his talent here.

"Do you have two of anything else?".......2004-04-23

Have you ever wondered how cool it would be to have a second head grafted on your body, right next to yours? I have, and so has Hollywood, the land of candy cane dreams and pennywhistle fantasies. Now I know some will say, 'Why do we need another two headed freak type movie? We've already got two entries in the `two-headed man' genre with The Manster (1962) and The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971).' And I might agree, if not for the fact that neither of those two films really deals with the social ramifications that the AIP release of The Thing with Two Heads (1972) touches on, specifically what happens when you graft the head of a white bigot's head on a soul brother's body, the consequences being pure cinematic gold (well, okay, maybe not, but it's sure fun to watch).

The Thing with Two Heads was directed by Lee Frost, who also gave us such lurid exploitation pictures as The House on Bare Mountain (1962), The Defilers (1965), and Policewomen (1974) and stars Oscar winning actor Ray Milland (no, he didn't win the award for this film, but for the 1945 film The Lost Weekend) and former L.A. Rams football player Roosevelt `Rosey' Grier. With respect to Milland, it certainly is interesting, even a bit sad, to see a once great star wallow uncomfortably in number of trashy 70's B pics like this or Frogs (1972), just to name a few.

As the film starts, we are introduced to Dr. Maxwell Kirshner (Milland), a highly successful surgeon who runs a number of clinics specializing in human transplants. We also learn that Maxwell is terminally ill, and is conducting a secret experiment in his basement, one designed specifically in mind with the possibility of saving his life. If you guess it has something to do with transplanting his head onto another body, you'd be right. The experiment involves grafting a second head onto a gorilla (played by Oscar winning special effects makeup artist Rick Baker), and then removing the original head, seeing if the newly grafted head survives. The process takes about a month, allowing for the second head to grow strong enough assuming control of the host body. There's a pretty funny scene when the gorilla escapes, and terrorizes a convenience store before being recaptured.

Anyway, the gorilla experiment is a success, opening the door for a human head transplant, but Maxwell's condition is deteriorating rapidly, and he soon goes into a coma, but not before instructing his subordinates to follow through with his plans. Only problem is a compatible host/donor body is extremely difficult to come by...until inquires are made with the prison board, and a likely candidate is found in a supposedly wrongfully convicted black man on death row, Jack Moss (Grier), scheduled to be executed. Jack, seeing a chance to prolong his existence for another month, allowing for him to try and find the only man, who went missing at the time of his trial, and could clear him by supplying a credible alibi, accepts the deal. Thing is, Jack has no idea what's in store for him. So what happens when both men realize what has happened? And who gets to keep the body in the end?

The concept here is surely interesting, albeit deeply entrenched in the realm of fantasyland. I know not if this film was meant to be a serious science fiction picture or not, but given the smattering of comedy throughout, I am assuming the latter. Most of the truly funny scenes come from the situations arising after the surgical procedure, and Milland's character's expounding of bigoted statements. Racism in and of itself certainly isn't funny, but the level stupidity within Milland's character and his lack of control over the situation sure is...okay, the scenes where Grier is running around with a plastic head attached to his should did look fake, but I didn't focus on that too much. The scene that really sort of derailed the film from being better than it was, for me, was the extended chase scene on the motorbike. It was funny for like a few minutes, but then, probably due to the skimpiness of the plot, runs for much longer than it should have, lasted well over 15 minutes. My favorite scene was when Jack and Maxwell, on the lamb as Jack is still a convicted criminal, go to Jack's girlfriend's apartment (I love her absolute lack of shock at seeing this strange creature, and her utterance, `You get into more sh$t...'), and Jack tries to initiate intimacy with her, to which she expresses uneasiness with Maxwell's head right there. Jack then turns to Maxwell and states, `Now you know you got to go...'

The print used on this release looks really good, and is in wide screen format. The only special feature available is a theatrical trailer for the film, which is almost as funny as the film. Sure, this cheese may stink, but at least it goes easy, not taking itself too seriously. One thing I did learn from this film is that when one head of a two-headed man smokes a cigarette, the smoke will actually expel from the mouth of the head not smoking...seems logical to me...and pretty funny...

Cookieman108

BODY AND SOUL.......2003-02-21

The MGM Midnite Movies serie allows us to discover or rediscover a certain category of films one usually doesn't find in stores nor watch on television during decent hours. THE THING WITH TWO HEADS belongs to the sub-sub-sub genre of the exploitation/horror/sci-fi/car crash movies of the beginning of the seventies. And I've watched it until the end.

The picture is funny at times but an overlong track race destroys the indulgence created in the viewer's mind by the original idea presented. What remains is the pleasure to admire Ray Milland and a few scenes deserving to stay in the annals of the most improbable plots ever invented.

Only a trailer and subtitles as bonus features.

A DVD zone nostalgia.

The best bad movie of all time?.......2002-12-21

I've seen lots of old B movies,for unitended comedy this movie is the king.You really get the feeling That Max (Ray Milland) genuinely hates Jack (Rosey Grier)Ray Milland plays a bigoted transplant surgeon who could give Archie Bunker a run for his money.Max Kirshner learns he's dying and figures he'll just attach his brilliant head to another mans body,unfortunately,his only suitable donor is a black convict,needless to say they're less then thrilled with this situation, look for the long-haired stuntman during the classic motorcycle chase scene,who looks nothing like Milland or Grier.Great movie not as bad as you might think.

Uneven, but still worth a look.......2002-12-20

This film's starting point is bizarre enough to draw in cinephiles with a liking for cult films: Max Kirshner (Milland), a brilliant but racist transplant surgeon, defies death by having his head transplanted in the body of Jack Moss (Grier), a black convict who donates his body to science while hoping to prove his innocence during the 30-day `life-extension' he's being given; to say that Kirscher didn't expect his head to be united with a black man's body is an understatement. Although more has been written about the scenes involving `the thing with two heads' than about the rest of the film, the first half is clearly the strongest: scenes that involve Kirshner being dragged in his basement or meeting with various colleagues especially come to mind. After the operation has taken place, the film predictably shifts its attention to the Kirshner-Moss relationship. It is initially intriguing, and the final ten minutes are almost as effective as the first half, but repetitions are numerous until the film gets there (a far too long chase sequence is mainly at fault). The interaction between Kirshner, Moss and Williams, a black doctor played by Don Marshall, is quite interesting, though: the first two blackmail the latter, both for different reasons, and Williams finds himself in the middle of options which could all benefit him in one way or another. In spite of the movie's shortcomings, this good DVD transfer of a rare film should be seen.

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