FFWD Weekly
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Heads Up! (Hovering Head Movies)
by John Tebbutt· The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989): Terry Gilliam's whimsical fantasy features an uncredited Robin Williams as "The King of the Moon" - complete with a detachable flying head. (The Queen of the Moon is similarly equipped).
· Forbidden Zone (1980): One of the weirdest movies ever made and a must-see! After having his head chopped off by Satan, (and finishing a duet with him, post-operatively) Squeezit Henderson sprouts chicken wings out of his neck and the head flies around tattling on the bad guys. In the context of the movie, it makes perfect sense.
· Shrunken Heads (1994): Richard Elfman waited 14 years before making a second movie, but it isn't even close to the manic inspiration of his first effort, Forbidden Zone. After three likeable young boys are killed by gangsters, the local news agent/voodoo priest turns them into shrunken heads, revives them and gives them superpowers. (Personally, I think that being rescued by shrunken-head superheroes would be more traumatic than being mugged.)
· Bride of the Re-Animator (1989): The sequel to one of the best talking-head movies is disappointing, compared to it's predecessor, but it's still pretty wild. The head of Dr. Hill is back and this time it has bat wings!
· Fantasy Mission Force (1984): This weird Jackie Chan action movie has a bizarre non-sequitur sequence in a haunted house. A man joins a poker game in progress, not realizing that his opponents are Chinese vampires. They cheat by stealing aces with their telescopic arms and by sending their disembodied heads to peek at the human's cards. His prayers for a good hand cause them lots of discomfort.
· Flying heads also appear in Witch With the Flying Head (1979), Zardoz (1973), Mystics in Bali (1989), Dollman (1991), and Operation Pink Squad 2 (1989) in which the head gets chased around by toy helicopters.
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