The change of views to what’s considered acceptable in cinema is incredible. 30, 10, even 5 years ago, what was extreme then, is normal now. When August Underground was released, especially the second installment Mordum, it was panned for its disgusting and revolting nature. Nowadays it would be equally lambasted – for being boring.
Let’s re-invent our media. Headless is a retrospective flick set in the 70’s chronicling a cruel and demented killer carving out a bloodthirsty life of torture, mutilation and rape upon the weak and defenseless, while stalked by a peculiar hallucination. It’s horrible, sickening, depraving, and you’re here to enjoy it all.
Launching with an wild and brutal intro, the story then deviates into the meanderings of an unnamed psychopath who goes on to soak himself in the blood of drifters and outcasts, tear them into pieces, and fuck their skulls. This seems to be the only way they can feel any intimacy or get off thanks to their upbringing of crushing abuse.
Generally the production is okay; The murder and execution (literally: execution) of characters is satisfying. Gore is thrown by the bucket, throats are cut like they had zippers already there, and limbs are crushed or severed with the ease of breaking lego. It’s fun and exciting to see a shocker that doesn’t give a shit about anything or take so much seriously.
The acting is sub par at best. With no real leaders or personalities, it’s amateurish as shit. More points are lost for its drab narrative which suffers from a lack of intelligence and a dependence on plastic stereotypes which destroy every kind of suspense. The poor props are handled okay yet will often make for a laborious than torturous watch.
And despite the innovative direction, nothing really beats the fact that a tripod could have been used sometimes. It wouldn’t be a stretch to control the image on occasions. This isn’t an easy thing for trash makers to accept; how do you convince this to a crew that want to film someone spooning out of eyeballs and eating them? When you put it that way…
5/10
Possession Media 