Overview: Full Moon’s Noir Double Feature: Head of the Family / Hideous! plunges two cult favorites from the twisted imagination of Charles Band into the eerie world of black-and-white film noir horror.

Newly re-cut and re-imagined in stark monochrome, these definitive versions transform Full Moon’s colorful chaos into shadow-drenched nightmares that blend the studio’s signature camp and grotesque humor with a smoky, vintage aesthetic that pays homage to the crime thrillers of the 1940s. In Head of the Family, the notorious Stackpool clan returns - this time even creepier in black and white. Howard (Blake Adams) is a brutish biker with a short fuse and a sultry wife, Loretta (Jacqueline Lovell), who’s secretly carrying on with diner owner Lance (J.W. Perra).

When Lance stumbles upon the Stackpools’ ghastly secret - a family led by a grotesque, oversized head with terrifying mental powers - he hatches a scheme for blackmail that quickly spirals into madness. The noir treatment heightens the sleaze and menace of Band’s original, giving this cult classic a whole new sinister sheen.

Hideous! takes the monochrome experiment even further, turning Band’s 1997 mutant-monster romp into a moody, shadow-laden fever dream. Dr. Lorca (Mel Johnson Jr.), a collector of biological oddities, has just obtained a grotesque creature spawned from toxic sludge. But when the creature’s original owner tries to reclaim it, chaos erupts - complete with government agents, deranged collectors, and an army of oozing, re-animated abominations.

Now re-edited as Hideous! Noir, the film’s mixture of sexuality, slime, and satire oozes with midnight-movie atmosphere worthy of Re‑Animator and Freaks.

Both films include brand-new introductions by Charles Band himself, as well as exclusive Noir trailers showcasing the studio’s inventive visual overhaul. For longtime fans of Full Moon Features, this release offers a fresh way to experience two of the studio’s wildest cult sensations - now steeped in shadow, irony, and a macabre sense of cinematic style that turns schlock into pulp poetry.

Blu-ray Verdict: First up is Head of the Family (1996). The head of the family is literally that - a giant head on a tiny body, who psychically controls the rest of his even more unusual family.

Head of the Family is a weird oddball horror/comedy that focuses on a young couple and the guys friend who, unbeknownst to him is constantly sleeping around with his girlfriend. After a late night hookup in the backseat of his car they drive off and find a suspicious road block that he goes to investigate and finds a group of people carrying unconscious people into their house of which he decides to get the license plate number of the car that they were using as well as other pictures.

He then ends up getting on one of their nerves in public and then they go back to the house where he meets the Head of the Family, the Brains of the operation who is telepathically linked to his siblings all with various deformities or powers. He then begins to bribe him as he has a set up with a lawyer that if not fulfilled he will mail the evidence convicting the family to the authorities and get them arrested.

He wants her boyfriend out of the picture but once they oblige he gets too greedy and starts bribing them for money which then gets the Head to take it upon himself to dig up information on his arrangements and take care of the evidence and then them.

It’s got some solid low budget production value and interesting and memorable character design as well as quite a bit of nudity to accompany it. It’s well paced and has a runtime that doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Then we get Hideous! (1997). Dr. Lorca, a collector of biological oddities, fights another curator of horrors over a mutant. But their clash is cut short when the mutant comes to life and resurrects an angry, oozing army.

At the basis of this film there is clearly a great desire to make a light comedy with hideous out-of-this-world creatures that create quite a bit of disgust, but in any case it is a comedy and therefore makes you laugh in many parts, especially due to the absolute absurdity of the majority of the scenes which are exaggerated on purpose to generate hilarity in the viewer. So as a horror it is completely to be thrown away but as a comedy it is really cute and entertaining and therefore in my opinion it is a bit underrated.

Regarding sexual content, mainstream films tend to offer little more than mundane male-female sexual intercourse. B-movies often deliver a refreshing selection of uncommon/unnatural sexual scenes, serving to satisfy one’s desire for an alternative to routine and unimaginative sexuality. Hideous! is no exception, and in fact, the sexual scenes make for some of the most appealing content of this film!

Bonus Feature:
NEW INTROS BY CHARLES BAND
NOIR TRAILERS

Official Purchase Link

www.fullmoonfeatures.com