A Miami cop finds out his wife has a female lover, and he begins to have an affair with his female partner. Meanwhile, a voodoo demon from Africa arrives among Miami's Nigerian community and begins decapitating some people and possessing others--including the cop's wife.
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Reviews
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
That was an excellent one.
Surprisingly incoherent and boring
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Detectives Katherine Hall (Kay Lenz) and Pete Giullani (Wayne Crawford) are investigating a bizarre series of beheadings in Miami. With Christopher Lambert nowhere to be seen, they focus on a small community of Nigerian immigrants who believe they are being haunted by a vengeful spirit from their homeland. Before you can say THE BELIEVERS, our heroes find themselves targets and their personal lives attacked. This is a pretty average 80s horror flick that loses points for being boring. It is too bad because director Francis Schaeffer stages some effective scenes (all of the kill scenes are well done), but then bungles the human drama. The end has Crawford chasing the main beast - that looks kind of like Rawhead Rex - around a tiny backyard with a chainsaw. The movie needed more crazy stuff like this, and less stuff like Crawford arguing with his wife. The film ends with Headhunter being resurrected back in Africa, but no sequel arrived.
The constant bad swipes this low-rent South American horror film receives might be justified, but I didn't think it was entirely terrible. Mostly wooden, and more often vapid you could say, with the occult idea being push aside for lame (and oddly placed) soapy domestic quibbles of the two police detectives (likeably played by Wayne Crawford and Kay Lenz) who are chasing a killer that unusually decapitates its victims, and might be something supernatural of African origins. Cool! No not cool. This offbeat angle is left high and dry, and just frustrates with its sloppy pace and bland script. Quite a drag! Well up until the frenetic climax. Having the two leads being fully developed is fine, but still it leaves us with too many questions about our ugly looking demon. The underwritten premise is randomly disjointed and terribly unclear and inconsistent in its motives. Never does it become much fun, as its light on suspense, action and gratuitous splatter. Nor does it have any sort of camp value. It needed to go out on a limb to achieve excitement, because it sadly underplays itself and goes about things seriously. The convincing location choices however, seemed to invoke an effective atmospheric tenor, and Hans Kuhle's free-flowing camera-work is well done. Julian Laxton's howling music score has a thumping, menacing tone that won't let up. The rubber demon looks tacky and bulky, but decent for such a budget. Watchable fluff, but not one to lose your head over.
Plots revolves around an evil voodoo spirit terrorizing a neighborhood in Miami which is mostly populated by Nigerian refugees, chopping off and stealing their heads. Police detectives Crawford and Lenz are given the unenviable task of investigating the murders, and soon find out for themselves that they are in WAY over their own heads.Sometimes creepy, sometimes boring, but its sense of humor perks things up throughout and helps hold your interest. Unfortunately when you do finally get to see the killer is a big let down, and it most resembles what you'd expect a living-dead pro-wrestler with a machete to look like, except made out of foam-rubber. Crawford and Lenz do an excellent job in their roles and help hold things together despite this films serious weaknesses, with Crawford delivering some pretty good one-liners.5 out of 10, not for everyone but a passable time killer.
Damn, it's sad to see a movie fail so miserably when you can just feel the potential it had. This easily could have been a decent modern-day horror-flick about voodoo and an interesting demon on the loose chopping off heads. At least in two or three scenes there's a bit of suspense to be felt (I admit, it's not that much, but still...) and the demon's make-up is decent. The fact that he runs around decapitating people is a nice bonus too. However...I always admire the fact when scriptwriters of horror-stories try to give the main characters a bit of background (that doesn't happen much in horror). But here it really is a bit too much. I mean, the cop's ex-wife turned out to be lesbian, so then he starts hitting on his female partner who's dating a fellow-cop which wants to spend more quality time with her? Come on. Instead they should have made the demon a much bigger and menacing character. Where does he come from? Why and by who is he summoned? Why does he chop off all those heads of seemingly unrelated victims? Are there more of his kind? Nothing do we learn about this demon. But he does look cool. And he also seems to be able to shape-shift, but that concept isn't really worked out either.For a moment it looked like this movie was going to have a suspenseful bloody end fight. The set-up was present but the fight is over before you know it. What a waste. Even the over-all acting wasn't too bad. You can easily sit through this flick, but you'll forget about it as easily. So don't bother. But if you have a thing for sword-swinging demons then I won't stop ya.