Stephen Chiodo Movies
- 2007
Aesthetically and thematically, director Larry Blamire's outrageous camp-fest Trail of the Screaming Forehead resuscitates and satirizes bottom-of-the-barrel 1950s sci-fi movies such as X the Unknown and The Creeping Terror. Blamire's tale revolves around the scientific discovery that foreheads (and not brains) house human intelligence. In a misguided attempt to prove this axiom, scientist Dr. Sheila Bexter (Fay Masterson) injects a serum called "Foreheadazine" into the cranium of her colleague, Dr. Phillip Latham (Andrew Parks) -- whose head rapidly balloons to the size of a watermelon. Meanwhile, a spaceship packed with "furrowed brows" crash-lands on Earth, and the brows promptly attach themselves to every human in sight. To complicate matters, dozens of locals also get wind of the scientists' project and decide to investigate; before long, the entire seaside community is swarming with addicts of the Foreheadazine drug, a problem that doubles in size when two liquor-happy sailors arrive in town with a boatload of frozen human bodies. Blamire re-creates the visual look of '50s sci-fi films such as The Blob by shooting in shockingly bright rotogravure colors -- a photographic process he dubbed "Crainioscope." Stop-motion demigod Ray Harryhausen -- who reportedly inspired this work thanks to such classics as Jason and the Argonauts and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad -- is listed as "presenter," and his influence can be seen via the special effects of the ballooning heads. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Howe, Dan Conroy, (more)
The manic writing-directing comedy team of Tom Stern and Alex Winter (the latter of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey) followed up their deranged short-film collaborations and the short-lived MTV series The Idiot Box with this comic fantasy, which amounts to a virtual car crash of anarchic, mind-blowing weirdness. The brain-damaged plot follows self-centered sitcom actor Ricky Coogin (Winter), official spokesman for the E.E.S. (Everything Except Shoes) corporation, into the jungle-bound South American nation of Santa Flan. Coogin has been sent as an emissary on behalf of E.E.S. to placate the media uproar over a substance called Zygrot-27, a chief ingredient in many E.E.S. products which has been decried as a fatal environmental toxin. Accompanied by his friend Ernie (Michael Stoyanov) and environmental activist Julie (Megan Ward), Ricky takes a detour into the jungle to a bizarre amusement park overseen by bombastic barker/inventor Elijah C. Skuggs (Randy Quaid), who specializes in the display of "Hideous Mutant Freekz" (the film's original title). The trio soon discover that Skuggs manufactures his oddities himself, and they find themselves at the mercy of his hideous freakmaking factory -- which coincidentally uses Zygrot-27 as a catalyst. Once he has the hapless heroes strapped down, Skuggs reveals his intention to transform Coogin into an evil mega-freak who will destroy all the others in a slam-bang, standing-room-only closing event. Miffed at the notion of sustaining an acting career as a spine-covered, pus-gushing monster, Coogin joins a rebellion within Skuggs' captive stable of other man-made freaks -- whose ranks include such monstrosities as effete human worm; a bearded lady (Mr. T in a frilly dress); a man with a sock-puppet for a head (voiced by Bob Goldthwait); and Ortiz the Dog-Boy (an uncredited Keanu Reeves). Their plans to turn Ricky into a zygrot-powered superhero go astray, however, leading to a hilariously apocalyptic finale. Doomed to home-video status by lethargic distribution from Twentieth-Century Fox, this unappreciated gem deserves a second look; packed with hilarious visual gags, ultra-gross setpieces and body-function jokes, Freaked is a hallucinogenic funhouse of a movie. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex Winter, Megan Ward, (more)
- 1988
- PG13
- Add Killer Klowns from Outer Space to QueueAdd Killer Klowns from Outer Space to top of Queue
This low-budget cult classic horror spoof has one of the great movie titles of all time. Mike (Grant Cramer) and his sweetheart, Debbie (Suzanne Snyder), are smooching on lover's lane when they see what appears to be a meteorite crashing over the horizon. They loosen their liplock long enough to investigate and find a curious circus tent. There they discover malevolent clowns who stop their victims with popcorn-shooting guns and acid-drenched pies in order to feast on human blood. The unfortunates are then entombed into inescapable cotton-candy cocoons. Officer Dave Hanson (John Allen Nelson) is called to investigate with help from Officer Mooney (John Vernon). For those viewers who already think clowns are a little creepy to begin with, this one will push them over the edge. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, (more)
