17 reviews
Odd but not always funny.
"Black Comedy" of the future .........
Everything revolves around tubes in this futuristic "dark comedy" . The eclectic cast is interesting, with Nancy Mette, Richard Portnow, John Glover, and especially a cameo by Ann Ramsey. Ramsey is in charge of the local tube station, and her subtitled rant is worth the price of admission alone. Meanwhile the neon sets are creative with tubes pumping everything in and out of the domicile. There are obvious sexual double meanings referred to in all the "tube talk". Things eventually turn nasty with the Hollowhead's defending themselves from Mr. Hollowhead's lecherous boss. "Meet the Hollowheads" is definitely going to be an aquired taste, but for the right audience this is cult film caviar. "Good shift" . - MERK
- merklekranz
- Dec 9, 2019
- Permalink
Oddball comedy
- Leofwine_draca
- Nov 30, 2018
- Permalink
A little-seen offbeat sci-fi/horror/comedy/something-else movie.
Imagine a bizarre fusion of Terry Gilliam's Brazil and TV sitcom I love Lucy. Now add a dash of Cronenbergesque body-shock horror and a soupçon of sixties sci-fi idealism. The result might look something like Meet The Hollowheads, the only directorial effort (to date) from movie make-up maestro Tom Burman. And then again it might not.
Set in a strange world where all of life's necessities are supplied (and disposed of) via tubes, where strange creatures are used both as food and household tools, and where clean living wholesome folk are driven to violence, Meet the Hollowheads is definitely a film that needs to be seen to be believed.
Henry Hollowhead (John Glover), loving husband and father of three, is United Umbilical's top meter reader. Hoping for a promotion, he brings home his new boss, Mr. Crabneck, to meet his family and stay for dinner. But Mr. Crabneck proves to be a less than perfect house-guest, insulting Henry's youngest son, and leching after both Henry's tasty wife and his jail-bait daughter (played by a young Juliette Lewis). Soon enough the situation turns ugly and the Hollowheads are forced to fight back.
Extremely imaginative and downright freaky in places, this movie is certainly not going to be to everyone's taste, but those with a taste for the unusual and absurd should really give this one a try, if only to witness the sight of Juliette Lewis singing and dancing whilst her (real-life) brother plays a 'half-mutant-chicken/half-trombone' musical instrument.
And if that isn't enough to tempt you, the film also contains these treats: Ms. Lewis trying on a range of garish figure-hugging dresses, Ms Lewis feeding her grandpa green goop though a tube while he gropes her, Near Dark's Joshua Miller playing 'Splatspray' with huge lice, Bobcat Goldthwait (credited as Jack Cheese) talking normally, and Anne 'Throw Momma From The Train' Ramsey (in her final role) requiring subtitles due to her throat cancer.
Quite insane and quite possibly brilliant (but don't quote me on that), Meet The Hollowheads is well worth checking out if you love obscure cinematic oddities.
Set in a strange world where all of life's necessities are supplied (and disposed of) via tubes, where strange creatures are used both as food and household tools, and where clean living wholesome folk are driven to violence, Meet the Hollowheads is definitely a film that needs to be seen to be believed.
Henry Hollowhead (John Glover), loving husband and father of three, is United Umbilical's top meter reader. Hoping for a promotion, he brings home his new boss, Mr. Crabneck, to meet his family and stay for dinner. But Mr. Crabneck proves to be a less than perfect house-guest, insulting Henry's youngest son, and leching after both Henry's tasty wife and his jail-bait daughter (played by a young Juliette Lewis). Soon enough the situation turns ugly and the Hollowheads are forced to fight back.
Extremely imaginative and downright freaky in places, this movie is certainly not going to be to everyone's taste, but those with a taste for the unusual and absurd should really give this one a try, if only to witness the sight of Juliette Lewis singing and dancing whilst her (real-life) brother plays a 'half-mutant-chicken/half-trombone' musical instrument.
And if that isn't enough to tempt you, the film also contains these treats: Ms. Lewis trying on a range of garish figure-hugging dresses, Ms Lewis feeding her grandpa green goop though a tube while he gropes her, Near Dark's Joshua Miller playing 'Splatspray' with huge lice, Bobcat Goldthwait (credited as Jack Cheese) talking normally, and Anne 'Throw Momma From The Train' Ramsey (in her final role) requiring subtitles due to her throat cancer.
Quite insane and quite possibly brilliant (but don't quote me on that), Meet The Hollowheads is well worth checking out if you love obscure cinematic oddities.
- BA_Harrison
- Dec 6, 2006
- Permalink
I met them... and I don't like them
This is certainly one cheery little pile of glop but, with its rainbow-dessert/Good n'Plenty visual design, it is hard to digest and rather nausea inducing. It's like a bad dream channeled through a nether world where the brains of Terry Gilliam and Steven Spielberg (in his Goonies phase) connect. Meet the Hollowheads? More like the Jetsons-meets-Brazil-meets-a-hamster-habitrail... well, it's certainly not the usual "meetings" I'll grant that. But it's all contrived weirdness and goopy effects, and worst of all not funny. There's no wit, just a lot of Sid & Marty Kroft-like ('Lidsville/H.R. Pufnstuf', etc.) goings on that might appeal to kids. There's even a section with Anne Ramsey that is so badly acted and recorded that it required post-production sub-titles in order to figure out what was being said (granted Miss Ramsey died, presumably before she could loop her dialogue). There's also a cheesy 80's-cliche guitar & synth music score that ironically dates this futuristic film. Or maybe it's not futuristic, but an alternate universe... being the same place where this film came from, like some of the actors listed: Shnutz Burman, Lightfield Lewis, Shotgun Britton and Jack Cheese (yes, these are the actors names not their characters). Yet it was probably a blast to make, at least for the Burman clan: from the credits it appears the entire Burman family tree worked on this. Then again, Tom Burman is a make-up artist, so this may be the finest directorial achievement of any make-up artist in Hollywood history. Bravo... now let's put a Key Grip in the directorial chair and see what one of THEM can do.
This is awful!
Fun, creatively-zany sci-fi fantasy
This is sort of like a lite version of BRAZIL; which takes a standard 60s sit-com plot of a middle-class working father who has to impress his boss with a dinner at the family home; and sets it in some futuristic/alien world.
It has quite impressive production values, great set design, and a fairy tight little script.
All the child actors especially show a lot of enthusiasm and great personality.
Very enjoyable if you like escapist storytelling. It would probably make an enjoyable rainy-day video for the family during holidays.
It has quite impressive production values, great set design, and a fairy tight little script.
All the child actors especially show a lot of enthusiasm and great personality.
Very enjoyable if you like escapist storytelling. It would probably make an enjoyable rainy-day video for the family during holidays.
- BadWebDiver
- Aug 16, 2003
- Permalink
conflicted on the score
HEY EVERYBODY ITS ME (4).... and today we review ...."garbage has a name, its joey"
"meet the hollowheads " is a classic film about the 80's in the future ....mimicking sci fi films of the past ???
So here we get way too much of juliette lewis being the 80's ....in to many montages in between scenes of a young man being influenced by an obviously terrible "friend" who literally uses full ticks from the human headed mutant dog beast to splatter the walls and toys with blood ? ..... yea ..."boys will be boys " i guess .... all this while the family is just trying to get ready for the dads new bosses arrival for dinner ....
speaking of the boss ....the film apparently REALLY drives home the villain arch with him ...he beats up a kid ...then pervs on a 14 year old girl .... but THEN grandpa pervs on the 14 year old girl during some freaky food fetish thing going on .... while the boss pervs on the guys wife , while the guy explains how tubes erupt with fluids from pressure from friction .... and dont forget the literal p3nis monster that the wife cooks and eats ....so just tons of pervy pervs perving ....whos the villain again ? ....
imagine if the jetsons ....did a lot of drugs ..i mean ALOT ...like ..all of the drugs ...then became obsessed with toilet plumbing as the entire planet is literally plumbing and plumbing accessories.... you dont really know what to love or hate about this movie ... its one of those film you wacthed on late night channels like tnt monster vision or up all night with rhonda sheer etc and then never knew what it was called but see it again 20 years later and yell at the TV like you won a million dollars "THATS IT !!!!THATS THE MOVIE IVE TOLD EVERYONE ABOUT MY WHOLE LIFE !!!!" ... but everyone thought you were on the drugs because trying to explain it is like telling people about a bad trip .... from the TERRIBLE music trying to be futuristic .... with a chicken bagpipe tuba key board ..... yea ...to the mom from goonies this film is just one giant "what" after another ..... its VERY nostalgic in the style of national lampoon films / peewees big adventure etc only ...it lacks the superstar presents of main character those types of films tended to have ....
do you love it ?
Do you hate it ?
Do you even honestly know .... technical things, the camera work is shoddy , the music is bad ...the acting is on purpose over done ....and FX are great (but the writer /director , this being his only film HAS only done SFX his entire life) the plot is ????? And by the end of the film youll ask ...why did i watch this ....everything about the film almost is bad ....but yet there is a stupid charm to it .....
score ? .... jeez, personally i would say 2/10 ..... for the technical reasons alone ... but the horrid music (i love some 80's) -1 ....and no substance in story ....-1 ....lol... 0/10 BUT .....its one of those dumb films so weird .....so out there you have to check it out and youll end up getting a copy ....so even if its a misfire ....it seems to hit the mark .... im very confused lol.
"meet the hollowheads " is a classic film about the 80's in the future ....mimicking sci fi films of the past ???
So here we get way too much of juliette lewis being the 80's ....in to many montages in between scenes of a young man being influenced by an obviously terrible "friend" who literally uses full ticks from the human headed mutant dog beast to splatter the walls and toys with blood ? ..... yea ..."boys will be boys " i guess .... all this while the family is just trying to get ready for the dads new bosses arrival for dinner ....
speaking of the boss ....the film apparently REALLY drives home the villain arch with him ...he beats up a kid ...then pervs on a 14 year old girl .... but THEN grandpa pervs on the 14 year old girl during some freaky food fetish thing going on .... while the boss pervs on the guys wife , while the guy explains how tubes erupt with fluids from pressure from friction .... and dont forget the literal p3nis monster that the wife cooks and eats ....so just tons of pervy pervs perving ....whos the villain again ? ....
imagine if the jetsons ....did a lot of drugs ..i mean ALOT ...like ..all of the drugs ...then became obsessed with toilet plumbing as the entire planet is literally plumbing and plumbing accessories.... you dont really know what to love or hate about this movie ... its one of those film you wacthed on late night channels like tnt monster vision or up all night with rhonda sheer etc and then never knew what it was called but see it again 20 years later and yell at the TV like you won a million dollars "THATS IT !!!!THATS THE MOVIE IVE TOLD EVERYONE ABOUT MY WHOLE LIFE !!!!" ... but everyone thought you were on the drugs because trying to explain it is like telling people about a bad trip .... from the TERRIBLE music trying to be futuristic .... with a chicken bagpipe tuba key board ..... yea ...to the mom from goonies this film is just one giant "what" after another ..... its VERY nostalgic in the style of national lampoon films / peewees big adventure etc only ...it lacks the superstar presents of main character those types of films tended to have ....
do you love it ?
Do you hate it ?
Do you even honestly know .... technical things, the camera work is shoddy , the music is bad ...the acting is on purpose over done ....and FX are great (but the writer /director , this being his only film HAS only done SFX his entire life) the plot is ????? And by the end of the film youll ask ...why did i watch this ....everything about the film almost is bad ....but yet there is a stupid charm to it .....
score ? .... jeez, personally i would say 2/10 ..... for the technical reasons alone ... but the horrid music (i love some 80's) -1 ....and no substance in story ....-1 ....lol... 0/10 BUT .....its one of those dumb films so weird .....so out there you have to check it out and youll end up getting a copy ....so even if its a misfire ....it seems to hit the mark .... im very confused lol.
- godinamachine
- Feb 28, 2024
- Permalink
Bright, colourful, inventive, scary, and nauseating.
- sourcery-1
- Jun 9, 2006
- Permalink
From the dustbin of 80's cinema.
- mark.waltz
- Mar 31, 2022
- Permalink
What A World!
This wildly imaginative, endlessly clever, candy colored, twisted, hilarious, gross-out, underground (maybe literally) sci-fi comedy is a one-of-a-kind wonder. Essentially the idea is a Jetsons-ish live action family TV sitcom satire set in an intangible time and place of some far off, distant dimension or universe where every daily necessity or modern convenience is pumped through a complex system of tubes. Oh, and everyone is careful not to fall off "The Edge." The basic plot setup is an intentional cookie cutter television sitcom template involving the father, Henry Hollowhead (John Glover) who works for "United Umbilical", bringing home his new slimy boss (Richard Portnow) for an impromptu dinner, leaving the homemaker mother, Miriam Hollowhead (Nancy Mette), reeling with the frantic task of managing her three stock character type children while trying to cook up an impressive feast.
The inspired fun and lunacy comes from how this simple premise is warped around, and manifested within the novelty of the created universe: The mother wrangles tentacles and squirts out doughy goo in the kitchen; the eldest son practices his bagpipe/keyboard/trombone/live-chicken-creature instrument for his big gig; the youngest son picks fat insects off the family "dog" ("he's infested") to use in his new "Splat Spray Game" with his troublemaking buddy Joey (pre-teen cynic, 80's cult regular Joshua John Miller); and their middle child daughter, a pre-fame Juliette Lewis, sprays her face with cosmetic machines in the bathroom, getting ready for a party. A whole system of amusing fictional terminology and lingo is even created (the daughter wants to use the mother's "Softening Jelly" and they threaten to discipline their children by sending them to the "Penetration Box") leaving the deduction of which up to the viewer's imagination.
Another delicious, bizarre and wonderful conceptual element is what lay beyond the walls of the house and what the outside world is like. The only scene that takes place outside the fantastical home is when the youngest son and his friend venture out through an abstract dark void to make their way to the main pipe station, to fill a list of ingredients for Mrs. Hollowhead. Along the way, they encounter a void bum, a team of "Reamers," that are dressed up in grey, brush outlined pipe cleaner tutus, and Stationmaster Babbleaxe (Anne Ramsey), who speaks with subtitles that even translate her grunts into insults (This idea might have been used due to the fact that because Ramsey suffered from throat cancer she had to have parts of her jaw and tongue removed, and as a result it affected her speech. She died shortly after this production and the film is "Lovingly Dedicated" to her.).
This was Thomas R. Burman's, a long time special make-up effects artist who has worked on everything from The Thing With Two Heads (1972) to My Bloody Valentine (1981) (he even worked with Anne Ramsey before on Throw Momma From The Train (1987)), first and only, so far, directed feature, but let's hope it is not the last. Lisa Morton co-concocted and wrote the great script in collaboration with Burman as a project for Burman to direct. Morton kept a journal during production which can be found online at Morton's site (www.lisamorton.com).
A good printed VHS and Laserdisc version was released by Image in November of 1989 but since then the film seems to have become public domain, because several super cheap video labels have released their own VHS and DVD versions with badly blown up pictures of Juliette Lewis on the cover, to cash in on her fame, and wrong credit listings. The film's original title was "Life On The Edge," but it was changed, and the film was cut and re-scored by the producers (they even added a horribly silly/stupid hip-hop/rap song to the credits). But even with those forced butcheries, the film remains astonishing. We would all lead happier, more exciting lives if more films like this got funded. Absolutely not to be missed! Highly Recommended!
The inspired fun and lunacy comes from how this simple premise is warped around, and manifested within the novelty of the created universe: The mother wrangles tentacles and squirts out doughy goo in the kitchen; the eldest son practices his bagpipe/keyboard/trombone/live-chicken-creature instrument for his big gig; the youngest son picks fat insects off the family "dog" ("he's infested") to use in his new "Splat Spray Game" with his troublemaking buddy Joey (pre-teen cynic, 80's cult regular Joshua John Miller); and their middle child daughter, a pre-fame Juliette Lewis, sprays her face with cosmetic machines in the bathroom, getting ready for a party. A whole system of amusing fictional terminology and lingo is even created (the daughter wants to use the mother's "Softening Jelly" and they threaten to discipline their children by sending them to the "Penetration Box") leaving the deduction of which up to the viewer's imagination.
Another delicious, bizarre and wonderful conceptual element is what lay beyond the walls of the house and what the outside world is like. The only scene that takes place outside the fantastical home is when the youngest son and his friend venture out through an abstract dark void to make their way to the main pipe station, to fill a list of ingredients for Mrs. Hollowhead. Along the way, they encounter a void bum, a team of "Reamers," that are dressed up in grey, brush outlined pipe cleaner tutus, and Stationmaster Babbleaxe (Anne Ramsey), who speaks with subtitles that even translate her grunts into insults (This idea might have been used due to the fact that because Ramsey suffered from throat cancer she had to have parts of her jaw and tongue removed, and as a result it affected her speech. She died shortly after this production and the film is "Lovingly Dedicated" to her.).
This was Thomas R. Burman's, a long time special make-up effects artist who has worked on everything from The Thing With Two Heads (1972) to My Bloody Valentine (1981) (he even worked with Anne Ramsey before on Throw Momma From The Train (1987)), first and only, so far, directed feature, but let's hope it is not the last. Lisa Morton co-concocted and wrote the great script in collaboration with Burman as a project for Burman to direct. Morton kept a journal during production which can be found online at Morton's site (www.lisamorton.com).
A good printed VHS and Laserdisc version was released by Image in November of 1989 but since then the film seems to have become public domain, because several super cheap video labels have released their own VHS and DVD versions with badly blown up pictures of Juliette Lewis on the cover, to cash in on her fame, and wrong credit listings. The film's original title was "Life On The Edge," but it was changed, and the film was cut and re-scored by the producers (they even added a horribly silly/stupid hip-hop/rap song to the credits). But even with those forced butcheries, the film remains astonishing. We would all lead happier, more exciting lives if more films like this got funded. Absolutely not to be missed! Highly Recommended!
- VideoKidVsTheVoid
- Jun 7, 2007
- Permalink
A Fabulous Sci Fi Movie...fun family viewing, great escapism.
I must say I was laughing a lot and frightened a bit...but in a good-natured way...and most of all I was simply mesmerized by the brilliantly amusing storyline and wonderful special effects that used real full-sized movie sets and none of the cheap, too-obvious digital graphics used by all Sci Fi movie-makers of today.
This is a must-have Sci Fi movie for those who enjoy the eclectic, the bizarre and the esoteric worlds of anywhere else but earth. My best guess is that the Hollowheads live in a society on a distant planet that exists totally underground in a large population, a very large "city" with miles of tunnels, single-family homes, ultra modern conveniences using pipes that bring in food and every ingredient needed for life's daily needs.
Why does an entire civilization live beneath their planet's surface? Who knows? It is never explained; but then an explanation is never necessary either. The Hollowhead underground world is very well conceived and becomes as reasonable to the movie watcher, as does our own reality here on the surface of the earth appear normal to us.
Meet the Hollowheads with sexy Juliette Lewis as daughter Cindy Hollowhead, and John Glover and Nancy Mette as Mr. and Mrs. Hollowhead...as normal as any U.S. television family out of the 1950's...help to bring off this caricature of life as we thought we knew it, with good-natured humor, a zesty cast of fascinating characters and an alien lifestyle as crazy and fun as any which has ever been brought to film.
My suggestion: This is a must-have video for you and your family.
Enjoy!
This is a must-have Sci Fi movie for those who enjoy the eclectic, the bizarre and the esoteric worlds of anywhere else but earth. My best guess is that the Hollowheads live in a society on a distant planet that exists totally underground in a large population, a very large "city" with miles of tunnels, single-family homes, ultra modern conveniences using pipes that bring in food and every ingredient needed for life's daily needs.
Why does an entire civilization live beneath their planet's surface? Who knows? It is never explained; but then an explanation is never necessary either. The Hollowhead underground world is very well conceived and becomes as reasonable to the movie watcher, as does our own reality here on the surface of the earth appear normal to us.
Meet the Hollowheads with sexy Juliette Lewis as daughter Cindy Hollowhead, and John Glover and Nancy Mette as Mr. and Mrs. Hollowhead...as normal as any U.S. television family out of the 1950's...help to bring off this caricature of life as we thought we knew it, with good-natured humor, a zesty cast of fascinating characters and an alien lifestyle as crazy and fun as any which has ever been brought to film.
My suggestion: This is a must-have video for you and your family.
Enjoy!
Life in a biomorphic future
This strange little gem combines the biomorphic machinery of Giger with the surreal dadaism of Terry Gilliam and the sugary family life of "Leave it To Beaver". The Hollowheads live in a future world after overpopulation and economic collapse has forced everyone to live in inside giant tubes over vast factories, where pre-processed food is pumped in through pipes, and normal animals and plants have disappeared, replaced by selectively bred genetically-engineered mutants. Biomorphic machines are used as medical equipment, food sources, and even musical instruments. Yet the family lives in a 50's style nuclear family with touches of 80's extravagance (gotta love the bubble dress!). The household machinery and factory equipment is very reminiscent of the industrial scenes in Terry Gilliam's "Brazil". The Hollowhead family have striven to maintain civilization, while the managers of the ruling factory, United Umbilical (with a Staley-eqsue swastika-like logo), ruthlessly manages its employees with animalistic lust. "Meet the Hollowheads" is one of those films you will recognize more and more as its predictions start coming true.
- porchfilms
- Jan 2, 2005
- Permalink
It's a Commercial Album without commercials
It's like a late-Snakefinger era Residents video that goes on forever because one little boy WON'T LET THEM STOP!! In our house we always follow it up with a Mongolian Death Worm quiche and Quisp pie. Most folks don't necessarily need the 151-proof white rum chaser, but we strongly suggest you just take your medicine and shut the heck up -- especially during all those extra juicy food preparation scenes. This is a great movie when it's served to your dinner guests without all those pre-conceived notions like Germanoid meal tickets getting in the way. Make sure you keep those internal visions of Jesus doin' the hustle in your head all updated and stuff and you'll survive the night just fine, which is more than you can say about Juliette Lewis' acting career. Does anybody else get her confused with Shayna Knight? So it's just me then. I thought so.
Crazy AND worthy.
If you're expecting a serious, normal movie, than this movie is definitively not for you.
This is a very colorfull movie with a real twist of humor, basically anyone who spent his or her childhood poring thru sci-fi publications and who is a fan of people like Monty Python will like this movie. Although the sci-fi backdrop of this move is very enticing it is just that, a backdrop, on the front you have a simple minded story of a simple guy who is tryign to escalate the corporate ladder in a very imaginative alternative-society world (think of THX1138 in LSD) and the misfortune that hits him and his family when he brings his new boss home for dinner.... this movie has no teaching at all, and it will only be worth a laught, still the humor is not toughtfull but rather on the sillyness, clownsy side. After all this movie
beign worth only a laugh has a "something", so it's already on my permanent collection list along with "tank girl" and "the little shop of horrors".
This is a very colorfull movie with a real twist of humor, basically anyone who spent his or her childhood poring thru sci-fi publications and who is a fan of people like Monty Python will like this movie. Although the sci-fi backdrop of this move is very enticing it is just that, a backdrop, on the front you have a simple minded story of a simple guy who is tryign to escalate the corporate ladder in a very imaginative alternative-society world (think of THX1138 in LSD) and the misfortune that hits him and his family when he brings his new boss home for dinner.... this movie has no teaching at all, and it will only be worth a laught, still the humor is not toughtfull but rather on the sillyness, clownsy side. After all this movie
beign worth only a laugh has a "something", so it's already on my permanent collection list along with "tank girl" and "the little shop of horrors".
Very worthwhile bizarre flick.
The first time I watched this movie, I wasn't in the mood for camp. What a mistake! This is campy and bizarre, right up there with movies from Tim Burton but stranger, if you can believe that. Condiments are delivered through tubes and food is kept alive in cabinets. Furniture is straight out of the Jetsons and makeup out of the eighties. The kitchen even has a creature that heals black eyes -- while your child is strapped into what looks like an evil torture chair, screaming. Oh yes, and no house is complete without a seeing eye.
Definitely recommended. Not exactly fine cinema, but it's got some really worthwhile elements. I bought it on laser disc when I saw it on clearance at Camelot years ago -- I don't know if you can still buy it. Good luck.
Definitely recommended. Not exactly fine cinema, but it's got some really worthwhile elements. I bought it on laser disc when I saw it on clearance at Camelot years ago -- I don't know if you can still buy it. Good luck.
Simply crazy
This movie is not good or bad its just plain crazy. It takes place in another universe where people get everything given to them through tubes. Its craziness does it good though, it could have cult potential if it were more widely known. The movie features a cameo by the hilarious Anne Ramsey (Throw Mamma From The Train)and very young Juliette Lewis before her breakthrough role in "Cape Fear." Its a silly crazy piece of work, could be worth a see to some people. Not bad.