The Amazing Screw-On Head
August. 20,2006 NRBased on the award-winning comic book by Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy), The Amazing Screw-On Head chronicles the adventures of a Civil War-era secret agent with an extraordinary special power who serves under president Abraham Lincoln.
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Reviews
Just perfect...
Admirable film.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
I don't recall how i stumbled across this as I am not a rabid comic geek - but I am glad I did. It may be I was searching for other examples of "steampunk" (as I am a China Mieville fan) - of which this is to me a perfect example.If you ever complained about overly predictable movies - this animation is not one. It is a wild ride from start to end with bizarre characters and story that you won't enjoy if you try too hard to analyze. So don't try too hard - just open your mind and enjoy the ride.I loved the poncy voicing style which fit the characters and the dry humor perfectly ("permit me to say poppycock" "you may" "poppycock.."). I also loved the silly but very original little touches like the "remote control flapping lips" on the Lincoln picture when he "telephoned" SOH - the first avatar.
As a big fan of Chris Prynoski, I just hate to say, "I don't get it," or at least I don't get the hype. The science fiction of the Civil War era wears out quickly and soon falls prey to a collection of off-the-shelf movie monsters that our grandparents used to watch who were portrayed by Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. among others, (have I given away too much?). The animation varies from very detailed to what seems like four frames per second. And funny? No, not really. Maybe I'll try it again, but if you've ever seen Downtown created by Chris Prynoski, I think you'll find that this doesn't compare when it comes to humor.
The Amazing Screw on Head is maybe the greatest thing of all time.No, really. It might be the best thing I have ever encountered. It's got zombies and robots and vampires and werewolves and mummies and demigods and Abraham Lincoln and a freaking monkey firing a machine gun. And all of this over the course of only 22 minutes. Also, there is one scene where a villain smokes another character through a giant hookah.'Screw on Head' tells the tale of an alternate history for America. Abraham Lincoln uses the titular character to deal with secret government matters, like attacks by the evil Emperor Zombie, who coincidentally used to work as Screw on Head's first butler. After a brief set up, the series goes for total, gee whiz, super colossal, brilliant dada absurdism.I have never read anything mike Mignola before. I didn't terribly like the Hellboy film and I never saw Atlantis. However, if The Amazing Screw on Head is so good that I think I'm going to go buy the guy's back catalogue sight unseen. The animation is perfect, the line readings all inspired. Everything about this project is flawless. Unfortunately, this appears to be all she wrote. 'Screw on Head' was produced as a pilot for Sci-Fi channel, and to my knowledge, it was not picked up for series. If there is one flaw, it is that it leaves you wanting more. Also, the mouth movements don't often match the voice recordings. But, that's a minor problem that is only noticeable on the many repeat viewings that this warrants.DVD: I don't know what the MSRP is for this product, but the extras are very slim. The show is only 21 minutes and change and there is less than 20 minutes of additional features (discounting the commentary track). The cartoon is presented in both normal television and widescreen format, but occasionally the animation feels pixely in its transfer in both versions. The commentary track is amusing and an easy listen with a good balance of technical jargon and good old fashioned anecdotes. The same cannot be said for the storyboard to screen comparison which lasts for under 4 minutes. The featurette is also fairly standard with talking heads praising the cartoon.The other major extra is the alleged comic book which is not a comic book at all. Instead, it is just a collection of a few pages of character designs, a 2 page essay by Mignola on where 'Screw on Head' came from and 2 original character designs for unproduced episodes of the series.It is frustrating that some really interesting features are mentioned in the commentary track, but never materialize on the disc. Why they didn't I don't know because, as it stands, paying even 15 dollars for this DVD seems extraneous. The show is brilliant and has great rewatch value, but if you're going to be shelling out hard earned cash, you should be getting more.The Movie: 9.9/10 The DVD: 5/10for more reviews please visit www.collider.com
This was the best show I've seen all summer. I didn't really know what to expect, and then managed to sit in some peace and quiet and watch it.Wow.A perfect 1/2 hour of television, no matter what the medium. The story moved, the look was unique, the dialogue, the framing, the voices... were all perfect. TV has come a long, long way....I sure hope this becomes a series.Kudos to Mike Mignola, Dark Horse, the team that did this gem, and sci-fi channel.Now...give us ...MORE :)