I just read a post on Facebook by a guy who really hated HEAD.
I mean REALLY hated it....
"Go find yourself a movie called HEAD (not the Jack Nicholson-produced Monkees one) and if you haven't destroyed your surroundings in shear, blind, frustrated rage like a steroid-fueled gorilla in a Samsonite ad by the end and somehow still have faith in humanity as a species to give it a pass cuz, hey, it's got puppets in it, then you'd last longer in Guantanamo than me. It's a movie that fails on so many levels, I wouldn’t dare give it a third grade "aww, you tried award" because I'm not entirely sure it even did that."
I kind of want that on a plaque on my studio wall...
This guy didn't just hate the flick he probably lost sleep over it, holy shit, hahaha...
Normally this kind of thing I laugh at. He obviously missed the point of the film.
A straightforward B-Horror film in the style of the late 1970's/early '80's that could have been down with (bad) actors but instead done with puppets. And I feel like he was looking for high art, or a Muppet movie. Or at least something "more".
I'm not upset he didn't like it. But I'm actually surprised he would attack it so hard, especially since I know the guy, and even went out of my way to screen a film he was part of at the old Paris In Plantsville gallery for the Connecticut Guild of Puppetry.
His flick was pretty much the same as HEAD, but not horror/comedy but a crime/comedy... Puppets dropping F-Bombs, doing bad things, and getting killed... And that's why I'm not laughing too hard at the moment. His post really seemed to be aimed at "Happytime Murders" for being so close to the project he had worked on (and screened at Paris). And he isn't wrong. They are very alike. But why drag you fellow local puppetry group and film makers into your vitriol? We had nothing to do with "Happytime". Hell, "HEAD" was shot and released over there years ago at this point.
He mentions in the same post how it's human/puppets and the puppets are lower class citizens, and so on... How his flick and Happytime are similar like that, feeling ripped off... And, yes, I am paraphrasing. Hell, his show was in 2011. "Josh and Todd" was shot in 2008/9 and released in February of 2011 and I didn't say his flick stole the idea when we met.
It's an old idea...
Greg the Bunny did it. Even the Muppets had hints of it.
Relax.
Enjoy that fellow artists are bringing the art you love to the masses.
Then work on doing the same with yours.
I'll laugh real hard later though. Don't worry about me.
What I don't find funny is that I did something nice for him.
And for an organization he is a part of. And I did it for free, being told the favor would be re-paid.
And as of yet years later, the favor has not been.
Maybe now is the time for me to call that favor in?
So...
Wanna see what he hated so much?
Love it or hate it - HEAD is available HERE
And heres's a picture of me the night of the premiere of the film back in 2015.
You can see I am smiling. Surrounded by some awesome people that helped make the movie happen.
I'm smiling cuz we did it. We made a crazy movie people said couldn't be done.
A movie that has played festivals worldwide and won awards in the process.
I movie I am proud of.
Sorry, I'm not a bitter asshole. Just gonna keep making movies with puppets.
Cuz I love it!
Kids, be careful who you spit on. Someday you may have to answer to them. Or even worse, not have the opportunity to because they saw what ya wrote on the internet.
