Amazing Screw-On Head
Synopsis
In an alternate view of US history, the Amazing Screw-On Head (under the command of Abraham Lincoln) fights the wicked Emperor Zombie and other occult forces who'd see America (and by America, we mean the world) brought low.
Cast Who Count
Screw-On Head (voice of Paul Giamatti)
Emperor Zombie (voice of David Hyde Pierce)
Mr Groin (voice of Patton Oswalt)
President Abraham Lincoln (voice of Corey Burton)
Old Maid(s) (voice of Mindy Sterling)
Patience the Vampire (voice of Molly Shannon)
Release Information
Year: 2006
Censorship Rating:
Overview
God bless the internet and the potential it brings. As a test to see if "Amazing Screw-On Head", an animated series based off the work of the same name by Mike Migola, the pilot episode was made available online to see if it would generate interest (the pilot is no longer available at the original site, but I watched it on YouTube.com).
Alarms sound at the Museum of Dangerous Books and Papers in 1862 - there has been a security breach. Soldiers converge on a room where a Professor (Professor Fruen, to be exact) and his maid are gathering papers... but unfortunately for the Professor, the maid is the spy the soldiers are looking for. Confronted by the soldiers, the maid turns into a werewolf and starts taking the soldiers apart... until a metal clad flamethrower soldier takes her on. However, with support from another maid and a crown-wearing chimpanzee (both wielding machine guns) the werewolf / maid decimate the soldiers and escape with the Professor on a hot air balloon. The news of the abduction is wired to Abraham Lincoln. His reaction: "Get me Screw-On Head!".
Lincoln contacts Screw-On Head [who I'm going to call SOH for short] and they discuss the Kalakastan Fragment - an untranslatable text that tells of Gung the Magnificent, who wielded a "melon-sized jewel" of supernatural power. Professor Fruen was abducted with the Fragment by Emperor Zombie's hench-maids and hench-monkey. SOH volunteers for the job and gets his man-servant Mr Groin to help pick out a body (SOH just being a head at this point).
Mr Groin asks about SOH's history with Emperor Zombie - Zombie used to be SOH's manservant until he was consumed by "forbidden knowledge"... oh, and Zombie has killed all of SOH's man-servants since he's gone evil. SOH heads off to Marrakesh to follow a lead on Professor Fruen.
In the lair of the informant who provided the lead, a horde of rats form a throne for the arrival of Patience (a vampire). She sets out to kill the informant, only to be stopped by SOH.
Flashback: 187 years previously, Patience and SOH are in love... until Patience is abducted by a vampire at the behest of Emperor Zombie.
SOH and Patience banter until Patience tries to escape by changing into a bat; Mr Groin captures her in a cage.
Emperor Zombie interrogates Fruen over the Fragment - Fruen plays a little loose with his knowledge so Emperor Zombie literally smokes Fruen in a giant hookah to learn everything that Fruen knows.
In the oval office, SOH tortures Patience with sunlight to find out where Zombie is. Lincoln is concerned that SOH is going after a personal vendetta, but SOH assures Lincoln that he is being professional. "America is depending on me, and by America I mean the world!" says SOH. Mr Dog (a dog and SOH's other servant) picks up a scent off Patience and SOH sets off.
Emperor Zombie (with the old maids in tow) finds the Temple of Gung and uses the Fragment's incantation to open it. Inside he finds the undead Gung (who catches a few bullets for calling Zombie a "foolish mortal") and the supernatural powersource. Initially disappointed with it - "it's not a jewel; it's a dirty old piece of crap" - it turns out to be a turnip with a small parallel universe inside.
Up above, Mickey the Monkey is on guard duty with a machine gun. He opens fire on some moving grass - investigating, he finds a heavily wounded Mr Dog, but gets brained by Mr Groin with a blackjack.
SOH (with a caged Patience in tow) interrupts Emperor Zombie's attempt to open the turnip. SOH and Zombie banter - Zombie: "You went on and on about how sweet the candy was, then told me not to put it in my mouth and got angry with me when I did." SOH: "If by candy, you mean ancient forbidden evil then yes! I told you not to put it in your mouth". SOH threatens Patience to stop Zombie but (over Gung's protests) the maid opens the turnip. A huge demi-god emerges and promises "horror".
SOH tries to stop the demi-god and gets stepped on - his body shattered, he manages to activate a distress beacon. Emperor Zombie starts discussing the best way he can serve the demi-god in his plans to take over the world. Mr Dog appears as a distraction (catching some bullets from Emperor Zombie - that have no effect - and gets stepped on by the demi-god - which is more effective) while Mr Groin gets SOH. Before Emperor Zombie can enact his "petty vengence fetish" against SOH's man-servants, a button gets pressed that explosively summons a new, better armoured body. Mr Groin makes a throw that gets SOH into his body - his first call is to save Mr Groin from Zombie.
SOH then goes on to fight the demi-god - the battle damages the ancient walls and starts letting water in. After pinning the demi-god, SOH has his body self destruct, which forces the demi-god back into the turnip. The temple starts to collapse - Mr Groin and Mr Dog (all better after being squished) escape, but SOH is trapped underwater by falling debris while Emperor Zombie is dragged to the watery depths by the remnants of SOH's body.
On the surface, Mr Dog and Mr Groin think SOH is lost... until Gung brings SOH to the surface with him. SOH is happy that Zombie is vanquished and indicates he'll start trusting him man-servants again. The moment is interrupted Mr Dog catches and anchor the hard way and is abducted by Patience.
Lincoln congratulates SOH on a good job. SOH indicates that Gung says the North American continent holds the remains of "civilisations with strange technologies". Lincoln is worried that the Confederates would undermine any operations they might hear about - SOH says such actions should hide under "the auspices of spurring western migration". Lincoln signs the Homestead Act and SOH is "coming for you, America!".
Comments
Although it started off a bit slow in the pilot, "Amazing Screw-On Head" shows a lot of promise. The voice acting of David Hyde Pierce is fantastic and absolutely nails the character of Emperor Zombie as someone who is evil in a charmingly goofy way. The rest of the cast acquit themselves well and the animation is pretty good (I'm willing to put down some animation flaws due to watching it online, in a reduced format).
I certainly hope "Amazing Screw-On Head" gets picked up, because it shows a great deal of potential as a cult geek cartoon. It shows a lot of imagination and humour along with being something different - a great combination. As a bit of an aside, I think "Amazing Screw-On Head" shows a lot more potential than Hellboy as a body of work. While I like the Hellboy graphic novels, I find that I like the mythos behind it more than the characters. The use of Lovecraftian horrors of the beyond just waiting to destroy us all or adaptations of existing myths / stories in the Hellboy series is what interests me - I find Hellboy to be the Bruce Willis of demon fighters: a funny brute who punches his way through his problems. He has a place, but I don't find him interesting (and please don't email me to disagree - please save all your Hellboy-related complaints until I review the "Hellboy" movie). But Screw-On Head? Funny, quirky and with a lot of unexplained backstory, involved in alternate US history? HIM I like. As I said before, I hope this is a series that gets picked up.
Connection to the Source
I know that there was an Amazing Screw-On Head series / graphic novel at some point, but never got around to looking at it seriously because, at that time, I thought it looked like a pretty lame idea. A guy with a screw-on head... what would he fear? Hats and neckties? However, if the series was close to the cartoon (and I have to think it would be, given Mike Mignolo's involvement in the cartoon) then Amazing Screw-On Head is definitely something I'd have to consider reading. If the cartoon series does it picked up, I'm sure that Dark Horse would re-release it to cash in help encourage greater awareness of the Screw-On Head work.
Rating
Funny, original, action packed and something that you (probably) haven't seen before). Good stuff!
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