THE AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD

History gets badly fractured in THE AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD, from the same guy who brought you "Hellboy", Mike Mignola.  Somehow, President Abraham "Honest Abe" Lincoln has a special agent he can call on when the Forces of Evil rear their collectively ugly head, Special Agent Screw-On Head.  Who is, not surprisingly, a robot.  With a screw-on head.  And in this case, Screw-On Head has been dispatched to stop the fiendish Emperor Zombie and his cohorts--werewolves, tommy-gun-toting monkeys, the elderly, and the queen of the vampires.  They're out to conquer the world through the occultic powers of a melon-sized jewel.

Now, if you're somewhat like me, and God help you if you are, you might have caught this exact same episode running back when the Sci-Fi Channel was running its first disastrous season of WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO?; don't even get me started on "Feedback".  But anyway, this little gem showed up a couple times, and I was starting to wonder--start of a new series?  One shot deal? What? 

Consulting the comic book that comes with the video reveals that this is in fact the pilot for a TV series, but if there will be future episodes of the Amazing Screw-On Head, that's out of my bailiwick.

Though I really hope there are...this single pilot is roaringly comic and highly unique.  Frankly, I've never seen anything like this, and I'm glad to have seen it again. In a world where the Homestead Act is merely cover so that a robot with a detachable head and threaded bolt-like neck can investigate alien technologies without drawing the notice of the Confederacy, it's pretty much anyone's guess as to what will happen here long-term.  And that would make for regular surprises and a constant flow of innovation.

The special features include storyboard comparisons, a featurette on converting the comic book to a cartoon, and trailers for TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES VOLUME 6, THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, and HAPPILY N'EVER AFTER.

All in all, THE AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD was a joy to behold, packing an alarming amount of surprises into a tiny twenty-two minute package.

RATING: **** (out of four)

Comments

[FearScene]

This sounds GREAT! I'm going to have to pick this up. I'm not sure how I missed this but I'm sure I'll like it. Paul Giamatti is one of my favorite actors and this sounds like the perfect role for him. I sure hope there will be more episodes of The Amazing Screw-On Head. I wonder if there is anyone we could contact to try and persuade them to make more episodes?