2
(nothing substantial)
2
(sex, nudity, violence, lots of gore, and non-stop strong language)
2
(see it only to make fun of it)
"Headcrusher" is also known as "Broken Skull." So what can I say about this movie? Well, there's low budget and then there's NO budget! Seriously, I made movies in high school with my mom's video camera that had production values that rival the ones here. If I'd had someone to do makeup and found a good enough location I'm not exaggerating when I say I could have made this movie (not that I would have, mind you).
As best as I can tell here's the plot: a gangster catches his wife playing naked cowboys and horses with another guy and offs them both. He crushes the guy's head in a vice. Evidently the guy was part of some experiment that infected him with a virus that reanimates corpses (kinda Resident Evil-y but without the outbreak I suppose, though why it doesn't reanimate the guy actually infected is never explained). A construction worker finds the guy's shattered skull buried in a wall some years later.
The worker (now infected I suppose though we don't get clued in to that notion until much later) bashes his own head to pulp then runs around as a presumably undead corpse killing people in a haphazard combination of whoever he happens to run across and a calculated revenge trek focused on the thugs that killed the first poor idiot.
If that summary is less clear than mud it's because little of the story itself makes sense. I mean the killer is infected by a virus not the spirit of the dead guy so why would he care about avenging the murder? And even if he did care how could he have as much knowledge about it as he does? And if you can get past that, if he’s out for revenge why pause to kill random teenagers? If he were possessed by a ghost a lot more if it would make sense, but the movie makes it clear that we're not dealing with a case of possession.
Much of the acting is comically bad although surprisingly not everyone completely sucks. The effects are so bad they're worth seeing which really can be said about the whole movie. I actually stayed entertained throughout, but it was more like a car wreck that one can't seem to turn one's eyes away from.
Morality
This is a flick that relies heavily on shock value. There is a great deal of violence and blood throughout. Often the effects are more silly than gruesome, though.
There is also a great deal of strong languiage with F-bombs thrown around like prepositions.
There are at least 3 scenes of sex or sexual acts that involve no nudity. One guy gets his wedding tackle bitten off though all we see of it is the woman's head in the proper position and some blood splatter (along with a so-bad-it's-funny chomping sound). There is some hot and heavy kissing and petting between two guys, but it never advances to sex. There is one other sex scene that involves a topless woman, and a different scene offering a shot of a guy's bare butt as well as a brief glimpse of his nuts and bolts as he jumps into bed.
Spirituality
As I've already said there is no supernatural element here although the killer is treated as if he's possessed by the spirit of the murdered man. It's little more of a depraved romp through murders presented as entertainment.
Final Thoughts
Don't go spending money on it, but if you are the type to love to laugh at terrible movies then this one is worth the effort should you stumble across it (as I did) in a pack of random movies. If you actually want to watch something with some merit go elsewhere.
Buying Guide
As far as I can tell "Broken Skull" is available on VHS as “Headcrusher” and on DVD only as a part of a couple of low-budget movie collections.
You can get it as a part of the Afraid of the Dark 4 pack or the Night Chills 10 pack.
The Afraid of the Dark set appears to offer the exact same quality as the Night Chills presentation. Both sets also offer CreepTales, which, in my opinion, is the only reason to buy either one of them.
Final Recommendation:
So do you want 3 other movies with it or 9? Both sets are pretty cheap and contain lots of other crappy movies.
The version I saw came in a 10 pack called “Night Chills.”
Video
1.33:
This is the TV standard “full-frame” ratio. The quality is grainy, fuzzy, and otherwise rough-looking.
Audio
2.0 mono:
The quality is bearable, and that's the best I can say about it. The main complaint I have is that towards the end we get some very loud screaming followed by some very soft dialogue and back to loud screaming. I had to turn the volume down, turn it back up and rewind to hear the dialogue, then turn the sound down again.
Packaging
The set has each disc in a multi-tray plastic case. You can read more details about the whole set in the Night Chills (10 pack) guide.
Extras
There are none.