HEADHUNTER

CONTAINS SPOILERS AND GET ON WITH IT

Nothing to do with the upcoming Norwegian thriller Headhunters (which is supposed to be rather good), nor the genuinely mind-boggling Kannibal which is shortly to be foisted upon a largely unprepared UK populace under the title of Headhunter; this is a rather stupid late 80s horror/cop quickie which really isn't very good but it musters up just about enough energy and silly grue to carry it over the atrocious writing and spectacularly annoying characters, not least of which is the star turn from the hero of the rubbish Jake Speed (remember that one?).

Much of Headhunter takes place in Miami but it actually kicks off in Nigeria where a ritual sacrifice appears to unleash some kind of shapeshifting demon thingy that derives its power from ripping people's heads off. Cut to Florida where a similar ceremony again unleashes the same thing that's tracking down those who fled its appearance in Nigeria: cops Kay Lenz and Wayne Crawford (the latter suffering a spectacularly aggressive marital breakdown which is frankly all that he deserves as he's an idiot) are on the case as headless corpses keep turning up, including their chief suspect. But as it's a shapeshifter that can take the appearance of anyone, how will they know when it comes for them?

Too much time in the opening third is spent with charmless ignoramus Crawford and his collapsing marriage to June Chadwick; not enough spent on the horror element which takes too long to kick in. There's not a vast amount of gore - it's only a 15 - but the effects at least prosthetic and optical rather than unconvincing CGI, and it's fair enough entertainment when it does get going. But too often it goes back to the tiresome station full of cops (including Steve Kanaly out of Dallas!), all of whom are dongs and dimwits and none of whom are even slightly interesting. Kay Lenz and the occasional effective moment aside, this really isn't worth your time.

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