Studio: The Horror Collective
Director: Jesse O’Brien
Writer: Jordan Waller
Producer: Judd Tilyard, Jayne Chard
Stars: Jordan Waller, Kathryn Wilder, Helen Dallimore, Kevin Harrington, Stephen Hunter, Don Bridges, Madelaine Nunn, David Adlam, Gregory J. Fryer, Gary Sweet, Kerry Armstrong
Review Score:
Summary:
A bumbling butcher and an arrogant actress stumble upon a small Australian village’s conspiracy when they go searching for their birth mother.
Review:
“Two Heads Creek,” a mildly madcap movie licked around the edges by irreverent cannibal humor, gets its personality from a cast of likable and unlikable weirdos describable with words like eccentric, quirky, and kooky. There’s also a loose “Shaun of the Dead” vibe over the atmosphere. Not in terms of story or comparative quality. Rather, “Two Heads Creek” exists in a similarly sideways world whose scattered splatter is colored by cartoon fantasy without going over the top into total absurdity.
Norman lands first on the list of the film’s dizzy denizens. He’s a bumbling British butcher who was never really good at grinding sausage. It’s just the family business he was forced into by his recently deceased mother Gabriella. Their meat store was never particularly welcome in the neighborhood either. Troublesome teens and cantankerous coots wishing to “keep England English” regularly remind Norman he’s a “Polish prick with a baby’s dick” by dousing his windows in dog poop.
Norman’s fraternal twin sister Anna got out a long time ago. She became an arrogant actress whose current cover girl assignment is an ad campaign for a laxative with the crudely clever tagline “I pity the stool!” She’s back for the moment though. Norman is hosting a wake for their mum and since pennies are tight, his chilly butcher’s block makes a perfect place to display a corpse in repose.
Anna and Norman receive a shock when they learn Gabriella wasn’t their mother after all. A woman named Mary from an off-the-grid Australian village called Two Heads Creek gave them up for adoption without a whisper as to why. So the siblings set off for a jaunt down under to track down the truth behind their birth.
The wack pack population increases by a literal busload when travel plans put Norman and Anna on a tour with glammed-up guide Apple, grimly gruff driver Apari, and a gaggle of Vietnamese travelers. Reaching their destination multiplies that number again. Two Heads Creek’s rural residents include fuzzy and fugly folks like Apple’s sweatily strange son Eric, her mute daughter Jayne, an angry old man with Tourette’s, bathrobe-wearing Hans, and enough side-eye starers to make any outsider feel unwelcome.
The twins receive another surprise when they’re told Mary died the day before they arrived. That doesn’t smell right to Norman. Factoring in everyone’s unusually skittish behavior, Two Heads Creek seems to be hiding a sinister secret. Norman is prepared to get to the bottom of this apparent conspiracy. However, he isn’t as ready to deal with the family tree fallout once he discovers how the town stays stocked up on meat without a single farm animal to be found.
“Two Heads Creek” doesn’t leave many outstanding bones to be picked in basic categories like photography, performances, and the like. It’s edited to maintain a brisk stride that’s too tight to trip. Interior and exterior settings are as eye-catchingly colorful as the characters. Each actor contributes to an eclectic ensemble whose overall charm can collectively cancel out individual instances of aggravation or annoyance.
If you still can’t get into the cast, you can distract yourself with a lookalike game where you identify which notable name someone reminds you of. Jordan Waller could be a Chris Hardwick clone. David Adlam vaguely resembles Will Forte. I can’t think of the gentleman’s name nor recall a title he’s appeared in offhand, but Gary Sweet looks so much like someone specific, I initially thought it was the other actor on the poster.
“Two Heads Creek” rolls around in a lot of muck played for mirth. Gags go for gross-outs both verbal and physical as severed penises flop around, incestuous intimations are made, and bestiality sources a joke or two. Such references are played for shock value laughs yet are arguably handled as tactfully as possible. Or as much as seeing an old man licking his lips while ogling an oinker’s backside and squeezing a lube tube can be presented tastefully I suppose.
Race-based humor approaches dangerously dodgier territory, although it specifically comes from characters created to be xenophobic. “Two Heads Creek” has a strange fascination with anti-immigration agendas that aren’t always skewered with sharp satire. “Gay” gets used as a slur too and other bits targeting ethnic groups can have a mean edge that might make some viewers understandably uncomfortable.
It’s not all lowbrow humor however. Most of it is, but not all of it. “Two Heads Creek” makes maximum use of its Aussie backdrop by covering classic cultural clichés like boomerangs, cricket bats, marmite, beer chugging, even “Crocodile Dundee” callbacks. Comedy branches out beyond the cannibal theme as well. Upon seeing the garish rouge and eyeshadow on her dead mother, Anna remarks, “who did her makeup, Liza Minelli?” A choreographed musical number adds another off-kilter aside as the movie moves swiftly from one setup to the next with the manic energy of a mouse on cocaine.
Too crass to be considered cute or heartwarming, “Two Heads Creek” still puts a light, bouncy spring in its step. This evens out into a generally pleasing tone that’s consistently whimsical even when the material takes on a darker bent.
Based on the crisp quality of technical execution alone, “Two Heads Creek” starts its grading at three stars out of five. Its final score comes down to how much the humor hits your personal funny bone. You may add up to another full star if the comedy turns out to be your cup of tea. You may want to deduct one, even two, if you turn up your nose instead.
NOTE: There is a mid-credits scene.
Review Score: 60
At least the movie only runs 70 minutes, though I suppose that extra 10 technically disqualifies it from being a literal amateur hour.