Isn’t the head in the pan movie The Brain That Wouldn’t Die?
Roger Corman’s The Undead comes to mind. As does Treasure Island w/Jack Palance as Long John Silver – a bad movie that made itself worse by having Jim Hawkins side with the pirates at the end.
Speaking of Mr. Palance,
Hawk the Slayer is another “so bad it’s
almost good” film starring him. It’s a 1980 fantasy film full of cheesy special effects (including, I kid you not, weaponized
silly string), characters who are either flat and wooden or who’ve joined Jack in eating every piece of scenery that is not nailed down, “special” guest star actors who would only be recognized by those familiar with the
Carry On… films, a soundtrack that came straight from a pretentious prog-rock album (quoth Kevin Murphy: “For those who didn’t think there could be a Yingwe Malmsteen of the panflute, I invite you to feast your ears…”), and half the scenes looking like album cover shots for said pretentious prog-rock album.
The plot, such as it is, involves Hawk, played by a forgettable actor, swearing vengeance on his brother (Palance’s blatant ripoff of Darth Vader, never mind that there has to be 30 years’ worth of difference in age between the two) for killing their father (who looks like he could pass for Palance’s
younger brother) and his fiancee. He has to “get the band back together” (the band here being a less than impressive giant, a wise-cracking dwarf who ends up being the only intentionally entertaining character, and an elf who has the voice of Spock and the archery skills of Robocop programmed by Mike Jitlove, all three of them the last of their races) so that they can save the abbess of a convent from the clutches of Palance, who is holding her ransom for 2,000 pieces of gold that he needs because… the plot demands it.
They’re aided in their quest by Magenta from
Rocky Horror, whose entire direction seems to have been “act mysterious and possibly afflicted by emphysema” and who hijacked Zod’s prison from
Superman, and W. Morgan Shepard, as another stop-motion archery prodigy.
Much of the action is heroic sociopathy often filmed at angles and frame compositions guaranteed to leave you scratching your head as to what the heck is going on. And the less said about the final duel between Hawk and Palance, the better.
And they’re thinking of making a sequel.