I chose Uncle Peckerhead for my 22nd film of 31 this month for reasons that may sound familiar if you’ve been following along lately. Namely, I saw the trailer a long time ago and it looked like fun. So I put it in my queue where it languished until now. I’ve been feeling pretty good about knocking these titles off of my queue after letting them collect digital dust for so long! Let’s get into it, shall we?
Duh – a fledgling punk band – runs into a hiccup right when they are meant to set out on their first mini-tour. Their van is repossessed, leaving the de facto leader, Judy’s, tour plan dead at the starting line. Luckily, they meet Peckerhead (his friends call him Peck). He’s an avuncular guy with a van and a willingness to be their driver/roadie. Problem solved! Unfortunately, Peck brings a new problem to the table. Every midnight he turns into a flesh-eating monster. He promises that he would “never” harm them and that he sedates himself so he doesn’t hurt anyone… outside of a few people who deserved it. They push on feeling uneasy at first but then getting comfortable with Peck. That doesn’t last though. His affliction is the proverbial tiger caught by the tail.
Uncle Peckerhead does an outstanding job of building sympathy for the titular monster. Despite seeing him eating people and the gory aftermath of him eating people, we still kind of love the guy. He’s so affable and protective of the band that it’s hard not to. Kudos to the writers and to David Littleton. His portrayal was spot on. Chet Siegal turns in a solid performance too. Her borderline type A Judy is likeable and optimistic while staying grounded. And her ‘mother hen’ beats never detract from that likeability. In fact, likeable is an ideal way to describe this movie. It’s not really going to scare most people but it has some horror sprinkled throughout. It’s mostly just a fun monster movie with some cannibalism (sort of?) and a good smattering of humor. That’s not a ding. I really enjoyed this one. It’s spunky and gets the viewer on its “side” right off the bat.
The Final Cut: Uncle Peckerhead is an entertaining monster movie with an emphasis on fun. Terrific performances and some goopy gore make it definitely worth a watch for horror fans.
No Real Danger 