The low-budget love affair I have with the state of Wisconsin continues. From Winnebago County comes the film that brought a tear to this trash lover's eye. The city of Oshkosh used to be known as the home of OshKosh B'Gosh but now I'll only recognize it as the birthplace of Swamphead. Just one more thing to love about the Badger State. The flying and floating severed head of a master swordsman wrecks bloody havoc when a schlubby Wisconsinite removes a dagger he finds at the bottom of a swamp. The ancient knife isn't in his possession long when the homicidal noggin comes a-calling and tears him apart with its teeth. Checking out the crime scene, a "young" slacker named Steve absconds with the cursed blade and puts a target on his back. Unfortunately for Steve, his best friend Marty, his gal Megan, her mentally handicapped brother Haun and her friend Nastalgia, their weekend camping trip in the woods is about to become a massacre. Every last one of them is easy pickings for the demented dome thanks to Steve snatching the knife. A local crackpot/paranormal investigator is in the area tracking some weird signals and knows the history of Swamphead. Even better, he knows how to kill it. But before the final confrontation we'll be getting violence to genitals, masturbation, man boobs, crapped pants and an Elvis impersonator. There's... a lot going down. Genuinely hilarious and bursting with enthusiasm, Swamphead is a must for anyone who has fallen hard for the regional horrors of the past. Names like Polonia, Schiff and Schnaas we're constantly running through my head as I grinned like an idiot. I usually have no patience for films of this ilk. Intentional camp has never been something that tickles my fancy and mostly comes off as forced. No such problem with Swamphead. The cheap (and charming) special effects, reaction shots mismatched to dialogue and oddness of the script work perfectly. There's no posing, there's no winking and nudging, there's just the warm fuzzy feeling of lunacy and appreciation. The shit and dick jokes may cause your eyes to roll but it's forgiven immediately when a floating head flies across the screen and rips the throat out of a man in a wig. See it.
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