Ah two of my favorite things: Full Moon films, and William Shatner’s over the top comedy shtick that no one finds funny but him. You have to love “Full Moon Fright Night,” the 2002 television series that originally aired on the Scifi Channel in America and lasted about eight or nine episodes is finally here to collect on DVD for rabid collectors of Full Moon Fright Flicks, and what collection it is. For the first boxed set we’re given “The Vampire Journals,” “Head of the family,” and “Hideous!” all to the tune of William Shatner and a monster butler bringing us the frights in only the best manner possible a la Joe Bob Briggs.
Shatner isn’t exactly known for advertent comedy so it’s a treat to see him genuinely chewing scenery for these productions while introducing us to Full Moon movies that are quite terrible. Episode one brings us to the foot steps of “Vampire Journals” is very much in the tradition of “Subspecies” as an existential chronicle of a young man who staves off blood lust and pain in Europe as a vampire and charts his existence day by day including facts about his fellow vampires and what occurs in the life of such a being. Shatner occasionally interrupts to bring us a commercial break, but the films remain generally untarnished to the breaks offering their own Full Moon magic that make them terrible to the average movie goer but entertaining to any Full Moon buff.
I can’t say I enjoyed “Vampire Journals” too much, but Shatner did have a good time lampooning vampires and delivering factoids about the film including how the director for “Vampire Journals” ultimately went on to film the “Subspecies” series which should serve as no surprise to anyone who watches “Vampire Journals” as it’s a fairly similar film sans the heavy make up. Episode two brings us “Hideous!” another in a line if miniature terrors films from the man Charles Band that concerns two rival collectors who begin collecting small freakish human beings after they’re discovered in a waste bin by a group of fishermen.
This is one of the more derivative entries in the Full Moon library as the entire dilemma of the collectors and their mutant miniatures is pulled right from “Bride of Frankenstein” where both collectors play veritable Dr. Pretorius’ to these victimized mini-men, all of whom seem ripe for the marketing. “Head of the Family” is one of the more notable titles of the Full Moon Entertainment legacy and what a film it is. This dark comedy examines what happens when a family is controlled by a disembodied head in a jar after a bumbling couple cross paths with the demented zany family. “Head of the Family” is one of the more creative entries of the Full Moon legacy with a firm grasp on the zany, and Shatner has a ball with this title. Among the extras there are interviews with Stuart Gordon, rare interviews with Stan Lee, featurettes about Charles Bands concert tour, and much more, all of which will whet the appetite of any Full Moon fan looking to invest in the episodes of the show. I had a good time with the triple feature and loved what this collection brought to the table.