Head of The Family (1996)

It's amazing what you can just stumble across on Shudder.

I'd just finished one "time-filler" movie and up popped in the "also available" offerings: Head of The Family, a Full Moon film I'd never even heard of before but clearly inspired by the legendary cover story of DC Comics' Black Magic issue one, from 1973 (see below).

Although no acknowledgment is made in the credits the similarities are staring you right in the face!

Now, the 1996 movie is from Full Moon so you know it's going to be cheap and sleazy, and not one you want your wife randomly wandering in in the middle of (as Rachel did!)

Gangster and drug dealer Howard (Gordon Jennison Noice) is trying to muscle in on Lance's (Blake Adams) diner business, unaware that Lance is having a torrid affair with Howard's stunning wife, Loretta (Playboy model Jacqueline Lovell).

Lance resorts to blackmailing a weird family of local well-to-do mutants, the Stackpools, into disposing of Howard.

Although then Lance gets greedy and tries to scam money out of the peculiar family, only to have the tables turned on him and Loretta.

There's an element of 2003's House of 1,000 Corpses in the way the Stackpool quadruplets are seemingly 'farming' captives in their basement for scientific experiments, and I can't help but wonder if maybe Rob Zombie picked up on this at some point when 'crafting' his first flick about the murderous Firefly family.

The head of the Stackpool family is poster boy Myron (J.W. Perra), a giant head with all the brains and mild telepathic influence over his siblings: the superstrong, but dumb, Otis (Bob Schott); the bug-eyed Wheeler (James Jones), with incredible senses; and the seductive Ernestina (Alexandria Quinn as Dianne Colazzo).

Myron's siblings: Otis, Wheeler, and Ernestina!

You will note that there are only two main female characters in this movie, both hot blondes and both who are required - in Jacqueline Lovell's case nearly constantly - to get naked.

Written and directed by Mr Full Moon himself, Charles Band, Head of The Family is supposedly a black comedy, but while it does raise a laugh every so often that's invariably because you are laughing at it.

Myron's experiments - to find a 'regular' human body capable of holding his mighty intellect - are set up like Chekhov's Gun, and I was half-expecting Howard to make a more dramatic return than he actually did, now 'gifted' with Myron's brain.

But no, that thread was seemingly just there for an excuse to show off some low-budget post-operative patients.

Several scenes, particularly in the final act, go on way too long, such as Loretta's uncomfortable attempt to seduce Myron and then her forced involvement in a play about the death of Joan of Arc... with its expected fiery pay-off.

The whole "blackmail scheme backfiring" is nicely plotted, very film noirish, but, narratively, one of the big issues I had with Head of The Family is that there's no one to root for.

Both sides of the dramatic equation are equally scuzzy and despicable, although I guess, if anything, I felt slightly more empathy for the Stackpools as, despite all their money, they were clearly physically and mentally disabled.

Even the denouement (and this is a mild spoiler for a 29-year-old Z-list schlock movie) has Loretta taking advantage of the mentally ill Otis.

In a strange way, I'm glad I discovered Head of The Family - for its vague connection to a comic book that's near and dear to my geeky heart - but beyond that, and the swathes of skin on display, there's very little to recommend this shoddy old movie.

I've talked before about my early exposure to comic books as a young kid, namely the Fantastic Four in British reprints and discovering The Flash and Shazam in a newsagent's spinner while on holiday on the South Coast.

But there was always one other comic book cover that has stuck with me - possibly from the same time I found those comics in a seaside newsagents back in the early 70s.

All I could remember was the picture... and the pun. However, in 2013, thanks to a magnificent retro comic book blog, Rip Jagger's Dojo I was mentally reunited with the first issue of DC's Black Magic (dated November 1973).

I suspect it was probably early '74 (or it could have been late '73, I suppose) when I saw this comic. I was about seven at the time - and either mum didn't approve or I was too chicken - but I didn't pick it up.

However, the "head of the family" pun stayed with me.

I'm pretty certain that anyone who knows me will see that my dark sense of humour is perfectly encapsulated in this image and I think it's fair to say that it was possibly a bigger influence on me in my formative years than I realised.

I still regard it as one of the greatest visual gags ever. Over the years I've recycled it in roleplaying games and awkward social occasions (and probably will, again, in the future).

Thank you, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby!

Soon after encountering Black Magic #1 on Rip's site, I tracked down a reasonably-priced copy (thank you, eBay), and it now has pride of place among my gallery of framed covers in the lounge.

My framed copy of Black Magic #1 from 1973

Annabelle - Creation (2017)

It's the little things that can make a good movie.

During the first act of Annabelle: Creation, before the expected ghostly horrors begin, Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman) is sharing a photograph of her fellow nuns and, at one point, she tilts it at a certain angle and, briefly, a face appears in the shadows of the picture, lenticular-like: it's Valak (from The Nun and The Conjuring 2).

It's never mentioned again, never referenced, but it's a marvellous Easter Egg tying this film - beyond the presence of its titular antagonist - to the wider Conjuring Universe.

Director David F Sandberg (who also directed Shazam!) makes great use of light and shadows in this creative origin story for the demonic doll, Annabelle, that far exceeds her disappointing first 'solo' film for scares and coherence.

Written by Gary Dauberman (who was also responsible for Annabelle, Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun, IT: Chapter Two, and developing Swamp Thing for DC Universe), Annabelle: Creation sees melancholic, former toy maker, Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and his bed-bound wife, Esther (Miranda Otto), opening their isolated home to Sister Charlotte and half-a-dozen orphan girls.

Twelve years earlier, in the mid 1940s, their young daughter, Annabelle (Samara Lee) had been run over and killed, and despite the generous nature of Mr Mullins, there's a definite creepy cloud of gloom hanging over the house.

Exploring a room in the house she was forbidden to enter, one girl, Janice (Talitha Bateman) is attacked in the night by some kind of demonic entity. Already hobbled by polio, this attack leaves her in a wheelchair, and the other girls start to believe her stories of 'ghosts', especially when Janice's behaviour takes a turn for the worse.

Although the climax of the main plot is slightly jumbled, even feeling a bit rushed, overall Annabelle: Creation is tightly scripted and delivers on most counts.

For the most part it avoids cheap jump scares, and instead oozes unnerving, "it's behind you", tension and atmosphere.

Taking a lesson from the first Annabelle flick, director David Sandberg doesn't dwell too long on the static doll, instead drawing the story's terror from what goes on around her.

The all-important "creation" of the central demonic doll is surprisingly interesting and clever (although I don't understand why no one ever suggested pouring a can of petrol over the doll and setting it alight, especially once it became clear how evil it was).

Towards the end of the film there's a nice nod to the "real Annabelle doll" in a sequence that dovetails neatly into the first Annabelle movie.

Besides the fantastic Easter Eggs, a strength of many of The Conjuring Universe movies has been their period settings, and that's ever-prevalent in Annabelle: Creation, with its story eventually spanning spanning three decades.

And, I know I came to this franchise late, but I love the way it really is a "cinematic universe" - in the style of the Marvel movies - with its stories not focusing on a single demonic entity or ghostly group simply repeating the same narrative over and over through unending sequels of ever-decreasing quality and budget.

Black Adam (2022)

Thousands of years before Billy Batson was granted the power of Shazam, the Wizards chose a rebellious young slave in the kingdom of Kahndaq, where a corrupt king is forcing his citizens to mine for the magical Eternium metal necessary to forge the powerful Crown of Sabbac.

Flash forward 5,000 years and Kahndaq is now controlled by the mercenary army of Intergang (a major criminal organisation in the world of DC Comics), but archaeologist Adrianna Tomaz (Person of Interest's Sarah Shahi) has a lead on the location of the Crown of Sabbac.

However, her expedition is ambushed by Intergang soldiers and her only hope is call upon the land's mythical protector... and so ends up summoning Teth Adam aka Black Adam (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson).

Black Adam makes short work of the Intergang army, but in the process attracts the attention of Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) who dispatches The Justice Society (the very first comic book superhero team, from the 1940s) to bring him in.

Without any fuss we are introduced to team leader Hawkman aka Carter Hall (Leverage's Aldis Hodge), powerful sorcerer Dr Fate aka Kent Nelson (James Bond himself, Pierce Brosnan), the delightfully clumsy and goofy Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell).

Not only do the heroes find their hands full when they confront Black Adam, but they find the people of Kahndaq are against them as well, being more inclined to support their home-grown saviour than 'invading' Americans.

Directed by Orphan's Jaume Collet-Serra, Black Adam really caught me by surprise with its superb balance of action and character work.

One of the best recent DC superhero movies, and certainly better than both of Zack Snyder's first two Superman films, Black Adam finally presents a convincing justification for the harder edge that DC films are perceived to have over those of MCU. 

I've always had difficulty getting my head around the idea of Black Adam as a hero - or even anti-hero - because of one particular image that is forever burned into my brain from 2006's comic book series 52 (issue three) ... when he suddenly ripped the B-list villain Terra-Man in half.

The fate of Terra-Man at the hands of Black Adam

But the movie presents a genuinely rounded view of Adam, with his origin story turning out to not be as straight forward as we presumed, that goes out of its way to explain his complex character.

In fact, to my eyes, pretty much everything about Black Adam is perfect, from the set design to the costumes, creating a sense of verisimilitude that makes the film feel like a comic book brought to life.

The film only really goes off the rails slightly in the third act, with the introduction of the demonic villain Sabacc, a visually stunning entity that is sadly devoid of any personality and whose sole purpose is to serve as a punching bag for the protagonists.

There was also a suggestion quite early on that the only thing that could really hurt Adam was Eternium, but that seems to soon be forgotten in all the excitement.

Beyond the obvious Shazam! connection (check out the mid-credit scene in Shazam! Fury of The Gods where Waller tries to recruit Captain Marvel for the JSA), Black Adam has lots of Easter Eggs entwining it in the broader DC Universe of movies and there's even an awkward mid-credit scene here (clearly pieced together from shots of the two characters not in the same room) designed to further cement this.

It's almost a shame then that Warner Bros decided to reboot the whole cinematic shindig under the auspices of James Gunn because with Black Adam (and the far weaker Shazam! Fury of The Gods) you get the feeling that this particular cinematic universe was just starting to pull itself together.

I really want to see Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's Black Adam in action again in the new Gunn'verse, perhaps fighting alongside (a recast) Captain Marvel and other more traditionally heroic comic book characters.

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (2023)

I hope Helen Mirren got paid a lot of money for this because Shazam! Fury of The Gods is a right mess.

There are bits that are great, but also a lot where director David F. Sandberg's inconsistent tone doesn't seem to know if this is a "DC dark" film or a slapstick comedy.

For instance reasonably early on a seemingly decent person is brutally murdered in front of one of the heroes (who, admittedly, is horrified), but this is never mentioned again, even though this was clearly someone that Billy Batson (Asher Angel) would have known.

It turns out that when Captain Marvel (yes, I'm calling him that because that's his name; why would a superhero have a name that he can't say without transforming back into a kid?) broke the staff at the end of the last movie he also rent the barrier between worlds (or something).

This allowed the Daughters of Atlas - Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu), and Anthea (Rachel Zegler) - through to retrieve the two halves of the staff, and stick it back together.

Their plan is then to retrieve a seed from the Tree of Life and restore their godly realm to its former glory. 

However, human-hating Kalypso goes full Khaleesi, riding a massive CGI dragon, and plants the seed in the middle of Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia (home of the Philadelphia Phillies).

Because it's not in divine soil, the tree becomes corrupted and starts sprouting monsters from Greek mythology (manticore, cyclops, harpies etc).

Meanwhile, Captain Marvel's extended family of fellow superheroes keep getting stripped of their powers by Kalypso and the magic staff, and it's left to our main man (Zachary Levi) to face the Big Bad.

After the conflict is set-up in the first act the bulk of this overly long 130-minute movie is a massive superhero slugfest, which only comes into its own sporadically.

While Mary Marvel (Grace Caroline Currey) and Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) have a fair share of the plot and the action, the other member's of Billy's family are largely reduced to space-filling background characters, although young Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman) does step up at one point.

This sequence - which elicited the biggest laugh from me - must have been paid for by the Wrigley Company because the Skittles product placement was off the chart!

I'm not a fan of superheroes having their powers removed or nerfed, even if the reasoning here made more sense than the treatment the Hulk got in the later Avengers movies.

It just feels like a cop-out by the writers, having been given a scenario where there's a team of heroes, why not find a clever way to use them?

For me, one of the unique aspects of the Captain Marvel comics of my childhood was the fact that he had a family of similarly powered heroes, a ready-built team, to call upon.

If you introduce that then take it away, that's an unnecessarily cruel bait-and-switch in my book.

And I realise that Dame Helen Mirren has done big budget action movies before, but I can't help feeling that she turned up, delivered her lines impeccably, took the cheque and flew off of to wherever she likes to hang out and chill.

As awesome as she is in this role, there was no need for a global icon of her stature to play the part of Hespera. 

That said there are standout moments of wit and humour in Shazam! Fury of The Gods, from the youngsters having turned the Rock of Eternity into a proper kids' hangout to the genuinely surprising cameo (see, it pays to avoid spoilers, even this long after a film has hit cinemas) during the film's denouement, and a couple of solid "mid/post-credits" scenes (any appearance by Mr Mind is worth the price of admission... and this was especially amusing).

And matters certainly improve in the protracted beat-'em-up once the Daughters of Atlas start feuding among themselves, and the climactic punch-up between Captain Marvel and the dragon is visually impressive.

Ultimately quite mediocre and not up the potential suggested by the original movie, Shazam! Fury of The Gods suffers from a paucity of story and surfeit of characters, meaning many of the protagonists don't really contribute that much.

Shazam! (2019)

I'm old enough to remember when Shazam was called Captain Marvel and Marvel's Captain Marvel was Ms. Marvel.

Which is perhaps why I had some issues with Shazam! (the movie), even though it is essentially Big retold with superpowers. And everyone loves Big, right?

Even the makers of Shazam!... who acknowledge this obvious influence with a little nod from a giant musical keyboard scene.

Shazam! essentially tells two distinct stories: one about a troubled foster child, Billy Batson (Asher Angel) doing everything he can to find his birth mother.

So driven is he that he runs away from multiple foster homes, and keeps people at arm's length emotionally.

But parallel to this earnest tale of a young man's quest to find a family, we also have the story of Billy Batson being chosen by an otherworldy wizard - also called Shazam (Guardians Of The Galaxy's Djimon Hounsou) to become a 'magical champion'... called Shazam.

Whenever Billy says his name, he transforms into his superhero identity (Chuck's Zachary Levi), gaining the powers of superstrength, invulnerability, flight, speed, and lightning blasts... while retaining Billy's mind.

The problem is though - having removed any mention of Captain Marvel from the equation - Billy can't tell anyone his superhero codename because he will then transform into his alternate identity.

This becomes a running gag throughout the movie, as his 'sidekick', foster brother Freddie Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) - possibly my favourite supporting character in any modern superhero flick - keeps offering unsuitable suggestions.

I realise you could argue this isn't a big deal, but it is if you look at this through the spectrum of comic books - the source material for these movies - where the "superhero identity" is a major element of a hero's "brand".

Shazam! draws heavily from Geoff Johns' New 52 iteration of the character, which reimagined the original wholesome Billy Batson (who you could understand being considered "pure of heart" by a supernatural wizard and deserving of these great powers) into a bit of a brat.

And the thing is, for at least the middle third of the movie, after Billy is given superpowers, he becomes an even bigger brat (as Freddie points out), only really coming into his own once his family is threatened by a similarly-powered individual called Dr Sivana (Mark Strong).

This is, overall, a fun film, which digs deep into the old - and often totally bonkers - Captain Marvel mythology (including the introduction - in the obligatory mid-credits scene - of one of the greatest villains in comics. You can catch a glimpse of him in a very early scene, if you know what you're looking for. I really hope his next live-action appearance can do justice to such a bizarre character).

The central plot - around which the stories of Billy's personal life and superheroic identity revolve - is very linear: bad man gets power, good boy gets power, boy wastes powers, man wants boy's power as well, boy realises how important his powers are, man and boy fight.

Shazam! also falls into that classic old Marvel Cinematic Universe trap of pitting the main character against a dark reflection of himself (Sivana is, here, for all intents and purposes, a 'dark' Shazam, even though we discover later he has limitations that Billy doesn't).

As good as Mark Strong is as the crazed Sivana, this is a bit of a shame given the breadth of exotic and villainous characters the filmmakers had to draw from in the old Captain Marvel comics.

Every so often, when it remembers its Big roots, Shazam! injects some levity into its drama, with Sivana's 'supervillain speech' being a major laugh-out-loud moment.

While it never veers into full Batman v Superman grimdark territory (and their existence is readily - and pleasingly - acknowledged here), there's still an occasionally jarring uncertainty about just how funny this film is allowed to be.

Ultimately, as often happens with comic book movies, it's the potential of what could be done next with the characters and their mythology that turns out to be more inspiring than the actual two-hour film you've just sat through.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Shazam! - despite all its narrative faults (much of which came from its choice of source material), I just can't wait for the inevitable sequel, especially with the introduction of the extended Marvel family (although we can't call them that).

I always loved the fact that Captain Marvel came with a ready-built team, united by familial bonds.

This is one of the things that makes the character special - and enduring - and I really hope that the sequel (and any future films) build on this, as well as digging deeper into the character's crazy rogues' gallery for its villains.

After the over-the-top excellence (and audience appreciation) of Aquaman, I thought Shazam! would have been the perfect vehicle to ramp up the gonzo stakes even higher.

Hopefully, those delights are still to come...

A Quick History Of The Captains Marvel

From the Marvel Family to Mar-Vell to Carol Danvers, this is the history of the Captain Marvels, exploring the fascinating historical relationship between 2019's two biggest superhero debuts, Captain Marvel (starring Brie Larson) and Shazam! (starring Zachary Levi).

The Echoes of Shazam! by Alex Ross

Look Out For The Little Guy!

This morning, Rachel and I exchanged Valentine's Day presents and cards. She had very kindly got me the superb Ant-Man trilogy on Blu-Ray and a pack of Colin & Connie The Caterpillar mini rolls for us to share.

Her wheelie bin-themed card was a stroke of genius as she is always mocking me for my obsession with ensuring the right rubbish bins are out on the right morning. And, of course, today not only happens to be Valentine's Day but it's also green bin day... so winner!

I gave Rachel a mushy card, a pair of biographical novels (Cilka's Journey and The Tattooist of Auschwitz) about life in Nazi concentration camps (not very romantic-sounding, but the genre interests Rachel) and a handbag that she'd been after for a while.

Colin (left) and Mister Mind (right)

While tidying all this up from the dining room table so Rachel could resume her work day, I noticed that Colin The Caterpillar bears more than a passing resemblance to my favourite classic Captain Marvel comic book villain, Mister Mind.

Coincidence, separated at birth, or secret identity blown?

You decide...