The Deathshead Virgin

This movie had potential, for sure, but sadly falls short in everything you can imagine. It involves a sunken vessel found by divers. Inside, there’s a treasure... and the skeleton of an ancient princess in chains. When the chains are removed, the skeleton becomes a naked girl in an ugly witch mask. People on a nearby island begin to die and getting scalped, and the natives suspect that the age-old curse of the Deathhead Virgin is to blame. When Frank (Jock Gaynor) dies from this Deathhead creature, his girl Janice comes to claim the body (Diane McBain, who’s really hot).
This is the point that the whole movie goes to the shitter. The film already suffered from pedestrian direction and very bad acting. Jock Gaynor and Larry Ward (who plays Frank, Janice’s brother) are your typical seventies studs: boring, badly tanned and with bad hair. Janice herself, while hot, can’t act. The third act has a reveal which is very similar to a Scooby Doo episode. WARNING: SPOILER! It turns out Janice and Frank planned all along to kill Frank so that they could get the treasure, using the Deathhead Virgin legend to their advantage. It’s as ridiculous as it sounds.
So was there anything positive to say about this film? Well, the locations and beaches are beautiful, and made for some very nice shots. The underwater photography are the best scenes in the film. It’s obvious that most of the budget went to the use of these scenes, with heavy contrasting blues and greens. Then there’s the Deathhead Virgin creation. After the whole Scooby Doo twist, she ends up actually showing up and taking care of our villains. No logic behind this, she’s just there. I’d like to see a new movie based on this, since the creature truly is inspired and original: A nude woman with an ugly mask. Yes, the mask is cheap, but still, it’s so original and so refreshing to actually see a female monster that I would have accepted it. It’s a shame they decided to resort to something so bad. It’s too bad kid, you could’ve been a contender.