The Head

In the 1959 B horror film "The Head," a brilliant but reclusive scientist, played by Howard Duff, is on the cusp of a groundbreaking innovation in medical science. After years of tireless research and experimentation, he has successfully developed a serum that keeps a deceased animal's head alive and functioning. The serum's implications for human medicine are staggering, and the scientist is eager to proceed with human trials. However, his assistant, who appears to be unstable and possess a dark obsession with his mentor, dies along with the scientist when he has a heart attack in his laboratory. The assistant's body collapses beside his, leaving only his head propped against the back of a chair. As fate would have it, this unexplained event leads to an unexpected sequence of events. When news of his death spreads, a group of mourners including his assistant, later discovered to be a physically disabled yet clever individual, rush to his side. After being overwhelmed by grief, the disabled assistant becomes emotionally unstable, eventually leading to a series of irrational acts. The individual ultimately cuts off the scientist's head and steals the serum. With an obsessive grip on the scientific work that he was unable to see through to completion, the assistant sets in motion a twisted plan that would utilize the doctor's head as a means to help him achieve his goal. His intention was to create a new body for his hunchbacked nurse, a woman with a condition that has left her severely crippled by her physical deformity. By using the doctor's preserved head, he intends to experiment with a procedure that would involve grafting the head of a more able-bodied individual onto a body that can move freely, thus creating a new, unmarred being. This would give him the chance to correct his hunchbacked nurse, and, by extension, redeem himself. Using his own dark ingenuity, he takes the scientist's detached head and continues working with his research. Throughout the experiment, he uses the doctor's intellect and knowledge to advance his research in a twisted way. While using the scientist's research in such a manner, a darker aspect of the assistant's personality surfaces. He develops a sinister connection with the head that once belonged to his now-dead scientist. Meanwhile, a local detective becomes increasingly involved in the matter as several inexplicable murders start to occur. As these gruesome events unfold, the assistant's behavior becomes increasingly erratic, reflecting his deepening psychological instability. The assistant grows increasingly isolated as more and more he develops an almost symbiotic relationship with the deceased scientist's head. In the end, the assistant's obsession results in the doctor's gruesome demise. His dark ambitions culminate in failure, however, due to a combination of his own psychological instability and the detective's persistence. The police officer manages to thwart the assistant's plans, ultimately saving the town from a fate worse than death.