Meet the Hollowheads

The recent discovery of this 1989 jewel of cinematic bizarrity for less than 4 bucks on Amazon.com makes it worthy of mention. The story takes place in an alternative dimension, or dementian, where everyone works for United Umbilical, a mysterious corporation that delivers everything by means of tubes. The sets and costumes are garishly colored, cartoonish and surreal: Leave It to Beaver and the Jetsons on (bad) acid. Juliette Lewis was 16 when she did her turn as teeny-bopping party girl Cindy Hollowhead, and the horror/comedy/sci-fi plot transpires on the night her father Henry (John Glover) invites his boss Mr. Crabneck (Richard Partnow) to the Hollowhead house for a home-tubed meal. The lingo and slang of the tube-fed world add to the goofy off-kilter comedy: Pipe-polisher, pipe-squeak and tube-reamer are used as terms of denigration or endearment; butt polish and softening jelly are contraband party enhancers. When Mr. Crabneck turns out to be a sex-crazed, nearly indestructible monster, the Hollowheads rally for a frenzied finale that is both horrific and hilarious. For weirdos only.