Uncle Peckerhead Review

August 20, 2020 at 8:46pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a horror film that follows a band on the road. This is their big moment, the group has decided to go all in. They’ve quit their jobs, put together a demo for a local big shot and are headed out on the road to do a tour. They are a tad tight on money however, and are trying to find a way to replace their recently re-possessed van.

Luckily, they meet this strange yet nice older man named Peckerhead (David Littleton) that happens to have a van. Things go alright for a bit, and he acts as a bit of a roadie for the group. That’s when the truth of his van life is revealed, and he’s actually a bit of a cannibal demon of sorts. That might sound like a lot of information, but it’s really context that kicks off this tale.

A lot of this is dealing with the news, and coming to terms to a degree that this guy consumes folks. There are of course surprises throughout this, and I most certainly promise that nothing too spoilerish has been covered here. It’s purely the setup to understand the just of where this story is headed. It’s got some really great moments, quite a bit of humor and presents one wickedly twisted tour.

You’re never sure where things will head, and they do truly embrace the horror elements. On top of that, a nice layering of gore that’s very well handled. It’s visceral and delivers with some rather grotesque scenes. Those are also varied as well which was surprising, they were always coming up with new ways to show this creature get unleashed.

For the most part I quite enjoyed the band group as well, each distinct and very weird in their own ways. I also loved their general reactions to what was going on, they were basically all over the place in that regard. This was largely headed by Judy (Chet Siegel) and her dealing with the monstrous demon roadie.

She does carry things, and was a fun personality to see in action throughout. I thought this had some really neat locations to show off, intense gore as I had mentioned prior and it was well shot. I liked the look of the scenes, and how well they framed those darker moments. It’s particularly chilling towards the conclusion of this one to follow that note, they frame it just right there.

I also enjoyed the music the group played, it was distinct and fit in with the style that this band had going for it. It’s neat how that was also an important part of this. This was largely about the band getting their start, and struggling with it. They mixed in some folks getting eaten, and hit the horror marks for sure.

The Conclusion

Uncle Peckerhead is a lot of fun, and a really great horror film that surprises in many ways. I found it to be delightful. That was the case whether that was with the quantity and variety of gore presented, or in the band functioning as an actual performing group. They had a good balance here with musical segments, and points where folks were getting munched on.

It’s definitely got a twisted sort of humor to it, that hit just the right mark for me. I was pleasantly surprised by its many twists, and just how dark it actually was willing to go. I think there’s a nice level ambiguity here as well.

I like when horror films are able to pull that off, as it makes them feel just a tad darker. With that, it’s definitely a great watch. It has many elements that come together in just the right way for a good time. It’s certainly unique, varied in the type of content it presents and straight up messed at times which works for its benefit.

Uncle Peckerhead Review at Home with Streamed Viewing
Screening Provided by Route 504

Rating Overall: 8.0