Customer Reviews

The Bighead

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The Bighead is one of those mutant in the backwoods tales that screams to be glorified on film. I can already feel the cheese crawling off the movie version with barely restrained anticipation.

As typical with Lees more masterful pieces, this is a disgustingly gruesome, gross, violent, barf-inducing tale that the squeamish must stay away from at all costs. Only those with strong stomachs and iron wills should pick up this tasty morsel.

The Bigheads grandpappy dies, and so Bighead heads out from the lower woods to find The World Outside, what his grandpappy always talked of. He is called the bighead because of his hydrocephaly: a head shaped like a watermelon, one eye the size of a grapefruit and the other the size of a tennis ball, an awl shaped mouth filled with jagged sharp teeth, and a low intellect that understands nothing but eating and mating, neither of which Bighead does daintily.

With Bighead headed towards The World Outside, Charity Wells was heading back towards the town she was born in, a tiny place called Luntville nestled in the Appalachian mountains, heading home to be back with her dear Aunt Annie. Advertising for a ride share, she makes the journey with Jerrica Perry, a journalist assigned to write a four piece in depth article about the Appalachians. Charity and Jerrica both have problems, of an exact opposite nature. While Charity cannot seem to ever reach a second date with a boy, Jerrica is a sex addict who cannot stay with only one man, and who is never satisfied.
The two girls stay at Aunt Annies boarding house, Jerrica starting on her article and Charity catching up on old times with Aunt Annie.

Also staying at Aunt Annies is Tom Alexander, an out of the ordinary Catholic Priest who has been sent by the Richmond Diocesan Pastoral Center to re-open the Wroxeter Abby. Once a hospice for terminally ill priests, the church had decided to reopen it as a rehab center for the priests who were accused of alcoholism, gambling addictions, and pedophilia. Tom is out of the ordinary because he does not follow the typical beaten path that one would expect of a priest; he smokes and drinks and cusses. Once a Army Ranger, a killer and rapist in the name of war, he swore off all his previous evils and became a priest. Tom is also a psychologist, which makes him the perfect choice for the task of establishing the rehab center. It also gets him and his embarrassing behavior out of the limelight of the church.

Add in a couple of absolutely pustulant local boys named Dicky Caudill and Tritt Balls Conner, who run moonshine over the state line and terrorize anyone who crosses their paths. Literally terrorize them; rape and murder are as common to Tritt as breathing. There are no holes barred with their depravity and viciousness.

Take two pretty girls with problems, a renegade priest, two local human monsters, an odd Aunt with a past, a weird little cemetery, a haunted abbey, a bizarre lake, and an inhuman monster trekking cross country towards Luntville, stir them up all together and you have Lees The Bighead. Add rape, murder, vomit, poop, disfigurement, dismemberment, cocaine addiction, sexx addiction, dirty little secrets, and a handyman named Goop Gooder, and you have an un-put-downable, gruesome read that will leave you both satisfied and disgusted. Despite how abhorrant the content is, Bighead is very well written and the storyline flows like a smooth river of blood, and there is some interesting artwork preceding each chapter by Erik Wilson. The Bighead is a five star nightmare that will leave you reaching for your barf bag. Enjoy!

Splatterpunk God Edward Lee has won the tag line "The Grossest Book You'll Read!" for his novel "The Bighead." Forget "not for the faint of heart" and replace it with "better have a strong stomach." I'm embarrassed to say I laughed at something so completely depraved, since there is NOTHING sacred in this book, but it's so over the top it's down right funny at times. From the priest carrying on with the nympho prostitute and the 2 nuns with "unusual" fetishes he brings out of his dreams, to the hillbilly murderers who provide the most graphic scenes, to the Bighead, a hydrocephalic headed, never been washed, seven-foot tall, monstrosity who kills, maims and eats the brains of the locals, and the Luntville locals with secrets themselves, Lee hits them all. If you're looking for gross-out violence, hillbilly satire, sadistic sex, gore, and some great dialogue and characters, check out "The Bighead."

Urban legends come in all shapes and sizes and most, as we all well know, are based on an inkling of truth. It is, after all, the movement of information that produces misinformation, the passing down of tales that turns travesties into things that children scoff at before they journey off to sleep at night. The Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, they are all one and the same: myths based on fabrications and also on the real. So, when Jerrica and Chastity, visiting a small town in the middle of nowhere, hear the story of The Bighead, a man-beast that devours brains and ravages the living, they laugh as well, knowing that this cant be truth. Sometimes, however, it is that shred of understanding, that cognitive portion spun into something seemingly nightmarish, which is truly of the most fiendish variety.

In The Bighead, Edward Lee decides to pull out all the stops, trying to produce a tale about, amongst other things, a beastly creature that stalks the higher woods on a journey toward understanding and toward fulfillment. After the death of its grandfather/keeper, it has found itself aimless, directionless, killing in the most depraved fashions but, at the same time, empty. It wants to know what lies beyond, in the realms its grandfather told it to avoid, so it begins wandering. And thats when it hears the voice that keeps saying one thing to it. Come.

Herein, Edward produces a quality monstrosity, unleashing it on an unsuspecting world as it enjoys a variety of interactions that are amongst the most wretched types. Because of that, I was pleased. I was also pleased by some of the other characters as well, namely a priest that believes that profanity isnt a sin because it is communion and that also thinks that he sees and speaks with, and a few odds and ends that they inflict on others  in the most gruesome manners. After a time, however, many of the characters and the things that plagued their lives, the little bits that should have made them stand out, began to bore me. For instance, with Jerrica, the uncontrollable libido in human form, there was a constant reminder of what she liked and what she wanted to do, to the point that my mind began fanning through pages to get to the reason behind the story: The Bighead. Other people followed the same methods as well, especially a pair of rurally-challenged killers roaming the land and killing between moonshine runs, with the horrific beginning to wear down and no longer shock this audience. Instead, the comparison of the human monsters versus the mysterious beast began to make me sometimes wonder when the true beast would emerge.

That said, the ending of the book was interestingly odd and The Bighead and Charity, our human main character that seemed without purpose for most of the tale, began to play roles that were somewhat twisted. The Bigheads plight, that of being unsated in the realms of pleasure, found themselves manifesting ends and, despite the fact that many people died that had been worked on for so long without so much as a whimper, I found myself reading on and on. Why? Because there was a curve in the pitch and it hooked my gaze.

For anyone thinking of reading the book, I am of a mixed mind in recommending it. First, Ill have to say that some of the book is pretty disturbing, crafting a lexicon of deeds that would make many quiver while journeying forward. Second, I feel I have to note that there is a repetition of ideas, that the hammer must strike the nail more times than I could contend with, and that this may cause of page skimming. Third, the beast itself, it may not be everything you might want from a monster and, in the end, it may disappoint you. That said, there are a few reasons to read it, namely if you are an Edward Lee reader already, if you want something that is overly graphic and just keeps giving and giving, and because the ending is interesting. If you arent accustomed to the gore classification in books, perhaps you should begin somewhere else. If you are a new reader to Lee, you should also try another book on for size first, easing into the waters before going here. Otherwise, The Bighead might getcha!

As a collector of Horror and Sci-Fi fiction, I have made it a point to either own or at least read almost everything that is released, especially a book considered controversial, taboo or what have you. I read this book in a few short hours and felt I had to finish the book in order to find any redeeming quality in this highly touted author's work. Only to realize that once again, Mr. Lee does not fail to disappoint.

I have no aversion to gore, visceral or otherwise, to graphic depictions of sex or violence and feel able to view this book objectively. And like so many other works by this author, the plot line is tired and weak, the "surprise" revelation at the end is mindless and not the least bit interesting. At the price of any copy of this book, including the original chap book, I can say without hesitation, save your hard earned dollars.

There are so many incredible works, by a myriad of authors being released that even if this book is ever released in an affordable mass market paperback, I would continue to think this book a waste of time.

If you like graphic depictions of sex and violence, or 'taboo' subject matter but better written, then do yourself justice and chose any number of works that are much better crafted. Authors like Clive Barker, Caitlin Keirnan, Karl E. Wagner, Ed Bryant, Robert Bloch, Joe Lansdale, Burroughs and to a lesser extent even Christa Faust, Richard Laymon, Lucy Taylor, Ray Garton, Brian Hodge, Ballard and many others, have a more consistent and sometimes noteworthy body of work with very strong themes.

I have read numerous works be both Edward Lee and Jack Ketchum. Both of these authors until recently, have only apppeared in small print runs or limited editions and therefore come at much higher cost. By the simple fact, that I own hundreds of exclusive or small press editions by various authors and publishers that are well worth the expense, I can say with certainty that with both Lee and Ketchum, it's a gamble. Mr. Ketchum has written a few well-crafted tales notably 'Off Season' and 'Hide and Seek', but Mr. Lee has provided far fewer books that are worthy of their inflated cost. So buyer beware.

These books are hyped far beyond being cutting edge, new or original and I rarely find anything in any book self-described as contoversial, never before seen, uncensored or previously unreleased etc.., as anything deeper than a simple advertising ploy.

This is the most disgusting book I've ever read. I had to put it down several times because it was too soon after meals. It is so gross and so shocking that it is in a class by itself. I loved it. Not for everyone.

Of all the horror novels Ive read in the past 20 years (and thats a whole hell of a lot), this sick puppy will always stand out as the most extreme. This was the first Ed Lee novel I had read (now I pick up everything I can afford by him), and I'd been told that he was even more wicked than Rex Miller or Jack Ketchum (wich I found hard to believe, until I was 3 pages into THE BIGHEAD....). Reading it is almost like the first time you saw Evil Dead or Re-Animator, just being awe-struck that someone has taken the horror genre to this splattering chunk blowingly woderful extreme. It is so gawdamn over the top that at times it is as hilarious as it is revolting. If your already a fan of Ed Lee, I can't recommend this highly enough, and if you have not read him before, but have a strong stomach and a dark sense of humor, this is totally worth checking out. Edward Lee is the top of the rotten heap when it comes to extreme horror!

I am a huge Lee fan. I haven't read a story of his that I have not loved. He is one of the premiere names in Splatterspunk and The Bighead is his most Hardcore work to date. It is the most Vile, Gut Wrenching, Twisted story I have ever read, and I loved every minute of it.

The story had me drawn in from the first page. Lee has a writing style that grabs your attention early, and before you know it the Sun is rising and your legs have fallen asleep. It seems like that happens to me every time I read one of his stories. I could not put the Bighead down.

I have only read a few stories that made me queasy, but The Bighead literally had me gagging. I thought I was going to loose my lunch on a few different occasions. There was a particular scene that permanently ruined me on Fresh Water Clams. I will never been able to eat another one as long as I live.

I recommend The Bighead to anyone who thinks their shockproof. I can promise you that you have never read anything like this. The Bighead will stay with me for a very VERY long time.

Five Stars

Now I love the word 'cornholin' as much as the next guy, but after 200 pages or so, you get a LITTLE worn from it. Still, even though Lee's splatterspunky images permeate the book, I thought it worked. Example of same sort of thing I felt DIDN'T work: CRASH by ballard -- i got 100 pages in and threw it down, exclaiming, 'if ONE MORE FINGER SLIDES TOWARD ONE MORE PERENIUM .... ! ' which of course many more did, and so i finally just quit over halfway through the book.

Lee, however, does wacky things like ... provide interesting characters, and a weird mystery (Geraldine, I'm sorry!) that I kept thinking I had figured out. usually I don't do this, i simply read along. but i thought i had it all deduced, and then WHAMMO, ed hit me over the head at the end. apparently in the author's preferred version, the last 20 pages are significantly 'conceptually' different. i'm really curious what the original is like, since those 20 pages were my favorite. usually a climax lets me down a lot; this one was nothing like that.

dunno if i'm commenting on CONTENT here really. hmm. let's see -- rape, murder, disgust, but also faith and devotedness all play a part. and sex. lots of sex. and some things i don't think are physically possible.

i'll admit, i flinched a couple of times (the whole urethra thing ... ouchie).

overall, a very fun book. enjoyable, and i read over half of it in one sitting i was so engrossed. or just grossed. :)

I simply had to write a review here of warning, since this book is not inexpensive. I wouldn't have minded spending the money if it was AT ALL worth it, but I'm sorry to say this book was simply silly and boring. I actually threw it in the trash after reading about a hundred pages of it. Basically it vascillates between three different small tales all tied together. Two "Deliverance-type" characters who make their living running moonshine and have their fun having sex and murdering, two women from the "big city" and a deformed Appalachian young man with a big penis, hence the name Bighead. I like gore. I like gross if it's well-written and intriguing. This is just plain stupid. I can't tell you how it ended, because it was just so dumb and boring that I had to throw it out. Please don't waste your money.

This book is horrible. Not horrible in a boring sense, but in a "only a psycho would come up with this crap" sense. Let me preface by stating that the book is well written and holds one's interest; it's just that much of the content is very disturbing. For example, even though the book is about a monstrous creature called the Bighead, we must follow the exploits of two evil men who kidnap, rape, and murder countless women in torturous ways. Why? And what does this have to do with the Bighead? And the parts pertaining to the Bighead himself are just as sick, "crossing the line", so to speak. Even though I don't want to give anything away, I feel that only an example can convey my point: In one scene a young woman is bathing in a stream; a woman who happens to be 9-months pregnant. The Bighead rapes her, which causes her death by internal bleeding (because of the huge size of his member). He then sucks the baby from her womb, and since she was so far along, the baby is born alive. As he holds the crying baby in his hands, he decides he wants to eat baby brains and proceeds to do so by biting into the infant's head. Even though I enjoy horror, that is just too much in my book.

I really do not recommend this book to anybody. The only reason I give it 2 stars is because it was well-written and certainly not boring. But the horrendous content won't allow me to rate it any higher than that.