Product Details

• Actors: Stephen Galaida, Robbie Shapiro, Mark Janis, Mark Lampert, Jon Bavier
• Directors: James Bai
• Writers: James Bai
• Format: NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Vanguard Cinema
• DVD Release Date: December 7, 2011
• Run Time: 81 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000R5NZ3W
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,041 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Puzzlehead" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Set sometime "after the Decline", in a world of no-place, this Hitchcockian story of an android, painstakingly created in the likeness of his maker, is a Frankenstein fable for the millennium. The dark and eerie world of Puzzlehead is one where betrayal, deception, and murder lurk just beyond each twist and turn of this meditative plot. Special effects wizardry and sure handed direction drive this tour de force thriller by first time director/writer James Bai in this unusual and very strange tale of love, passion, and the conflict between man and machine.This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unique take on Frankenstein, August 12, 2007

By 

Brendan M. Howard (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Puzzlehead (DVD)

Puzzlehead's body is android as imagined by 1980s sci-fi, with fake skin and metal innards. But in a new twist on the Frankenstein myth, Walter uses his own psyche as the software on Puzzlehead's mental hard drive. The two are equally inhuman in the movie's first scenes, but as Puzzlehead starts to experience some of Walter's emotions, he becomes the character we sympathize with. What did Walter build him for? Does it have something to do with the beautiful, but unhappy Russian woman who owns a shop down the street?

It does. The old Frankenstein plot, where the Monster takes out his jealousy and anger at the good Doctor by murdering his beloved, gets a twist here, too. Both android and android maker fall for the same girl. But it's only natural--they're two men with the same brain.

While the twists are fairly predictable, and Galaida's twin performances seem more than artfully flat, Puzzlehead is a fascinating, new look at an old fable. Writer-director Bai's interest, however, is clearly in the art of the endeavor, not the philosophy. Expect to be wowed by the world and the visuals, not so much the plot.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ingenious, low budget, sci-fi, May 4, 2008

By 

W. Leonard - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Puzzlehead (DVD)

Worth watching more than once to admire the planning that went into this film. Definitely Frankenstein inspired, as the cover review states. The movie does so much entertainment with so little resources--like 'Clerks', but with an ingenious plot. I gave it five stars instead of four because of what was achieved despite its economy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars PUZZLEHEAD -> Essential Cyberpunk, August 17, 2009

By 

Sean Curtin (Warners Bay, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Puzzlehead (DVD)

Puzzlehead was an amazing movie considering the low budget nature of the film.

What I found most striking was how well this movie shows that good Cyberpunk can be made on a low budget.

Cyberpunk is simply the eventual evolution of humanity, whereby we make the leap to incorporate artificial devices into our own bodies. It's already been around for many centuries in the form of jewelery and tattoos in some sense, but now more than ever the true Cyberpunk is starting to emerge. Dependence and even an accepted social desire to incorporate technology as part of our being. Take for example the revolutionary mobile phone, wearable computers, Ipods, electronic clothing, more and more advanced watches, personal torches, bluetooth devices etc. How long do you think it will be till people decide to skin graft a mobile phone(using better transmission mediums than RF energy transmission), into there skin? Already there are studies into biological data transmission. The ability to transmit data simply by shaking someone elses hand. This technology exists now along with organ cloning.

Is that a scary thought? I don't believe so at all. In fact it's anything but. Imagine organs were allowed to be commercially grown. It would spell the death of illegal organ harvesting.

Puzzle head is a movie about the ultimate in human creativity and imagination. For centuries man has contemplated the idea of making machines think, behave and even feel like a human beings. It would simply be one of the most amazing if not ultimate achievements. Robotics and Cybernetics fascinates people such as myself as it is an area where we discover just how incredible we are. The complexity of creating hardware to allow a machine to think and make decisions is simply daunting. There are so many possibilites to acheive the same goal, yet only limited hardware to make the idea work. Hence all robotics ends up being a compromise. So too does any device to aid organic machines(in other words our very own human bodies), yet slowly but surely advances in articicial eye sight, power assisted limbs and mobility vehicles becomes a reality.

Puzzle head is a slow movie that may not appeal to viewers who look to Cyberpunk for a thrill ride, however it does have some really great moments if your a technologist and can look past the budget special effects(which to be honest really suited the sets (main a large house), that most of the movie takes place in.

The story also highlighted the possibilities of what happens when a being becomes sentient and able to think for itself. How to have freedom and then have it taken away from you, will change you. Also how parents must feel when there children come into the world.

Puzzlehead starts as a dumb robot but over a long period of time begins to learn, think and even feel. Eventually it's as if Puzzle head is more human than his creator.

This movie is in short some of the most excellent in Cyberpunk movies I have ever seen. Sure it will not compete with Blade runner for scope but I give it 4 stars for achieving a great story with a lot of thought provoking drama on a tight budget.

This movie spells great hope for those like myself who wish to make great movies but want to do so through thoughtful story writing that will work with what's around them.

Terrific Cyberpunk and essential viewing for anyone who is a fan of robotics, cybernetics or artificial lifeforms.

Superb SciFi,
Sean A. Curtin
(Spaceresearcher)