When I was a kid I remember these super creepy novelty heads that when the tie was pulled down would spit water, blink their eyes, and laugh while their tongues moved in and out. My aunt had the clown variety and it spooked me out but pretty much every version was high on the uncanny valley scale. To this day I often think about them again and have considered picking up a vintage head from eBay but as of yet I haven't pulled the trigger due to the prices and the fact that even if I did buy one I doubt I would even display the thing anywhere and for fear of mentally scaring my daughter in the same way I was.
THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER (1982) was not a scary movie. It was a swash-buckley, over the top action-adventure covered in a big orange mound of Velveeta. All the gals wore ridiculous wigs and were often topless, and all the dudes wore loincloths and were often flogged. Something for everybody!…
Hi! I've always been an avid reader, and as a kid in the 80s I devoured YA/Children's short horror fiction anthologies by the dozen (obviously, Alvin Schwartz's SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK were at the top of the list!) I still have a handful of them, but I'm…
I was about 14 years old. Â I used to babysit the kids who lived across the creek from me. The creek was large enough that I had to canoe across it, maybe 40 feet wide and about 6 to 7 feet deep. Â I babysat these kids regularly, sometimes as late…
Thanks for this excellent traumafession, PopcornMonster! I swear I saw a movie that featured one of these heads recently but I can't remember the title… Anyway here is a clip of a Laffun head in action…
popcornmonster
4 years ago
Still thinking about picking one up from eBay. Problem is the working ones, with the spitter functioning can cost more than $100 so I'm still on the fence about it. I love classic scary kitsch though. I am also the proud owner of one those nightmare-inducing cymbal monkeys and one of these creeps would compliment him nicely.
Thanks for this excellent traumafession, PopcornMonster! I swear I saw a movie that featured one of these heads recently but I can't remember the title… Anyway here is a clip of a Laffun head in action…
Still thinking about picking one up from eBay. Problem is the working ones, with the spitter functioning can cost more than $100 so I'm still on the fence about it. I love classic scary kitsch though. I am also the proud owner of one those nightmare-inducing cymbal monkeys and one of these creeps would compliment him nicely.
popcornMonster, we have one of those monkeys on our mantel! It's the centerpiece of the living room!
You can see one of these in the Robert Altman film "3 Women" (and Sissy Spacek even laughs along with the toy doing a creepy imitation)
How have I never seen one of these abominations before? They're like a fever dream in a box!