Headless Horseman is a 2022 film produced by The Asylum. As I tend to state every time I’ve reviewed one of The Asylum’s releases, just the mere mention of that production company’s name is often enough to elicit strong reactions, both negative and positive, depending on the viewer. As the company has built its reputation on a long line of low-budget schlockers, many not-so-loosely based on other popular intellectual properties, the thought of films such as Snakes On A Train, Transmorphers, Mega Piranha (still one of my personal favorites of their films), Atlantic Rim, and the infamous Sharknado series tends to polarize genre film fans, with just as many cheering as there are jeering.

However, the days when a new release from The Asylum could be prominently found each weekend as SyFy’s “movie of the night” or littering the shelves of your neighborhood Blockbuster are now pretty much a thing of the past. As such, new releases tend to garner much less attention than they once did.  While new films are readily available on today’s over-abundance of streaming sites, they tend to get buried and overlooked in the wide sea of titles made available by each of these individual providers. Pick any site, search any random word, and see how many viewing options you are given. It can be sensory overload at times, and it’s so incredibly easily to overlook something that might appeal to you.

Then again, do fans even still want to watch these films? Has the heyday of the schlockly, CGI-laden monster-masher passed us by, for better or worse? As a director that I follow on social media has stated, “you can’t give these films away now.”

As for this film…

 

Headless Horseman was written and directed by Jose Prendes, who also directed or scripted (or both) other Asylum releases, including Countdown: Jerusalem, The Haunting of Whaley House, Mega Shark Vs. Mecha Shark, and 2024’s Monster Mash, starring Michael Madsen. Headless Horseman was released to VOD sites in October of 2022, and can currently be watched for free (as of the time of this writing) on Tubi, which you should know by now is my favorite of all the streaming platforms.

Simply put, Headless Horseman is The Asylum’s attempt at making a Ghost Rider movie, with a few hints of The Crow* thrown in. Once again, this information may be all that is needed by some readers to determine if Headless Horseman is a film that they would consider watching, but I’m going to continue on with this review anyway. It’s not like I have better things to do with my time, as evidenced by some of the films that I choose to review.

*The ill-fated couple in Headless Horseman, Brandon and Sofia, share the same first names as the actors that played the ill-fated couple in The Crow, Brandon Lee and Sofia Shinas.

Meet Brandon (Nic Caruccio – 2021’s Age of Stone and Sky: The Sorcerer Beast, 2023’s The Hitcher Girl) is a young man deeply in love with his fiancée, Sofia (Amanda Jones, whom you can see much more of in Full Moon’s The Resonator: Miskatonic U). On a late-October evening (as evidenced by the multiple Halloween decorations visible in the background of numerous scenes), Brandon is shot while trying to protect Sofia from her ex-boyfriend, a violent drug lord named Angel (Ethan Daniel Corbett, who also appears in Monster Mash). You see, Angel didn’t take so kindly to Sofia leaving him, and now plans to settle that score by using the girl as a drug mule.

 

With his dying breath, Brandon cries out for help. That “help” soon arrives in the form of the Devil himself, here played by a crimson-suited Michael Paré (Eddie and the Cruisers, Streets of Fire). In exchange for his soul, ol’ Lucifer grants Brandon supernatural abilities, turning him into a motorcycle riding “spirit of vengeance”, albeit one with a flaming jack-o’-lantern for a head and not a flaming skull. With these new “gifts”, Brandon is given 24 hours to exact his revenge and rescue the woman he loves. There is one caveat to Brandon’s new powers, however: He will occasionally need to feed on human blood. Ehh, no biggie.

Unfortunately for Brandon, his bargain with the Devil is witnessed by one of Angel’s men, a former junkie named Fleck (Sean Whalen – The People Under the Stairs, Twister). Fleck informs his boss of what he overheard, but Angel naturally assumes the man to be high off his ass. Of course, Angel discovers that Fleck was telling the truth once Brandon arrives at the abandoned warehouse that serves as Angel’s operation, having learned of the location after dispatching a couple of street-level dealers. Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III‘s Kate Hodge makes a brief appearance during this sequence as one of Angel’s associates. 

After doing away with a few more superfluous henchmen and thugs, Brandon finally confronts Angel. However, as the villain is allowed to escape unharmed, this proves to be just the first of multiple confrontations between Angel and the Headless Horseman, most of which lead to nothing of note. Eventually, Angel concocts the idea of moving Sofia to the grounds of a church some hours’ drive away. The hope is that not only will Brandon waste some of the 24 hours that he has been given just trying to reach the girl he loves, but that once he arrives, he won’t be able to step foot on the holy ground anyway.

REVIEWER’S NOTE: It should probably be mentioned that the character is never once referred to as “the Headless Horseman”, which really seems like a missed opportunity given the film’s title and the main’s character’s design. Granted, this is just one of many opportunities that the film arguably missed.

As previously mentioned, what should have been the final confrontation between our hero and antagonist turns into multiple confrontations, dragging out for nearly a third of the film’s runtime. Unfortunately, nothing of real significance happens during most of these moments, killing the film’s pacing. Eventually, a switcheroo of sorts takes place, presenting another character as the film’s true hero. While this is a somewhat intriguing direction to take, and one that finally provides something to the film that can be considered “emotional weight”, in doing so the filmmakers essentially depower and demystify their titular hero. Just as confusing, the film ends with a half-assed attempt at opening the door for a sequel or possibly even a series. In addition to feeling forced and/or tacked on, the decision is sure to raise a few eyebrows as not only has this tale reached its logical conclusion, but there’s solid argument to be made that this origin story wasn’t all that compelling to begin with.

While neither of the two Nic Cage-starring Ghost Rider films were all that great, Headless Horseman surely doesn’t come close to surpassing either of those films. Performances are generally respectable, with possibly the exception of the film’s lead, Caruccio, whom I found to be fairly lacking in charisma and conviction. Meanwhile, Corbett, who clearly seems to be enjoying his role, exudes a malignant charisma as the psychotic Angel. That said, dialog tends to be very heavy-handed at times, so the actors may not have had the best material to work with.

Ultimately, the biggest flaw that I found with Headless Horseman was that it was frequently quite dull. Despite featuring a few fight scenes, all of which are highlighted in the film’s trailer, the action always felt contained and small in scale. No, I don’t expect The Asylum to release something that rivals the multi-million spectacles that Marvel Studios release (nor do I really want them to), but I also shouldn’t frequently feel like I’m waiting for things to really start happening.

 

While this is probably nothing more than a small personal gripe, I do feel that maybe too many scenes took place during daylight as the flaming pumpkin head would have been more visually effective when presented against the backdrop of night. Also, the fact that Brandon rides a motorcycle is quickly forgotten, thus robbing the film of any potential action sequences on the bike as well. Even the character’s need to drink blood feels like an afterthought.

In a final note of observation, I would like to jokingly comment on the near-obsessive use of RGB lighting found in Headless Horseman. One may rightfully question just how much of the film’s budget was spent on this choice of lighting as they are frequently and prominently used at the end of hallways, outside windows, and in the interior of every single car featured in the film, which is a surefire way for drug dealers to draw unwanted attention to themselves.

As my social life seemingly died out sometime in the early 2000’s, I spent many a weekend night happily watching whatever cheesy CGI-monstrosity SyFy threw at me. While I do miss this period of time, it’s hard to deny that the audacity of The Asylum’s films has lost its freshness. Headless Horseman did little to rekindle that flame. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a “bad” film, this jack-o’-lantern just doesn’t shine too brightly.

Headless Horseman is rated TV-MA on many sites, but the film is incredibly tame, featuring little to no blood/gore or nudity. As such, it’s really quite safe for younger fans who quite possibly might enjoy the film more than I did. That said, I can assure you that had the 13-year old version of me that spent many hours reading Ghost Rider comics watched this film, he’d probably be pissed. 

WARNING: Trailer does contain spoilers