There are various ways by which to be entertained by films that aren’t really that good. Inebriation and jokes are perennial favorites, but once the booze and friends dry up, there’s gotta be another solution. Working to understand b-movie fair as art probably gets people through a few features. But after spotting some boom mics or off set paraphernalia at the edges of the frame, that outlook becomes difficult.

It’s not as common, but easily more fulfilling, though, to find some soon to be stars (or past ones for that matter) working in cut rate movies. And while there aren’t too many chances to glimpse the second Marilyn Munster outside of 1313 Mockingbird Lane, The Incredible 2 Headed Transplant is one of them.

Released to an unforgiving public in 1971, the feature finds Marilyn Pat Priest taking on the role of Dr. Girard’s wife. It’s worth mentioning that Bruce Dern portrays the doctor, all fresh faced and willing to tackle any role, apparently. But while Dern wound up going on to become the bigger star, Priest was only a few years removed from The Munsters. The intervening time must not have been filled with screen roles, big or little, seeing as the majority of the film’s run time finds Priest tied up, acting as if she’s incapable to taking care of herself, or just gardening.

The character’s persona might be tied to the era from which the film springs. While it was the beginning of the ‘70s, there remained a stringent perception of what women should be up to. Fighting ghouls probably wasn’t one of them.

Either way, Dern’s character is given over to his work in the lab, leaving Priest to make friends with the ground’s keeper and his dullard son. Everyone’s relatively lovey-dovey over the first twenty minutes or so. But with the escape of a crazed criminal everything falls apart. The bad guy’s eventually killed, but Dern’s character sees fit to use the corpse in his experiments, which largely focus on soldering disparate body parts together.

Of course, Dern’s ‘research’ necessitates another body – thankfully, that slow witted kid is around. Chopping everyone up and sewing ‘em back together, Dern’s experiment is a success, apart from the fact that the criminal’s mind is easily able to coax the farm boy into just about anything – including random acts of violence. And that’s why the transplant is so incredible. What ensues is a litany of offenses.

Moving to cement the film’s place in time as an almost ‘60s’s relic is the inclusion of a few bikers camping out with their collective mama. As the 2 headed monsters swaggers towards the camp, viewers should be aware of the fact that mama may well be in peril. As bikers, though, a fight involving a chain being levied as a whip ensues with an unsurprising outcome.

The Incredible 2 Headed Transplant’s conclusion isn’t a shocker either. Bad guys can’t go on living forever in a world that’s been created by some writers. But with the film’s final image, maybe viewers should have been looking out for that art stuff the entire time.