History Film / Headless

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's never made obvious what kind of mental diagnosis the killer has, but he spends most of the film mute, even in his childhood. And his mother and sister appear to think there's something wrong with him mentally. He does display a clear psychosis, as evidenced by his hallucinations of the Skull Boy. He also shows traits of sadistic personality disorder, seeing how he laughs as he mercilessly hacks his victims to pieces while they're alive.

* AmbiguousDisorder: It’s never made obvious what kind of mental diagnosis the killer has, but he spends most of the film mute, even in his childhood. And his mother and sister appear to think there’s something wrong with him mentally. He does display a clear psychosis, as evidenced by his hallucinations of the Skull Boy. He also shows traits of sadistic personality disorder, seeing how he laughs as he mercilessly hacks his victims to pieces while they're alive.

** [[spoiler:Slick Vic, Jess and Betsy’s slimebag boss who sexually harasses his employees. He gets hacked up offscreen.]]

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: [[spoiler:Once he captures them, the killer tries to force Jess to kill Pete, who she’s been constantly at odds with throughout the film. But the two finally and sincerely profess their love for each other. It doesn’t make any difference, however, as Pete is killed with Jess to follow shortly after.]]
* AxCrazy: The killer, and you’d better believe it! He hallucinates a young boy with a skull mask that points him to his targets; dismembers and mutilates his victims while they’re still alive; and clearly doesn’t have a good grasp on reality in general.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Betsy, Pete, and Jess have all been slain, [[KarmaHoudini and the killer continues to evade any sort of comeuppance for his crimes]]. And it’s '''''very''''' likely that he’s only going to keep killing.]]

* ExploitationFilm: Given its lurid focus on gore and sex (including necrophilia), it definitely qualifies. It also utilizes {{retraux}} 70s grindhouse aesthetics, such as film grain and trailers for movies just as absurd and violent as this one (i.e. ''Wolf-Baby'').

* FinalGirl: [[spoiler:Subverted with Jess. She’s assertive and intelligent, but nonetheless, gets her head chopped off at the end.]]
* FreudianExcuse: From his flashbacks, it’s pretty clear that the killer didn’t just become a violent misogynist overnight. It took years of neglect and abuse from his mother and sister, who kept him in a cage like an animal, only being allowed to eat the severed heads of animals and being sexually harassed by his sister.
* GenreThrowback: Marketed as "the lost slasher of 1978," it utilizes a 70s horror aesthetic. Although gore-wise, it’s got more in common with 80s slashers.

* MommyIssues: Doesn’t even begin to describe the killer’s childhood.

* PsychopathicManchild: Seeing how the killer is driven to murder by hallucinations of a skull-headed child and is prone to waking up crying whenever he has dreams of his abusive childhood, and continues to sleep in the cage that his mother kept him locked in, it’s pretty safe to assume that he hasn’t completely moved on from his childlike state of mind.

* SilentAntagonist: As per usual for masked slasher villains. However, he does [[EvilLaugh laugh]] as he’s chasing and cutting up his victims. The Skull Boy is this, as well, although the chattering of his teeth is used in place of actual speech.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Downplayed. While the killer certainly had a miserable and traumatic childhood that transformed him into a psychotic beast, it’s really difficult to sympathize with him when he goes out of his way to kill innocent women horribly and enjoy it.
* YouMonster: Seems to be everyone’s favorite insult for the killer. From his mother up until [[spoiler:Jess.]]