Severed Ties (1992)

"Severed Ties" begins with mad scientist Harrison Harrison (Billy Morrissette) trying to extract a tissue sample from a mutant reptoid creature. Next thing you know that creature's made a break for it and gotten squashed by an automatic door courtesy of Dr. Hans Vaughan (Oliver Reed), who wants to help Harrison's mother (Elke Sommer) make money from her son's experiments with biological limb regeneration. Then Harrison and dear old mum are locking lips. Then there's a bit of a scuffle between the menfolk and Harrison's arm is severed and he's running around outside, all one-armed and such. Soon enough he's injected himself with his magical serum and his arm has grown back, mutated, detached itself from his body and killed the leader of a homeless cult, of which Harrison then becomes leader. They then begin a race against the clock to perfect Harrison's formula before his wicked mother and sorta-stepfather can. And it only gets better.

This is a bonkers horror-comedy in the spirit of Frank Henenlotter that, while not quite as good as the "Basket Case" and "Frankenhooker" director's best, delivers the kind of laughs, creature effects and general silliness you'd want to experience after reading its plot description. Billy Morrissette, who really ought to have been in more movies, is great fun in the leading role, like some cheap-and-cheesy blend of Jeffrey Combs and Tim Robbins. Oliver Reed is out of place in the best kind of way as the greedy villain of this piece, while Elke Sommer eats up her conlicted mother role. It's also good to see comedian and character actor Garrett Morris in a supporting role as the one-legged fake war veteran who becomes Harrison Harrison's right-hand man. In fact, the performances are about as fun as all the gooey effects work and silly plot turns. This isn't a comedic masterpiece or a body horror classic or anything (it's not even "Young Frankenstein"), but it's very enjoyable and very funny, and ends with a dark little twist.