Showing posts with label michael dunn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label michael dunn. Show all posts

Sunday, May 4, 2025

Satire In Wolf's Clothing

 

 (imdb)

WEREWOLF OF WASHINGTON-1973-Reporter Jack Whittier (Dean Stockwell) is having an affair with Marion (Jane House), the president's daughter. He wants to break it off, so he asks his paper to transfer him to Budapest. He has a car accident and while looking for his girlfriend Giselle (Katalin Kallay), kills a wolf and is wounded in the process. It turns out he killed a gypsy woman's son, a werewolf (sound familiar?). Whittier doesn't believe the gypsy (Despo Diamantidou) when she says he will become a werewolf. He thinks it's a government plot. A police bureaucrat (Thayer David) makes them leave. Back in the US, the president hires him as press secretary. Whittier becomes a werewolf when the moon is full. His first victim is the talkative Mrs. Captree (Nancy Andrews). Then he kills a newspaper publisher. 

Michael Dunn is wasted as a mad scientist named Dr. Kiss.

It's supposed to be a horror comedy/political satire but it's not very funny. Writer-director Milton Moses Ginsberg made COMING APART with Rip Torn in 1969 but after WEREWOLF he only made a few short films

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Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Plant Man

  (imdb)


THE MUTATIONS-1974-After a lengthy lecture by a German college professor Dr. Nolter (Donald Pleasence with an accent), we learn he's a mad scientist working in genetics with plants and humans. He gets help from an angry deformed man Lynch (Tom Baker) who hangs out at a freak show run by Burns (Michael Dunn). Others in the show include The Alligator girl, the frog man, pincushion man, bearded lady, human skeleton, human pretzel and Popeye (Willie Ingram who could actually make his eyes pop out an inch from their sockets). Students Tony (Scott Anthony), Heidi (Julie Ege; LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES) and Lauren (Jill Haworth; HORROR HOUSE) welcome American scientist Brian (Brad Harris; THE FURY OF HERCULES). Tony discovers Nolter's secret. He's crossing plants with animals and plans to use Tony as his human experiment. Tony is turned into a plant man and terrorizes his girlfriend Lauren. Later, Heidi is kidnapped by Lynch for the Nolter's next victim. When Brian goes to rescue her, he's nearly killed by Lynch but Burns convinces "the freaks" into killing Lynch and feeding his body to guard dogs. Tony, now a full-grown plant man breaks into Nolter's lab and kills his creator. The place is set on fire and Brian saves Heidi but… 

THE MUTATIONS is a low budget sleazy little film with a crazy plant monster that's fairly ludicrous but considering Academy Award winning cinematographer Jack Cardiff directed it, it could have been better. He was no stranger to directing as this was his fiftheeth outing (but also his last). Co-star Tom Baker started his memorable run as TV's Dr. Who the same year. Donald Pleasence was also in the horror anthology FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE in '74. Sadly, this was the last film for Michael Dunn, who died in London shortly after completing his scenes.

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