Hot Picks
|
|
|
The Werewolf of Washington
USA 1973
produced by Nina Schulman for Diplomat Pictures, Millco
directed by Milton Moses Ginsberg
starring Dean Stockwell, Biff McGuire, Jane House, Nancy Andrews, Clifton James, Jack Waltzer, Ben Yaffee, Beeson Carroll, Jacqueline Brookes, Michael Dunn, Barbara Spiegel, Thurman Scott, Dennis McMullen, Lenka Peterson, Katalin Kallay, Henry Ferrentino, Despo Diamantidou, Thayer David, Tom Scott, Randy Phillips, James Tolkan, Stephen Cheng
written by Milton Moses Ginsberg, music by Arnold Freed
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
|
|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
In Hungary, journalist Jack (Dean Stockwell) is bitten by a wolf, but
manages to kill the beast - which oddly enough turns out to be a human
when dead. Soon enough, Jack comes to Washington, where he's made press
secretary of the President (Biff McGuire), a job that sounds easier than
it is, as the president is a bit of a clueless half-wit whose main agenda
it is to cover up the shortcomings of himself and his administration and
to look good for the press. Soon, senators start dropping dead,
obviously killed by some kind of beast, and Jack has to put a positive
spin on this - which he is good at, until he finds out that it was
actually he who killed the senators, and he's actually ... a werewolf. Jack
tries to convince everybody from the president to his psychiatrist to the
president's daughter (Jane House) he's romantically involved with that
he's responsible for the killings and has a lycanthropic condition, but to
no avail, so in a helicopter flight with the president and the Chinese
premier (Stephen Cheng) he turns again, and ultimately bites the president
before being shot dead by his daughter, whom he's given a gun loaded with
a silver bullet. But now that the president has been bitten ... Part
low budget horror flick, part political satire, part straight-out comedy, The
Werewolf of Washington has its moments ... but misses its mark more
times than it hits: Some of the jokes on the Nixon administration are
really funny without being overly obvious, but not all work. As for the
actual comedy moments: Dean Stockwell in the lead and Biff McGuire as
president are both hilarious, mostly, and especially the scene when
Stockwell tries to get rid of a bowling ball stuck to his finger without
the president noticing it, and him trying to sneak out of a staff meeting
with werewolf paws he hides behind his back are hilarious, but there are a
few too many "jokes" that are just bad. And the whole thing is
hampered by its too cheap and hapless approach to the horror genre, with
carelessly done shock-scenes, atmosphere-free spook sequences and cheapish
monster makeup. In all, not a total trainwreck - and you might actually
like this if you're like me into 1970's horror B-fare -, but too undecided
between genres to excel in either, and not too well-made on top of that.
|