Here at IMDb it's called "The Mutations"; the version I saw was called "The Freakmaker." No matter what title you give it, the result is one pretty bad movie.
Donald Pleasance slums mightily in the role of a college professor/mad scientist whose ultimate dream is to create a race of half plant/half human creatures. He enlists the help of a horribly deformed owner of a carnie freak show to find human subjects for him to experiment on. These subjects end up looking like artichokes and cabbages, and are played by actors wearing rubbery costumes that don't look remotely realistic. Meanwhile, a group of students begin to unravel the mystery of the professor's doings, while the members of the carnie freak show (played by actual circus sideshow members, in an homage to Todd Browning's 1932 classic "Freaks") become increasingly angered by their boss's abuse and take revenge.
This sounds like the makings of a juicy cult classic, one that if nothing else would be in the "so-bad-it's-good" category. Indeed, this is why I watched it. Let me save you the time and trouble of finding out on your own that it's not so-bad-it's-good -- it's just bad. Bad as in fairly boring, poorly acted, poorly written. Much of it doesn't make any sense. It's almost unbelievable that Jack Cardiff, a film artist with a number of prestigious credits to his name, directed this. This is the sort of thing my wife and I might make using a video camera and some friends. Actually, I think we could make a better movie than this.
And am I the only one to wonder why the color in the film is so bright as to actually hurt my eyes at times?
Grade: D
Donald Pleasance slums mightily in the role of a college professor/mad scientist whose ultimate dream is to create a race of half plant/half human creatures. He enlists the help of a horribly deformed owner of a carnie freak show to find human subjects for him to experiment on. These subjects end up looking like artichokes and cabbages, and are played by actors wearing rubbery costumes that don't look remotely realistic. Meanwhile, a group of students begin to unravel the mystery of the professor's doings, while the members of the carnie freak show (played by actual circus sideshow members, in an homage to Todd Browning's 1932 classic "Freaks") become increasingly angered by their boss's abuse and take revenge.
This sounds like the makings of a juicy cult classic, one that if nothing else would be in the "so-bad-it's-good" category. Indeed, this is why I watched it. Let me save you the time and trouble of finding out on your own that it's not so-bad-it's-good -- it's just bad. Bad as in fairly boring, poorly acted, poorly written. Much of it doesn't make any sense. It's almost unbelievable that Jack Cardiff, a film artist with a number of prestigious credits to his name, directed this. This is the sort of thing my wife and I might make using a video camera and some friends. Actually, I think we could make a better movie than this.
And am I the only one to wonder why the color in the film is so bright as to actually hurt my eyes at times?
Grade: D