| Product: |
The Freakmaker (DVD) |
| Date: |
24.04.08 (80 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: It has a certain ambience, and is fun
Disadvantages: Derivative and a bit shoddy
A review of just the film.
This is an endearing British horror film from 1974 - it's better known as The Mutations, but the only DVD available at the moment calls it 'The Freakmaker', probably its US title.
A mad scientist, Nolter, is trying to create human/plant hybrids to forge a new race and (somehow) solve the problem of world hunger. His henchman, a hideously deformed man named Lynch, kidnaps students (all from the scientist's lecture course, coincidentally) for Nolter to experiment on. Lynch also runs a freak show at the local fairground, where the unsuccessful experiments are exhibited.
It's a film of two halves, this. On the one hand is the utterly idiotic main plot about plants; on the other the world of the rather seedy freak show. The main plot is full of insipid dialogue, blander-than-bland victim characters and some hilarious scenes in the laboratory (the professor calmly feeding rabbits to his giant venus flytrap is wonderful). A heavily bearded Donald Pleasence plays Nolter. It's an atypically restrained performance from one of horror's best hams. He just looks bored, sad to say. His students/victims include Jill Haworth and Julie Ege, both British 70s exploitation perennials, and there's enough naked crumpet on display to make me cackle like Sid James.
The most interesting feature of the main plot is the frequent use of time-lapse photography to show plants growing incredibly quickly. As a special effect it's woefully unconvincing, as it's very obvious it isn't *really* taking mere seconds for the plants to grow, but it's a nice try. The opening credits play out over an amazing sequence of fast-growing mushrooms (which look incredibly rude) while a very blatant rip-off of Pink Floyd plays on the soundtrack. (The film then goes into a five-minute lecture on carnivorous plants. Punters must have wondered if they were in the right cinema).
But entertaining though it is, it's just a mishmash of Dr Moreau and Little Shop of Horrors; you've seen it all before, and better. While the same is true of the freak show subplot, it has a grimy ambience that's unforgettable. The evil Lynch, a freak, doesn't consider himself to belong with his deformed employees, and constantly bullies and insults them. (He's obviously never seen Tod Browning's Freaks, the film that this half shamelessly rips off.) The freaks are played by real sideshow performers. We get to see their various acts, introduced on a shabby little stage in a fairground, which presumably runs through what they did in real-life sideshows. The most 'spectacular' performers are American, possibly because sideshows were more prevalent in America at the time. (The chap who can pop his own eyes out is difficult to get out of one's mind.) All in all it gives a glimpse into a probably-never-quite-real world of exploitation and subculture; the at-home-with-the-freaks scenes have a lovely, tatty domestic feel to them, even if they feature some shockingly poor acting.
The slightly dodgy aspect of all this is that Lynch, the boss freak, is played by Tom Baker in bad makeup. Scenes where *real* 'freaks' insist he's one of them and he angrily denies it are not in the best taste (although I suppose good taste isn't an issue in a film like this). Lynch roars at the freaks that he'll make them sorry they were ever born and they laugh uproariously at him, a clever but slightly uneasy moment. Baker's fantastic, though - he was just pre-Dr Who here, and looms wonderfully, having a real penny-dreadful look to him with his long, lank hair and black hat. He goes manically over the top when required, and even invests the obligatory evil-deformed-man-visits-hooker scene with some dignity.
So it rips off a lot of films and isn't really all that good. The subplot has a bit of a frisson, although perhaps not quite the frisson that was intended. It was directed by Jack Cardiff (the world-renowned cinematographer, unless there are two Jack Cardiffs out there; Freddie Francis, another great cinematographer, also made indifferent British horror films). It's shot reasonably well. The editing is a bit jumpy, and there's too much stuff that's just silly. The makeup effects are abominable, Pleasence's mutated plants aren't even up to Dr Who standard, and the supposedly shocking ending is let down by one of the most inept special effects I've ever seen.
I really like this film, but I'll admit that, objectively, it's a bit rubbish. The (region 1) DVD will set you back £8 or so. If you were me, you'd already own it.
Summary: A fairly obscure 70-s Brit horror
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