Customer Reviews

Elvira's Movie Macabre: The Doomsday Machine / The Werewolf Of Washington (Double Feature)

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An unfortunate trip to Hungary is cut short after the American Press Secretary is bitten by a wolf. A gypsy woman warns him that he has inherited the Mark of the Wolf, and soon after returning to Washington, he begins transforming in the light of the moon and stalking the streets of The Capitol. The government agencies choose to ignore his new found curse, and instead attempt a cover-up to save face for The Administration. THE WEREWOLF OF WASHINGTON is an immensely entertaining B-movie take on the classic werewolf lore laid out in THE WOLF MAN. It is cleverly written ("The pentagram is responsible, not the Pentagon!") and filled with both sharp wit and biting commentary reflecting the racism and political controversies plaguing the nation in the early seventies. Bob O'Bradovich's make-up designs and lapse-dissolve sequences recall the work of Jack Pierce, while the ironic image of a werewolf in a suit and tie is strangely amusing. Dean Stockwell plays the role of the reluctant werewolf on a sympathetic and sincere note, only taking his performance over the top in a few moments of insanity as government officials intentionally overlook his condition. While THE WEREWOLF is by all standards a cheesy under grade Horror film, it proves to be a great deal of fun and well worth a view for the average genre fan.

-Carl Manes
I Like Horror Movies

"The Doomsday Machine" is a dreadful sci-fi thriller set in the future year of 1975. Essentially, the Chinese develop a nuclear weapon that can rupture all the faults of the earth. In a bit of forward thinking, the US government alters a seven man space mission to Venus to add three women to the crew, enabling continuation of the human species after nuclear Armageddon. The film is hilariously cheap: numerous completely different models represent the spacecraft; diverse stock footage portrays much of the space launch and almost all of the nuclear devastation; and most amusingly of all, Casey Casem co-stars as the Air Force officer who does the countdown (!) for the space launch. There are various subplots, including my favorite about two crewmembers who get stranded in space after a repair gone awry, who then happen to notice an abandoned Apollo capsule within floating distance. Contrary to what Douglas Adams wrote, I guess space isn't really that big after all.

The special effects are dreadful (especially the airlock induced eyeball bleeding scene), while the acting is mortifying: the reactions to the earth being destroyed are especially priceless. The conclusion is obviously tacked on...essentially the main ship just goes away, while the Apollo capsule gets a voice warning from Venus not to land and a promise that the last two humans are embarking on a new adventure, followed by more stock footage of a real rocket.

This movie has possibly the worst continuity I have ever seen (and I have seen every film made by Ed Wood) and is utterly laughable in every regard which is why it was an ideal candidate for Elvira's "Movie Macabre" series. The host segments are modestly amusing, but the real attraction is the bottom of the barrel grade-Z film itself. I highly recommend this film to connoisseurs of laughably bad movies: everyone else needs to stay far, far away.

"The Werewolf of Washington" was made by Milton Moses Ginsberg in 1973 as a weird hybrid of comedic werewolf movie and political satire. Dean Stockwell is a Presidential advisor who was infected by a werewolf during a trip to Hungary, and who brings no end of problems back to the US with him. The references to the Nixon administration are quite clear, with the evil villain being called "Dr. Kiss", Presidential bowling (a Nixon favorite), and more. The special effects budget was extremely low and the werewolf transformation is particularly ludicrous. The film is best viewed as political satire, and in that vein is modestly effective, though it's substantially more boring than "The Doomsday Machine". It has an earnest cheesiness that I like, and it lends itself to Elvira's campy host segments quite well. Overall, this is a ridiculous early 1970's offering that has some entertainment value, but is probably only worth watching once.

listen to the commentary , lts the next best thing

What do you do when you want to end your giant monster movie franchise and you're bankrupt? Stock footage. Lots and lots of stock footage. That's Gamera Super Monster, the final entry in the first Gamera series that started back in 1965 and ended up here in 1980.

There's hardly a better movie for Elvira to zing than this one. Super Monster is a mess for fans of the giant, fire-breathing turtle. Inserted between footage of every monster fight is an incomprehensible, cartoon sequences, grade-Z storyline involving space women, an annoying singing kid, and a disembodied voice telling an evil space woman to take over the world.

New special effects scenes are nothing short of painful, including one where Gamera stomps past a faux Godzilla poster and knocks it down, an apparent in-joke that fails given the quality of Super Monster. A shot of the space women's van (apparently the best they could do is a reject from the `60s) disappearing is the stuff Z-movie legends are made of.

To be fair, for someone who has never seen any of the original Gamera series, this would be a fun piece of schlock. The monster fights come frequently, and last for a while. The best parts of all of them are featured, and no time is wasted having scientists explain how they should be defeated. Gamera shows up, takes them out, and moves on.

For kids, this probably isn't a bad choice either. Since most of the stock footage comes from films intended for the younger set anyway, this seems to be right up their alley (excusing the odd choice of dubbing in four-letter words). Incomprehensible wouldn't be a problem for the under five years old set.

There's still no excuse for this production from the standpoint of a giant monster fan. While the Godzilla series would succumb to this same stock footage tactic in Godzilla's Revenge, at least there we were treated to an entirely new monster and fight scenes. You get nothing of the sort from Super Monster.

this was purchased for a christmas, but it was well packaged and arrived in a timely manner