Customer Reviews

Elvira's Movie Macabre: The Werewolf Of Washington

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

 

 

Dean Stockwell is an assistant press secretery for the stupidest president in U.S. history. On a trip to Transylvania, Stockwell is attacked and wounded by a werewolf. Upon his return, senators and reporters start dying in grizzly ways. Stockwell tries to tell the president and his staff that he's become a murderous lycanthrope, but they'd rather point the finger at those darned "hippies" or make it a racial thing. After all, how could a werewolf story possibly help them politically? WEREWOLF OF WASHINGTON is a political satire disguised as a monster movie. It has it's good moments as well as those moments that make you want to send Dean Stockwell on a REAL quantum leap. Probably best viewed if you're an insomniac and it's 3am...

America is fighting an unpopular war; the President is trying to shift the balance of the Supreme Court with his judicial nominee; the front line of political debate is an out-of-control press, and there's a wild man running around who looks rather disturbingly like Howard Dean. No, I'm not talking about the state of affairs in 2005; I'm talking about Werewolf of Washington, an undeniably unique 1973 film that combines horror, comedy, and political parody in ways I would never have imagined on my own. I'm going to go ahead and slap a "you've got to see it to believe it" sticker on this one. This is clearly a very weird product of its times - it is, in a word, kooky.

Dean Stockwell plays Jack Whittier, a hotshot young reporter with a close connection to the White House (in the form of the First Daughter); his idea of ending the relationship involved getting a transfer to Hungary, of all places, and making it look like his newspaper sent him there as some kind of punishment. The President (Biff McGuire) thinks he was banished for his favorable articles on the White House, so he snatches Jack up as his new press agent. Before Jack can get out of Budapest, however, he goes and gets himself bitten by a werewolf. After his return to Washington, he starts seeing pentagrams on select people's hands and experiencing blackouts during the times those people are killed. (The writers work in not one but two pentagram-Pentagon confusion jokes, which gives you a pretty good idea of the comedic effectiveness of this whole film.) Eventually, Jack figures out that he has indeed been cursed, but no one really believes his claims that he is a werewolf - certainly not the President, who becomes thicker and thicker in the head as the story progresses. The transformations are interesting - it's just your standard time-lapse photography, but the early phase has Jack scrunching his face all over the place, and I swear he looks exactly like Howard Dean when he pushes his jaw out and gets that "Yeeeoooooow" look in his eyes. Once the transformation is complete, though, Jack just looks like an idiot - this may be the stupidest-looking werewolf in the history of cinema.

Once the whole werewolf setup is complete, the movie gets down to some serious (and seriously bad) political parody work. You've got hippies and other subversives for the Attorney General and FBI to keep their eye on, you've got the Watergate Hotel, you've got the President "cleverly" sidestepping questions he doesn't want to answer, and you've even got a little Agnew humor thrown in for good measure. The President's a dunderhead who gets stranger as his political support erodes, but the Attorney General is the real piece of work on display here. He's too honest for his own good, according to the President, and he's a master at speaking without thinking (just see how quickly he jumps from werewolf to Black Panther when it comes to a murder suspect). Then there's the war room meeting - I can't even begin to describe that scene. Toss in a "you won't have Jack Whittier to kick around anymore" line at the end, wrap it all up, and you've got the most unique werewolf film I've ever seen.

The political satire bit (which you've really got to see for yourself to appreciate - or not) is the only thing that makes this hairy dog of a movie remotely interesting. As horror, it's a total bomb. It basically strikes out when it comes to the comedy thing, too - but at least it's a weird, interesting kind of bomb in that regard.

When the movie started I was immediately reminded of the old Wolfman movie, right down to the clubbing of the wolf. As it went on I got some laughs as the political and racial satire came out, and the werewolf's mannerisms became more comically exaggerated as time went on as well. All in all, an enjoyable flick. If you're looking to come out honestly scared, you lose, but if you're looking for a halfway decent werewolf, something tolerable, or something funny, then this is a good watch. Considering the rent prices nowadays, go ahead and buy it.

Reporter Jack Whittier (Dean Stockwell, excellent choice) is a favorite with the President (Biff McGuire) and his daughter. Taking a project in Budapest he gets one of those classic bites that never came near his Budapest. The President summons Jack back to become his press agent. Soon Jack sees pentagrams in every hand. He also finds he blacks out. Eventually he comes to realize he has a bad case of the munchies. He tries to confess but no one will listen; remember this is D.C.

You have to add this film to your wolfy collection. Never know if this will become a classic or cult favorite.

Full Moon High [VHS]

o.k. sure it's silly but they ment it to be,i think. i saw this late night one summer growing up and thought it was a blast. dean stockwell was in that time before he got his career back on track with married to the mob,and he's very good as the wolf. for a good laugh and a chance to see some weird 70's fashions check this out.

As a means of avoiding a recent affair with the President's daughter, Dean Stockwell arranges an entirely different reason to be transferred to Budapest, Hungary to continue his government work. However, when the President requests him to come back and take the position of Assistant Press Secretary, Dean's trip to the airport is thwarted by... well... we'll just say a really hairy Gypsy. Those silver tipped canes really come in handy, but they cannot prevent the recieved bite from transforming our political protagonist into a low grade variation of the Lon Chaney Jr.-esque wolfman. The attempts at comedy are weakly cute at best (pentagram is mistaken for Pentagon more than once) and the only times I recall laughing were during scenes when the humor seemed more unintentional. More entertaining than, say, standing in line waiting to vote on Election Day, but the polling results on the news that evening might be a preferable viewing option to this weak werewolf entry. 3.75/10

Saw this camp movie in the '70s. So bad that it is wonderful. Fast ship, thx

jdomvig

Where to start with train wreck?
First, the filmmakers had little idea of what the White House is like. Particularly after seeing a few seasons of West Wing, it is hard to ignore that it seems only slightly bigger than my parent's house in Iowa and that there is only three or four people in it aside from the president. The room the Joint Chiefs of Staff meet in looks like our local VFW. The president has a staff of two or three guys and no bodyguards whatsoever and doesn't seem to have much to do with himself other than attend parties and bowl. In the second to last scene when the president is talking with the Chinese prime minister (the country has a president, but the filmmakers didn't check that one), the plane is a small puddle jumper, there are no staff present on either the Chinese or the American side, and the area they are sitting in the plane is no bigger than the backseat of a taxi. This is real Ed Wood level production values, but old Ed at least imparted some personality to his movies.

Second, all of this wouldn't matter so much if the story wasn't so plodding. The problem with many horror movies is the filmmakers have a cool title, but not much idea of what else to do with the movie (think Lunchmeat, Redneck Zombies, and Doctor Butcher, MD [Medical Deviate]). Indeed, the nimrods behind this clunker didn't think much beyond the idea of the press secretary of being a werewolf. In the world of this 1973 toilet raft, full moons are evidently a nightly occurrence in DC, as there is little continuity from scene to scene of Dean Stockwell turning into a werewolf and then wasting some or other Beltway insider in poorly lit night scenes (note to director-film the night scenes during the day with tinted lenses from now on). I suppose you could conceivably figure out how much time elapsed in the movie if you count murders, but generally between them, the president and press secretary are generally kickin' back with a gin & tonic, so I found my attention flagging.

Which brings me to my third point, the poor quality of this video. This is one murky, scratched up print that Alpha Video put out. It is pan and scan, and the picture definitely feels clipped. I am a big fan of public domain stuff, but the DVD company really lowered the bar with this one.

For 70s completists only.

I could give a care for the movie. I remember it as a lame piece of dribble that was made watchable only because Elvira hosted it. All of the movies that were featured on her show were awful and I'm glad. All the better to make fun of.

Elvira's Movie Macabre is the draw here. This show was not to be missed weekends here in the Los Angeles area in the eighties.
I for one will happily purchase every volume that is released as long as it comes with Elvira's great one liners, hysterical bits and dead on comic timing. Great to see Elvira back in the limelight were she belongs! You go Cassie!

Mr. Stockwell obviously did this film for the money. The film begins with Mr. Stockwell requesting a transfer from the Washington press core due to the president's daughters' infatuation with him. While in Romania he is involved in a motor vehicle accident, which disables his car. The scene moves on to a very reminicent The Wolf Man, where Mr. Stockwell kills a wolf with his cane. This is where the intrest ends. Mr. Stockwell is bitten and becomes a werewolf that stalks and kills the wives of some of Washington's polititions. The most rediculous scene is when one of the Senetors wives drives up to the gas pumps and the werewolf is clinging to to the rooftop of her car. Like she didn't here it jump up there or didn't see it when she got into the car. She gets out of the car and then sees the werewolf.....? The other scene was when the werewolf wanders into the scientists lab and allows the scientist, played by Michael Dunn, pet him as though he were a puppy....? This is where I turned the movie off. Save your money folks; this is one bad movie.