Dean Stockwell plays a White House Press secretary on assignment in Hungary when he finds himself bitten by a wolfman(werewolf - whichever you prefer)and then is asked to leave quite quickly with no investigation from the Hungarian police for the crime of murder that Stockwell claims to have performed on his assailant. Whew! Anyway, Stockwell returns to Washington and soon sees those nasty little signs that something is going horribly wrong. You know those signs - heavy hair growing on your hands, seeing a five-sided star on the hands of women with whom he will soon have a killer relationship with, and not remembering large chunks of evenings when the moon is full. The story for this film is surprisingly faithful to that of the original The Wolfman in terms of story but lacks that film's sophistication and budget. This is a cheaply-made film, a poorly directed film, an incredibly drearily written film, and, finally, acted with no real sense of purpose. The final product, though for sure going for some intended laughs at times, ends of being rather funny in spite of its ineptitude. There are some stand out scenes for this perverse pleasure of watching a cinematic car wreck. How about the phone booth scene - a real hoot and oh so terrifying! Watching the president of the United States in a cheap looking bowling alley or in a bathroom with a page or something. In fact any scenes with Biff McGuire as the president are gold. He appears so incompetent and yet conveys some realism to that role in a certain way - scary. Dean Stockwell can get worked up real good too in his scenes and the transformation scenes, when we finally get to see them, are bad. Bad. Bad. And what about the lilliputian Michael Dunn as Dr. Kiss? What was all that about? Just bizarre and ludicrous. The Werewolf of Washington is a bad picture on so many levels but is also highly enjoyable if you are a fan of le bad cinema - as I am - especially of the best decade for le bad cinema - the 1970s. You couldn't make this stuff up if you sat down right now and tried. Believe me. To even further enhance your viewing pleasure, check out the version with bosomy seductress Elvira chiming in periodically. She can be quite clever and amusing and always abreast of what is going on in the film.
Review of The Werewolf of Washington
