source: The Freakmaker

I liked this movie, thought it was from the 1980's from the discussion at the beginning about cloning dinosaurs from their DNA and employing genetics on animals. Turns out it was from 1973 and ahead of it's time. The movie does have some parallels to "Freaks" and the movie supplies the real thing. Michael Dunn, "Dr. Lovelace" of "Wild, Wild, West" is good in his role as the operator of the sideshow.

This is a totally bizarre British horror film which deserves cult status of the highest order - I can't believe that this didn't have problems with the censor, it is a disturbing, nasty piece of work and should undoubtedly have cult status. 'The Mutations' has Donald Pleasence as a Frankenstein-inspired scientist, Prof Nolter, who in-between his lecturing is trying to fuse humans with plantlife, to create a creature which has the strengths of both species. The nature of the film is introduced early, with a travelling funfair complete with freaks ( played by real-life freaks as in Tod Brownings early classic ), and a hideously ugly normal-sized man, who moonlights as Prof Nolter's assistant. The film has so many points of interest its difficult to know where to start - the similarities to 'Freaks' are acknowledged with a feast scene which includes the line "He's one of us - we accept you". The freaks are also shown to have more humanity than the other characters, although they do turn on their tormenter in the end, in a scene similar to the climactic chase in 'Freaks'. There are also ideas and scenes close to the French classic 'Eyes without a Face'; Pleasance portrays a character similar to Pierre Brasseur's mad doctor, both living in a secluded mansion complete with pack of mad dogs. As if all this were not enough, we are also treated to Julie Ege as the screaming heroine, showing of her acting limitations and bodily curves very nicely - special applause for the * bath scene. 'The Mutations' is a real shocker, which viewed today has a strong impact - far more so than more famous 'shocking' films, like 'The Devils' and the earlier 'Peeping Tom', both of which viewed now seem relatively tame. While not raising the film to any artistic height - it is a cheap 'B' Movie in all production areas - the film should really be seen by all film fans, and given its deserved status as a heavyweight of the gutter-horror genre.

Not one of my fellow horror loving friends have seen or even know of this movie. I saw it on TV in the 80's or 90's, got a copy on VHS,later sold it but then find myself buying another one as it doesn't appear to be easily available on disc (it really does deserve a release). The late, great Donald Pleasence is a brilliant but crazed scientist working on mutating humans with plants (in his lab he has a laughably bad rabbit eating plant!). He is aided by the hideously disfigured Tom Baker (of Dr Who fame), who runs a circus freak show. Many real freaks (probably an incorrect word these days) were employed, in addition to obviously fake ones. No attempt is made to hide the fact that this was in part inspired by the original 1932 classic "Freaks", to the point where the "one of us" line is used. Add to the mix nudity, 1970's London locations, LSD references, time lapse photography sequences, a few amusing gaffs and a pretty haunting musical score, this is an enjoyable slice of British exploitation. Not to everybody's taste, for sure, but this film deserves to be better known.

I thought Freddie Francis had hit rock bottom in his slide from Oscar-winning cameraman to director of schlock horror when he made 'Trog'; but Jack Cardiff fell even further when he was reduced to making this grotesque trash in which he drags down with him a cast with more respectable work behind them, here plainly slumming it (Tom Baker is probably relieved that he was almost unrecognisable in this), yet shot in incongruously saturated colours. At a time when the British cinema was at its absolute nadir, this would have been tasteless enough if it hadn't also had the nerve to frequently evoke Tod Browning's 'Freaks', including scenes in which the late Michael Dunn and the film's genuine 'freaks' are more touching than the film deserves. There are plentiful signs of earlier mad scientist movies plundered, all of which it far surpasses in producing a final monster modelled on the Venus Fly Trap so grotesquely ridiculous-looking the film's makers do their best to make sure we don't see too much of it; but even that is too much. Michael Dunn died over a year before the film was released, and I suspect it had a troubled production. Horror authority David Pirie would have been the man to tell us what the British Board of Film Censors made of it; but it languishes in such merited obscurity it's not even included in the revised edition of his exhaustive study of the British horror film, 'A Heritage of Horror'.

This grotesquely mad and slightly sick-spirited early 70's horror film couldn't count on too much praise from either the critics or the audiences, and there are a couple of (justified) reasons for this. First and foremost, director Jack Cardiff never really makes clear what his intentions are. Does he want "The Mutations" to be a cheesy and obviously fictional Sci-Fi horror flick about a mad scientist performing absurd experiments to create a new race of human vegetables? Or perhaps it was meant to be a harrowing and truly devastating portrait about the position of gruesomely deformed people in contemporary society, somewhat like Tod Browning's legendary classic "Freaks"? Either way, these two extreme themes are practically impossible to fold together and the film ends up somewhere in no man's land. Nonetheless it contains several genuinely disturbing and jaw-dropping moments, most notably when the collection of traveling circus freaks exhibits themselves and – in true Browning style – wreaks havoc on those who mistreated them. The whole plot is actually secondary to these sequences! The always-reliable Donald Pleasance stars as a nutball professor destined to integrate human tissue in his experiments of plant-mutation. Therefore he commands the horribly deformed & vicious owner of a circus to abduct human guinea pigs (students attending his own university lectures, which isn't that smart) and bring them to his private lab. When the experiments go inevitably wrong, resulting in a lizard-skinned girl and a male kind of Venus flytrap, Professor Pleasance just 'donates' them again to the circus as new attractions. Fellow students begin to search for their missing friends and, meanwhile, the circus' "natural" freaks plot to punish their cruel employer. The best sequence in "The Mutations" is a more than obvious tribute to the aforementioned "Freaks" and involves an attempt by the deformed people to befriend Lynch; nicknamed "the ugliest man in the world" (and he really is). One of us! One of us!! Whenever the action takes place outside of the circus tent, the film is pretty much scare-free and mildly tedious. Giant and clearly fake vegetable-monsters simply aren't creepy and several little (and stupid) details in the script just can't be true. Like biology students driving Jaguars, for example! Tod Browning's milestone once got banned for over 40 years and it nearly cost him his career, supposedly all because his portrayal of deformed people was exploitative and unacceptable. Once you see "The Mutations", you'll acknowledge that Browning's film actually is the complete opposite of exploitative! He tried to put the emphasis on how independent, courageous and perfectly able to function they are, whereas Jack Cardiff's picture really exploits the spectacle and questionable "entertainment"-value of these people's condition.

Mostly dry and boring horror film, with shoddy special effects - yet quite creepy if you let your imagination do the film's work for you. It all seems quite disturbing on paper (mutated man-plants, sideshow "freaks", etc.), but the film's only real merit is another good performance by the ever-reliable Donald Pleasence. For a genuinely engrossing and dramatic "mutation picture", I recommend the original "Fly" (1958). (**)

Anytime Tom Baker graced the screen his characters were always memorable. Here he plays a freak with a self loathing that must be seen to be believed. The story concerns a scientist who tries to turn people into plants. He succeeds with a cross between human and venus fly trap. The makeup isn't great, but it does the job. First time director Jack Cardiff made a great little horror film. Donald Pleasence plays the doctor. I saw this on Cinemax during the 90's. Basil Kirchin from Abominable Dr. Phibes did the music. I wish this was out on DVD. Columbia Pictures has done worse.

Not really enough money or effort put into this one. It appears that everyone thought simply that the presence of various 'freaks' Donald Pleasence, a bit of nudity and some man eating plants should see them through. Actually this almost works, unfortunately Mr Pleasence is in particularly one note form and although the speeded up photography for the plants is fine the later costumes for those that have turned into half human, half plant are not half as effective. There are some decent moments and good ideas but it is all so uphill. Undeniably quirky, though and probably worth it for the fairground scenes.

I stumbled across this video at a pawnshop called "Cash Converters" at my town center. Once I blew off the dust I decided to buy it on a whim. I had never heard of it but its £2 price tag led me to believe I had nothing to loose. It now sits proudly in my horror collection. This film is in a word, freaky. It makes use of real life sideshow freaks to tell a disturbing story about a mad scientist and his ungodly experiments to create a plant man. The various mistakes that occur are put to use at the friendly local fair. The only problem this film has is the rather pathetic effects used when real freaks are unavailable. However, Donald's performance is as ever wonderful and the film maintains a creepy atmosphere. There is also some great titty shots of voluptuous young seventies women. Well recommended for horror fans (if you can track down a copy like I did).