The Freakmaker

The Mutations (alt Title) poster Available DVDs Poster Art Fun Facts Also by Jack Cardiff: The Girl on a Motorcycle

Also Known As

• Dr. of Evil (UK)
• Estranhas Mutações (Brazil)
• Das Labor des Grauens - The Freakmaker (Germany)
• Mutacje (Poland)
• The Mutations

Tagline

• It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature... it can be HORRIFYING!

Main Details

• Released in 1972
• Color
• Running Time: 92 Min.
• Production Co: Cyclone | Getty Pictures Corp.
• Distribution Co: Columbia Pictures (1974) (USA) (theatrical) | Columbia-Warner Distributors (1974) (UK) (theatrical)

Cast and Crew

• Directed by Jack Cardiff
• Written by Edward Mann, Robert D. Weinbach
• Starring Donald Pleasence, Tom Baker, Brad Harris, Julie Ege, Michael Dunn, Scott Antony
• Produced by J. Ronald Getty, Brad Harris, Herbert G. Luft, Robert D. Weinbach
• Original Music by Basil Kirchin
• Cinematography by Paul Beeson
• Film Editing by John Trumper

Film Review

The late great Jack Cardiff was primarily known as a brilliant cinematographer on such classic films as The African Queen, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes among many others. As a director, Cardiff made several memorable genre classics including The Long Ships, Girl On a Motorcycle and Dark of The Sun.

In 1972, he signed on to make a Horror film called The Mutations aka The Freakmaker. The Freakmaker is a sort of unofficial sequel to Freaks (1931) the cult classic film by Tod Browning about a group of traveling freak show members who go on to seek revenge on the normal people that look down on them. Jack Cardiff's The Freakmaker gives that story a slight twist with its mad scientist aspect.

The film opens with some really beautiful and interesting time lapse footage of flowers and plants growing, which is a nice way to introduce the films main theme. The film is narrated by Professor Nolter (Halloween's Donald Pleasance) who seems to be your average, every day science teacher at a college in London, England. What the students don't know is that Nolter has been conducting his own strange experiments, fusing together both human cells with plant life. As we see early in the film, one of his plant-humans actually bleeds when he cuts into it with a scalpel!

A young girl from Professor Nolter's science class walks home from school one day, and she is followed by several small people who have set up their Traveling Freak show in the area. They follow along behind her in the fog, and its a very creepy sequence. Out of the forrest a dark figure grabs her. This man is Dr Nolter's assistant Lynch (Dr Who's Tom Baker). Lynch brings the girl back to Nolter's lab where they prepare her for tests. Lynch has a strange facial disfigurement and we see that he hates himself because of it. Professor Nolter plans on helping Lynch to become normal looking again as long as he helps conduct the experiments and bring more human guinea pigs to him.

Meanwhile, the Traveling Freak show is getting ready to open and we see the small people who had been tailing the girl. We learn they were merely trying to give her a little scare, the way other normal people do to them every once in awhile. The freaks in the small wagon are really just like anyone else except they have been mutated in strange ways.

While the rest of the Freaks seem to be accepting of their strange mutations, Lynch is not and he takes it out on them in violent outbursts. Lynch is an outsider even in the Freaks circle. The kids from the college (played by Scott Antony, Julie Ege and Jill Haworth) goto see the Traveling Freak Show one night where they see some really incredible and disgusting things. This is where we get to see the freaks and what strange abilities they have. "The Bearded Lady" has a hairy face. "The Lizard Lady" (Esther Blackmon) has a rough scaly skin resembling a amphibian. "Frog Boy" (Felix Duarte) has no bones in his legs so when he stands on his hands his legs resemble bent frog legs. "The Human Pretzel" (Hugh Bailey) has legs that curve 180 degrees. "The Monkey Woman" has the features of a (you guessed it) hairy monkey, "The Human Pincushion" has no nerves and can puncture himself with large needles. "Popeye" (Willie Ingram) can protrude his eyeballs from the sockets. Wait till you see that! WHOA! This part of the film is a sort of a "Freaksploitation" sequence which thrills both us and the freak show's audience in the film.

As the film unfolds things begin to get more and more out of control. The innocent college students become victims of Dr Nolter's horrific Venus Flytrap Plant Creature. Dr Nolter becomes the target of his own twisted experiments and Lynch's own hatred of himself and his fellow freak family becomes his undoing.

Reviewed by Popeye Pete - 6/13/07