“Imagine a new species comprised of the characteristics of plants and animals!”
- Professor Nolter (Donald Pleasence)

“The Freakmaker” aka “The Mutations” is a lively, if schizophrenic, British film from the early ‘70’s. Written as an homage to the 1932 classic “Freaks,” it plays more as a typical mad doctor yarn with a few key elements lifted from that Tod Browning classic. Donald Pleasence plays yet another mad authority figure named Professor Nolter. He teaches an advanced science course on genetics at a university in London. At his private estate, he also experiments on plant and animal life; attempting to morph the two species together. The lab is filled with colorful, rabbit-eating plant life that also bleeds and often makes intimidating growling noises. Though he shares much of his wild theories and experiments with his students, his more advanced work is kept a secret. It seems that he’s involved with a local traveling circus/sideshow called The Burns and Lynch Famous Royal Family of Strange People. Lynch, the hulkish, deformed co-owner of the show has made a deal with the brilliant but screwy professor. Lynch provides Nolter with fresh co-ed bodies for him to experiment upon while the good doctor allows the mutations he creates to be included in the freak show. The imposing Lynch (played with a subtle creepiness by Tom Baker) has also been promised a full transformation to normality by Nolter; a dangled carrot that any sci-fi fan knows can only lead to ugliness. By coincidence (or lazy storytelling), Lynch only seems to be interested in the co-eds who just happen to be students of the good doctor.

Three of Nolter’s mod pupils, Tony (Scott Anthony), Lauren (Jill Haworth) and Hedi (Julie Ege) get caught up in the drama when one of their classmates is abducted. Poor Bridget is menaced by Lynch and several of his freak show cohorts and taken to the professor’s lair. There she turned into a creepy plant woman and added to the freak line-up as the “lizard girl.” Around the same time, one of the professor’s peers, Brian (Brad Harris), comes to town and is given escort by our three leads. The foursome attend the local traveling circus and inevitably end up at the freak show. Several authentic “freaks” or, to be more PC, people with severe deformities, are showcased here including Willie Ingram (aka Popeye) who could literally force his eyes to “pop” from their sockets. They are turned away from the separate special attraction (the lizard girl), however, when they notice the diminutive ticket-taker wearing a pendant closely resembling one that belonged to their missing friend. Tony becomes suspicious and ends up investigating the circus grounds after closing. He subsequently finds himself unconscious and lying on the table in Nolter’s lab. Tony is turned into a wonderfully creepy human/Venus flytrap hybrid and escapes the lab; havoc inevitably ensues.

“Freakmaker” is really two stories that are joined together well enough, but neither is explored to its full potential. Lynch’s abusive relationship with his freak show employees would have made an interesting film in itself. His partner Burns, played by late diminutive actor Michael Dunn, is a truly interesting character. His relationship with the family of performers is the real connection to the Browning film and isn’t given the time it deserves. There are, however, a couple of direct references to “Freaks” and both work well in context. It’s a shame that they didn’t simply focus on these more involving aspects instead of diluting the narrative with typical genre machinations. The “evil doctor” portion would have made a fine film in itself as well, if they had chosen to delve more into those strange plant mutations. Pleasence’s Dr. Nolter isn’t involved in the action much and disappears for most of the running time. Though their part of the story is infinity less interesting, Harris and Ege (who by default become our protagonists) are appealing and manage to keep the ridiculous plot turns in the final act semi-engaging. A mention should also be made regarding the special effects. Art director Herbert Smith and makeup artist Charles E. Parker did an exceptional job with their limited budget. The monster creations manage to be at once ridiculous and truly unnerving. Especially the bizarre Venus flytrap creature Anthony turns into at the end of the film. “Freakmaker” is worth a look for the monster effects alone.

This is an exceptional DVD release by Subversive Cinema. All of the behind-the-scenes players still alive participated in this production and have much to say. Director Jack Cardiff and Co-writer Robert Weinbach come across as very intelligent gentlemen and have excellent recall regarding the behind-the-scenes. They both take part in the making-of featurette called “How to Make a Freak” and it’s as interesting as anything in the actual film. Actor Harris also shows up with some interesting background information on the making of the four hundred thousand dollar film. “Freakmaker” is presented in its original aspect ratio and it’s a fairly sharp transfer. Some scenes appear a tad soft and colors are somewhat muted, but it’s probably the best the film has ever looked. In addition to the informative featurette, there two feature-length commentaries, one by director Cardiff and one with Weinbach and Harris. Only the Cardiff commentary was reviewed for this piece and it was just as interesting as his contribution to the short. He has much to say about working within the framework of a low budget and the imput of Pleasence and Baker. Again the process behind the film was just as entertaining, if not more so, than the end result. A still gallery with lobby cards is included along with a “Mutations” trailer and five other Subversive titles. The trailer for “Candy Snatchers” is the best of the lot; great lurid ‘70’s fair. It’s ultimately a great package of a unique little horror film.

While no classic, “Freakmaker” is certainly an above-average piece of exploitation filmmaking. It would make a great double-feature with the far more lurid “She Freak,” David Friedman’s 1967 take on the Browning classic.