Originally released as The Mutations (1974) but known today under its alternate title, The Freakmaker, this is a surprisingly effective, even disturbing horror film, despite its low-budget and exploitative aspects bordering on the distasteful. One of the last traditional horror films of the 1970s, it combines elements from many earlier films, good and bad: Freaks (1932), House of Frankenstein (1944), Konga (1961); and it's similar in other ways to Sssssss (1973), though that wasn't released until The Freakmaker was already in production, so similarities there are probably coincidental.

The movie was made by talent working on a project beneath their abilities, most notably director Jack Cardiff, arguably Britain's greatest-ever cinematographer (Black Narcissus, The African Queen, The Vikings, etc.) and, hidden behind pounds of make...Read the entire review