Werewolf Of Washington!

Werewolf Of Washingtonis not a very good movie. But that said, this rather dull clunker does offer up a few core comparisons that cut a bit.

The story is that a former Washington reporter (Dean Stockwell) to avoid the fallout from a failed romance with the President's daughter goes to Eastern Europe and gets himself bit by a werewolf. He returns to become the President's speech writer, but demonstrates little if any capacity to do this job and becomes more and more eccentric as the curse of the werewolf overtakes him. The President (Biff McGuire) and many of this aides remain remarkably unaware of these changes, and that's the point of the story I guess.

There are some jibes about racism, but little is done with that notion. There are also some pointed jabs at the Watergate scandal, but frankly I couldn't work out what the satire (if it rose to that level) was trying to suggest. The story ends as it must with the werewolf's demise and the hint that perhaps roaming the halls of the White House the curse might just still exist.

Michael Dunn (Dr.Loveless from Wild Wild West) shows up about halfway through and his peculiar nature adds some zest to a flagging effort, but his pint-size Dr.Kiss (a sort of mad scientist beneath the underbelly of Washington type) doesn't end up doing much and disappears before the end of the flick.


This is not a very good movie, though it has minutes where it gets sort of interesting. The werewolf stuff ain't all the bad actually as they turn Dean Stockwell into a somewhat humorous werewolf vaguely reminiscent of the Teenage Werewolf make-up. He chases mostly women around and that can be almost creepy for moments but it rarely lasts.

The print I endured was so dark that many scenes disappear into the gloom. The sound was pretty dank too, having that recorded-on-the-set feel to it. This one seems to be a failure of direction, as there seems to be sufficient script to make more of the movie work, but the pacing and shooting choices are not up to the challenge.

Too bad really. This is an offbeat notion. This movie is only recommended if you can get it for almost nothing, which you might just be able to do.

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