The Mutations aka The Freakmaker (1974)

(On Cable TV, May 2022) It’s going to take a specific kind of viewer to stay interested in The Mutations, even if having Donald Pleasance running around as a mad scientist does have its own unarguable charm. There’s some cool plant-growing footage over the opening credit sequence, but any interest in the film goes down whenever the plants are replaced by humans. The plot is a lazy mad-scientist shtick with the antagonist having plans to create human/plant hybrids by experimenting on young female college students. Partially inspired by -and aping- the classic horror film Freaks, the film can be gross at times as it unrolls a literal freak-show, but these little shocks can’t come close to making the rest of the film feel any better. Bah – nobody has to like 1970s low-budget British exploitation. Except for those who do.