Metamorphosis (1990 Italian film)

Last updated
Metamorphosis
Directed by George Eastman (as G. L. Eastman)
Screenplay byGeorge Eastman (as G. L. Eastman)
Produced byDonatella Donati
Starring
  • Gene LeBrock
  • Catherine Baranov
  • Harry Cason
  • David Wicker
  • Stephen Brown
CinematographyGianlorenzo Battaglia (as Lorenzo Battaglia)
Edited byRosanna Landi (as Kathleen Stratton)
Music by Luigi Ceccarelli
Production
company
Filmirage
Release date
  • January 1990 (1990-01)
(video release)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryItaly
LanguageEnglish

Metamorphosis (Italian : DNA formula letale) is a 1990 film written and directed by Luigi Montefiori under the pseudonym G. L. Eastman. It is the only film directed by Montefiori, best known for his career as an actor under the pseudonym George Eastman, [1] although he had previously served as an uncredited director on 2020 Texas Gladiators . [2]

Contents

Plot

Geneticist Peter Houseman, professor at a private university, is involved in studies on DNA with the support of his friend Mike and his young collaborator Willy, developing a serum he claims could be capable of preventing aging and defeating death. However, a commission decides to examine his continued requests for funding. Among the members stand out the elderly Professor Lloyd, very envious of Peter, and Inspector Sally, for whom Peter immediately shows attraction. The commission's skepticism and bureaucracy lead Peter to test the serum containing the modified DNA he has created. on himself

At first the experiment seems to have a positive result; Peter feels increasingly stronger and begins a relationship with Sally, although her son Tommy immediately shows hostility towards him. Shortly after, however, Peter start showing episodes of violence. First he goes to a club where he brutally beats a prostitute, without remembering what happened. Then Patricia, a flirtatious student who had tried to seduce him, is raped and then strangled. Meanwhile, his body also begins to degenerate and acquire reptilian traits.

Hit by a police car, Peter is admitted to a hospital, where he goes through a phase of premature aging that weakens him greatly. He claims that as a result of his experiment, he will forever remain whatever he becomes into and will never die. Kept under observation by doctors Mike and Lloyd, the latter hypothesizes that his body is regressing at an unspecified point in man's evolutionary history. Now looking monstrous, Peter escapes from the hospital, kills Lloyd and Willy, and discovers that his body needs human blood to stay strong. He kidnaps Tommy and then returns to the university lab, leaving a trail of death and blood in his wake, to make one last attempt to correct the experiment. However, Tommy destroys the bottle containing the serum and, pursued by Peter, escapes helped by his mother, who arrives at the scene. Tommy and Sally manage to escape outside where Mike and the police are waiting. Peter, who has now turned into an anthropomorphic dinosaur-like monster, opens the door and is shot by the police, before completely decomposing.

Some time later, Tommy shows his mother a lizard that he keeps in a box. When Sally tells him to let it be free or otherwise it will die, the boy responds that it will never die, implying that the lizard is a surviving Peter.

Cast

Reception

Various reviews of the film highlighted that the film was largely derivative of David Cronenberg's The Fly . Scott Aaron Stine in The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s wrote that the film "holds promise early on, despite being entirely derivative of Cronenberg's The Fly. Unfortunately, once the interesting premise has been established, it quickly degenerates into an '80s take on tacky '50s style horror films. Stiff acting, an obnoxious soundtrack, crappy make-up effects, and a not-as-menacing-as-they'd-like-you-to-think-it-is papier-maché monster make the viewing experience that much more wretched." Stine also said of Montefiore, "And, yes, he should've stuck to acting." [3] Clive Davis in Spinegrinder: The Movies Most Critics Won’t Write About cites the film as "boring FLY remake rip-off." [4]

Fantafilm writes: "Directorial debut of actor and screenwriter Montefiori under the pseudonym George L. Eastman. The story he chooses, centered on genetic mutation, is halfway between The Fly (and its prequels and sequels) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . Specialized critics, usually not very kind to Italian forays into fanta-horror, have highlighted in the film a medium technical skill in the construction of images and an original reference to the themes of David Cronenberg. [5]

The Lexikon des internationalen Films (which reviewed the film under its German title Lizard) also compared the film to David Cronenberg's The Fly, stating that the film "largely forgoes the unpleasant shock effect" of said film, but fails to achieve the "tension and consistency of its template." [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lizard (character)</span> Marvel Comics fictional character

The Lizard is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 as an enemy of the superhero Spider-Man. While the character has retained this role throughout most of his subsequent appearances, he has also been portrayed as a tragic antihero and occasional ally of Spider-Man. Connors is sometimes an ally of Spider-Man just as himself, and not necessarily as his alter ego.

<i>The Fly</i> (1986 film) 1986 film by David Cronenberg

The Fly is a 1986 American science fiction horror film directed and co-written by David Cronenberg. Produced by Brooksfilms and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the film stars Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, and John Getz. Loosely based on George Langelaan's 1957 short story of the same name and the 1958 film of the same name, The Fly tells of an eccentric scientist who, after one of his experiments goes wrong, slowly turns into a fly-hybrid creature. The score was composed by Howard Shore and the make-up effects were created by Chris Walas, along with makeup artist Stephan Dupuis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Eastman (actor)</span> Italian actor and screenwriter

George Eastman is an Italian actor and screenwriter well known for his frequent collaborations with notorious director Joe D'Amato. He is most famous for his role as the insane, cannibalistic serial killer Klaus Wortmann in the gory 1980 horror film Antropophagus. He also played a similar role in its 1981 follow-up, Absurd. Both films were directed by D'Amato and written by Eastman.

<i>Too Much Johnson</i> (1938 film) 1938 film by Orson Welles

Too Much Johnson is a 1938 American silent comedy film written and directed by Orson Welles. An unfinished film component of a stage production, it was made three years before Welles directed Citizen Kane, but it was never publicly screened. It was shot to be integrated into Welles's Mercury Theatre stage presentation of William Gillette's 1894 comedy, but the film sequences could not be shown due to the absence of projection facilities at the venue, the Stony Creek Theatre in Connecticut. The resulting plot confusion reportedly contributed to the stage production's failure.

<i>Howling IV: The Original Nightmare</i> 1988 British horror film

Howling IV: The Original Nightmare is a 1988 British direct-to-video horror film directed by John Hough from a screenplay by Freddie Rowe and Clive Turner. Starring Romy Windsor, Michael T. Weiss, Antony Hamilton, Susanne Severeid and Lamya Derval, The Original Nightmare is the fourth entry in the series of seven standalone films with loose continuity and is not so much a sequel but rather a more faithful adaptation of Gary Brandner's source novel The Howling (1977).

<i>Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers</i> 1988 film by Fred Olen Ray

Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers is a 1988 American black comedy horror film directed by Fred Olen Ray, and starring Gunnar Hansen, Linnea Quigley, Jay Richardson and Michelle Bauer. It is known as a B-movie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Six Arms Saga</span> Marvel Comics storyline

"The Six Arms Saga" is a story arc featuring the popular Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, written by Stan Lee and drawn by Gil Kane. It spans the issues The Amazing Spider-Man #100–102 (1971) and features the first appearance and origin story of Morbius, the Living Vampire. The story arc is mostly remembered for Spider-Man growing four extra arms, and for a subsequent What If…? stating that keeping the arms would have allowed Spider-Man to save Gwen Stacy and defeat Thanos himself.

<i>Hell of the Living Dead</i> Film by Bruno Mattei

Hell of the Living Dead is a 1980 horror film directed by Bruno Mattei. The film is set in a laboratory in Papua New Guinea that releases a dangerous chemical, turning the technicians and locals into zombies. A French news reporter and her crew land on the island to investigate.

<i>Alien Dead</i> 1980 film by Fred Olen Ray

Alien Dead is an American horror film directed by Fred Olen Ray. Ray co-wrote the script with Martin Nicholas. The film involves a meteor hitting a houseboat, which causes the people on board to become zombies who eat alligators and eventually people.

<i>Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals</i> 1977 film by Joe DAmato

Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, also known as Trap Them and Kill Them, is a 1977 Italian sexploitation cannibal film directed by Joe D'Amato. The film involves photojournalist Emanuelle, who encounters a cannibalistic woman bearing a tattoo of an Amazonian tribe in a mental hospital. Along with Professor Mark Lester, the two travel to the Amazon with a team to discover the source of the long-thought-extinct tribe that still practices cannibalism today.

James Isaac was an American film director and visual effects supervisor.

<i>Uninvited</i> (1987 film) 1988 film by Greydon Clark

Uninvited is a 1987 American science-fiction horror film written, produced and directed by Greydon Clark and starring George Kennedy, Alex Cord, Clu Gulager, Toni Hudson and Eric Larson. The film primarily takes place aboard a luxury yacht owned by a criminal multimillionaire and bound for the Cayman Islands, whose passengers and crew are terrorized by a mutant cat.

<i>555</i> (1988 film) 1988 American horror film directed and produced by Wally Koz

555 is a 1988 American horror film directed by Wally Koz, and written by Roy Koz. A direct-to-video release, it stars Mara Lynn Bastian, Charles Fuller, Greg Kerouac, Greg Neilson, B.K. Smith, and Bob Grabill. The plot involves the police searching for a murderous necrophile who, every five years, murders five couples over the course of five nights, with the latest killing spree taking place in Chicago, Illinois.

<i>Porno Holocaust</i> 1981 Italian film

Porno Holocaust is a 1981 Italian sexploitation horror film directed and lensed by Joe D'Amato and written by Tito Carpi under the pseudonym "Tom Salina". The assistant director was Donatella Donati. Shot in and around Santo Domingo, it was one of the first cinematically released Italian films containing hardcore pornography. The title has been seen as a "riff" on Cannibal Holocaust.

<i>Doom Asylum</i> 1988 American film

Doom Asylum is a 1988 American comedy slasher film written by Rick Marx and directed by Richard Friedman.

<i>The Undertaker and His Pals</i> 1966 American horror film directed by T. L. P. Swicegood

The Undertaker and His Pals is a 1966 American horror comedy film directed by T. L. P. Swicegood. The film stars Warrene Ott; James Westmoreland, billed under the name "Rad Fulton"; Robert Lowery, billed as "Guest Star"; and Ray Dannis as The Undertaker. It features Marty Friedman, Sally Frei and Rick Cooper.

<i>Caligula... The Untold Story</i> 1982 Italian film

Caligula... The Untold Story is a 1982 historical exploitation film starring David Brandon and Laura Gemser. Written by George Eastman and Joe D'Amato, and produced, directed and shot by Joe D'Amato, it was created to cash-in on the success of Tinto Brass's Caligula without being a sequel or remake.

<i>The Fly</i> (film series) American film series

The film series of The Fly is a sequence of science fiction-horror films, consisting of an original series started in 1958 and a remake series made in the 1980s. The first film of the series, The Fly, was produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox in 1958 as a colour film. The two following black and white sequels, Return of the Fly and Curse of the Fly, both produced by Associated Producers, were released in 1959 and 1965 respectively. The original film was remade in 1986, The Fly directed by David Cronenberg. The remake film received the Academy Award for Best Makeup in 1987. Its sequel, The Fly II, was released in 1989. All five films within the series were distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Roy Knyrim is an American film director and special effects makeup artist. He directed Demons at the Door (2004), Cemetery Gates (2006), Night Skies (2007), and Death Racers (2008). His credits as a special effects and makeup artist include the fourth, fifth, and sixth films in the Children of the Corn film series, as well as A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989), Gods and Monsters (1998), 2001 Maniacs (2005), and Death House (2017). He also provided miniature models for such films as The Abyss (1989), Tremors, Darkman, and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991).

<i>Devil Story</i> 1986 film

Devil Story, also known as Il était une fois... le diable, is a 1986 French Nazisploitation horror film written and directed by Bernard Launois. It is his seventh and last feature film. An uneven mixture of the slasher and Euro-gothic genres, it was largely condemned by critics for its incoherent script and technical incompetence. It has since gained a cult following because of its reputation as one of the worst films in history.

References

  1. ↑ Lancia, Enrico (2003). Dizionario del cinema italiano : Gli artisti : Vol. 3, Gli attori dal 1930 ai giorni nostri (in Italian). Gremese Editore. p. 218. ISBN   978-88-8440-213-4.
  2. ↑ Palmerini, Luca M.; Mistretta, Gaetano (1996). Spaghetti Nightmares. Fantasma Books. p. 79. ISBN   0963498274. [Eastman] didn't feel confident enough in the action scenes [of 2020 Texas Gladiators] and so I dealt with those, leaving him to the direction of the actors. But in this case, the name recorded at the Ministry (director's credit) was mine.
  3. ↑ Stine, Scott Aaron (2015). The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s. McFarland. p. 107. ISBN   978-1-4766-1132-7.
  4. ↑ Davies, Clive (2015). Spinegrinder: The Movies Most Critics Won't Write About. SCB Distributors. p. 778. ISBN   978-1-909394-06-3.
  5. ↑ Lattanzi, Bruno; De Angelis, Fabio. "DNA Formula letale". Fantafilm (in Italian).
  6. ↑ "Lizard". Lexikon des internationalen Films (in German). Filmdienst.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.