Review of Werewolf of Washington

This film was made and released as a political satire about Richard Nixon and Watergate and guess what? Nobody got it.

It’s absolutely a play on the original Lon Chaney Wolfman but in the 1970s era of political corruption. Moonlight Sonata plays sporadically as Dean Stockwell performs all his own stunts as a political aide sent to Budapest for punishment for sleeping with the president’s daughter. He gets attacked by a wolf and comes back home.

So the point of this very low-budget movie is that a werewolf runs amok, killing and maiming, and the press and police want answers. Is it communists? Is it Hippies? Is it Black Panthers? Is it racially motivated? Is it a government cover-up? We know the answer, but no one else does, nor do they want to believe it’s a werewolf.

Stockwell is great. This is like watching a combination of the original Wolf Man, Revenge of The Nerds, Caddyshack, and a stage play about American Politics.

I found it whimsical and incredibly fun. I don’t think people got it. It has gained polarizing reviews over the years. It either has 8 to 10s or 2s……. That tells me it’s a film you either get or you don’t, and there is no in-between. The director passed in 2021, and before he died, he spent all his time making a director’s cut. This release has the original cut and the very much shortened director’s cut.

If you love old goofy 70s dry humor, political satire, or oddball takes on monster movies, I strongly suggest you check this out. It was released as a Kino Classic, and the reviews kept me at bay. This is a classic, but not in a “Casablanca way.” More like a “Dracula Dead and Loving It” meets “Wag The Dog”/”Bullworth” kind of way.

I myself enjoyed this stage play-style low-budget film of a play on what would happen if a politician became a werewolf.