Titreenp
SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
Libramedi
Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant
Platicsco
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Payno
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Paul Andrews
Metamorphosis is set in Norfolk in Virginia where brilliant young genetic scientist Dr. Peter Houseman (Gene LeBrock) works in a university teaching students & carrying out research in DNA, Houseman is trying to perfect a serum that will alter human DNA & reverse the ageing process. Left alone for two years the university administrators want to know where their hundreds of thousands of dollars have gone & send in Sally Donnelly (Catherine Baranov) to conduct a full audit & report back, Houseman fears his experiments are published before they are perfected. Houseman injects himself with the experimental serum & at first the results are amazing as his health, fitness & awareness improve dramatically, however soon terrible side-effects begin to manifest as Houseman's body undergoes a hideous genetic transformation into some form of pre-human reptilian life-form that must feed on human flesh to survive...This Italian & American co-production was written & directed by George Eastman who is probably best know for playing the killer in Anthropophagus (1980) & Absurd (1981), while Metamorphosis has a bad reputation I didn't think it was a total failure. As has already been mentioned by just about everyone else who has ever seen Metamorphosis the similarities between it & David Cronenberg's brilliant remake of The Fly (1986) are clear to see, the scientist conducting risky experiments on himself, a neutral love interest, the scientist slowly turning into something nasty & experiencing improved strength & senses with a climax where all traces of his previous humanity have gone. In fact the two films are scarily similar in tone & themes even if The Fly is a far, far superior film in every aspect. Good mad scientist films are thin on the ground really, there's the aforementioned The Fly, there's the Re-Animator films & that's just about it really. I liked the ideas here, some of the scientific exposition is dry & dull but I liked the story, it's based around proper people with proper motives rather than dumb teens even if they act dumb quite a lot, there's enough going on to have kept me interested & the story takes the odd turn here & there. The script takes itself extremely seriously with not one bit of humour or irony even attempted. At over 90 minutes Metamorphosis is slow going at times which hurts it & the extremely silly twist ending doesn't work at all although it might have looked clever on a written page as a script it doesn't work when filmed.The gore levels are restrained compared to some Italian horror, there's a ripped-out throat, there's a few dead bodies, a few girls are knocked around & there's a heart in a jar. The special effects are alright, the make-up is OK until the very end & the final reptilian creature is shown, director Eastman wisely keeps it's screen time down to a minimum, films from waist up & uses quick cuts to try & disguise how bad it looks, he fails as the thing looks so stiff & rubbery. Metamorphosis looks OK, it's a pretty dark film with the climax set in dark university corridors to try & raise some scares but Eastman doesn't quite manage it. I did like the look of this overall, a bit flat & static at times but with a certain atmosphere. Also known as Regenerator here in the UK when it was released back in the 90's on VHS.Filmed in Norfolk in Virginia the film is set against a Christmas backdrop for some reason, maybe it was coming up to Christmas when it was shot so had to included Santa's on the street & decorated Christmas tree's. The acting is a little dry at times but not too bad.Metamorphosis is something a little different, it tries to be a complex science fiction horror rip-off of The Fly & the basic idea is here but the execution lets it down. A little too slow, not quite enough gore, a poor looking final monster & a very silly twist ending makes me wonder why I liked it. Well, I don't know but I did for all it's faults & it has it's fair share.
bkoganbing
Tom Cruise clone Gene LeBrock stars in Metamorphosis about a genetics research scientist who is being pressed by both the bean counters at his university and by a jealous colleague about his project. Little did they know that they were messing with a 20th Century Dr. Jekyll.LeBrock's experiments are about halting and reversing the aging process in man, but what he gets is something different and primordial when he experiments on himself.Like his more famous lookalike player, LeBrock should have contented himself with a much safer need for speed. It all goes real bad in the end. That's assuming you want to stick around until the end.
Frequency270
'Metamoprhis' is the story of a dashing young scientist, revered at the local college, is brought under investigation by financial providers for the college. This forces him to take shortcuts in typical bad-Hollywood melodramatic fashion.My first thought after this movies conclusion was this. "Not good, but not bad, for early-to-mid eighties." Of course, I then realized that it was made in 1990, which almost propelled it down to a '4', but decided to keep it at the mediocre '5' that it is.'Metamorphis' does on a few occasions, seem like a good movie desperately trying to get out. The acting, while not stellar, is mostly competent. You can even see the occasional glisten of a modest quality. Pacing is a large problem with the movie. After thinking I had been watching for ninety minutes, I realized I'd only been watching an hour. Special effects aren't stellar, but the director seems to be mostly competent enough to work around that weakness.The lead, a mildly charismatic male that seems to be attempting a blended channeling of Tom Cruise and Christopher Reeves, reminded me mostly of Matt Dillon's character in 'Wild Things'. The female heroine does an OK job, but does not distinguish herself in anyway. There's a 'naughty girl' role in here, and the actress does what she can with it, but it doesn't seem like much. There is a child actor that the director can't decide if he's morose, cheerful or just weird. Pacing, as I said, is the worst problem with this movie, until a final battle with the bad guy that would make a Power Ranger blush. It is bizarre and inexplicable, until the final scene which is supposed to be dramatic but simply hilarious, saturated with every bad camera trick and overacting that can be compressed in about thirty seconds.A decent one-time watch on the 'Mill Creek 50 Chilling Movie Pack'. Nothing that is going to bring you back, and nothing to buy on its own.
FieCrier
A young basketball-playing professor of genetics is doing research on the genetic sequence, using human fetuses. He hopes to be able to find a cure for all diseases and aging. He's pressured into concluding his research because he hasn't published, so the university is having trouble justifying funding him (I think).He does a trial injection on a monkey, which quickly dies. He then tries it on himself. He starts a relationship with the single mother of an extremely annoying little boy; she's the one who had been demanding results from the research.Initially, he seems to have no effects from the injection, except some new strength. He then realizes that he had some memory loss, and starts recalling what happened. Additionally, he starts to appear very unhealthy.Since the movie is named metamorphosis, he does eventually change into something else. You won't believe your eyes - either what he turned into, or the absolutely crappy costume the actor is wearing to depict what he's turned into. Incredibly, there's a further change in store - the end of the movie is really, really absurd.About the only thing this movie has going for it is that Laura Gemser is in it, but she has a very small part.I'd once seen a the video box for this with a sculpted plastic form glued to the boxcover. Possibly it might even have had some electronics in it at one time, perhaps eyes that light up (the main character's eyes occasionally turn green in the movie). The copy I watched had a box that only showed tear marks where the glue had held on the plastic, which had been removed. The novelty boxcover, if it still had it, would have been the only reason I would have held onto this movie; I'm definitely getting rid of it.