Jay Kamen was an assistant story editor at American International Pictures when he got a call from producer Bob Wynn. Wynn served as a producer on Cellar Dweller for Charles Band’s Empire Pictures and needed a director. Kamen made a short film that won awards at the Miami Film Festival and the Festival of Festivals in Houston. Since this would be his first feature-length film, Kamen took the job and flew out to Rome for a meeting. He met with Charles Band, who gave him a script written by Mitch Brian, who previously wrote 1987’s Night Screams. The screenplay was about a space parasite that infects the lead and quickly spreads as an allegory for AIDS. Kamen cast Rex Smith for the lead role because he was a fan of his from The Pirates of Penzance. Armed with a small budget, Kamen filmed Transformations in the Empire Studios in Rome.
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Synopsis
Wolfgang Shadduck (Rex Smith) is a smuggler floating through space when a mysterious creature invades his ship. The alien shapeshifts into a beautiful woman (Pamela Prati), who seduces him and infects him with a deadly virus. In addition, the creature damages the ship, forcing it to crash land on a nearby prison planet. Wolfgang is recovered and nursed back to health by the prison doctor Miranda (Lisa Langlois), who immediately falls for him. Meanwhile, a group of prisoners – Calihan (Christopher Neame), Antonia (Cec Verrell), and Stephens (Michael Hennessy) – hatch an escape plan. They plan on taking Wolfgang hostage and forcing him to use his ship so they can escape the prison planet. Unfortunately, the disease starts consuming Wolfgang, turning him into a sex-crazed mutant who goes on a rampage. Will Wolfgang be cured, will the prisoners successfully escape, and where did the alien come from in the first place?
Review
With Transformations, it’s a movie that will be hard to review since not much happens in its 80-minute runtime. The opening scene checks off all the boxes of low-budget science-fiction: gratuitous nudity, weird-looking creatures, and minimal set design. Once Wolfgang’s ship crashes on the prison planet, the film grinds to a halt until roughly the last half hour. The production design is surprisingly decent in this movie’s defense, considering this was towards the end of Empire Pictures. Jay Kamen does a decent job for a first-time director, though most of the camerawork is substandard. With the creature effects, John Carl Buechler’s assistant William Butler does some good work considering the limited resources. Admittedly, we don’t see the whole alien creature except for the beginning and near the movie’s end. Aside from that, there are some decently gross prosthetics and gory death scenes sprinkled throughout.
Rex Smith makes a decent lead, though he doesn’t come off as a believable space smuggler like Han Solo. Lisa Langlois is alright as the female lead, though her dialogue sounds cliche, and there’s not much chemistry with Smith. Neame and Verrell are okay, but their characters aren’t that interesting, though Hennessy seems to be trying too hard. Despite his brief scenes, Patrick Macnee takes the material seriously and gives a performance that’s too good for this movie. The prison planet could’ve offered many opportunities, but the film doesn’t do much with this setting. Additionally, not much is explained, such as where the creature who infected Wolfgang came from or its ultimate demise. Despite these questions, this is a decent throwaway sci-fi monster movie that’ll at least kill some time. Overall, Transformations is fairly forgettable but it’s still worth a watch for Empire/Full Moon completionists.
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