And that's it, I'm outta here.

Not really, but it's hard to figure out just what to say after that opening. I guess I'll go the dry route, mentioning that President Wolfman is a little like a lost episode of MST3K without the robot silhouettes. Per the back o' the box, it's 'made entirely from recycled, stock, & public domain footage, with a newly scripted, scored, and re-voiced soundtrack' including 'enhanced visuals and post production.' With that in mind, enjoy the story of President John Wolfman, a single dad who sprouts fur and kills folks during the full moon, just as his name would imply!

It's not all fun and games, though, as Wolfman contends with his crazy, homicidal Vice President, a D.C. murder-spree, and the Chimerica Bill, an evil scheme to subjugate America to the Chinese. Man, I'm telling you, that's a lot of plot points to juggle, especially as writer/director Mike Davis cobbles together visuals in such a way that you'll constantly be wondering whether the plot is driving the choice of imagery, or the other way around!

Clearly the backbone of the affair is a public domain weirdy called The Werewolf of Washington starring Dean Stockwell. This Frankenstein's version is a vast improvement over the original. But! In addition to lots of footage of Stockwell looking weird, wolfing out, attacking people and hanging out with a dwarf, you get way more other examples of public-domain madness than you can shake your dropped jaw at, including: charred corpses! Live birth! Various types of surgery! And more! If it doesn't completely gel, it's probably for the best. I'd rather watch an insane juggler keep six chainsaws in the air, over someone carefully preparing taxes any day.

President Wolfman slings boatloads of laugh-out-loud, sophomoric humor, including such deep hospital-type sentiments as; "take his butt-temperature, in his butt." (Trust me when I say that this is surprisingly funny in context.) And, umm, yeah. What else is there really to say? This type of patchwork ethos isn't new in any format: see Negativland, and Kurt Schwitters for starters. But as the Dada artists understood, if you're going to be ridiculous, be really ridiculous, and President Wolfman is just that. Tons of fun and laughs for a besotted evening. Recommended.

The DVD

Video:
President Wolfman comes in a 1.33:1 ratio transfer that reflects the origins of its source footage. That is to say, it looks all grainy and damaged and soft and suchlike. You can't really ask for more in this case, though, and throughout, compression problems are not in evidence.

Sound:
We suspect that the move has been delivered in a stereo format, and it sounds just fine. There isn't a ton of attention paid to crafty sound effect placement or gee-gaws of that ilk, but all the craptastic dialog is in the intelligible range, and mixed well with the score. Speaking of which, the score is '70s funk inspired and quite tasty.

Extras:
Extras include a Director's Commentary, (quite fun) Outtakes, (also fun, stuff that didn't make the final cut) Trailers, a Music Video, (the credits sequence, isolated) a Highlight Reel, (four minutes of fun stuff from the feature, if you decide you don't have 80 minutes to watch the whole thing) and a bunch of weird short films from back in the day, which were in part used to compose President Wolfman. Seriously, this is an hour of legitimate creepiness.

Final Thoughts:
President Wolfman is 80 minutes of whacked out found-footage and public domain insanity, slung together to tell the winsome tale of a gubernatorial lycanthrope at war with the forces of weirdness. It's stupid, clever, and provides a ton of boneheaded laughs. Grab your friends, grab some hooch, and relax. Recommended.

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