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.

I don't think it's possible to write a review for Metamorphosis without revealing spoilers. The final scenes in the film after all are surely the ones that give it any cult value at all. So let me just cut to the chase. The point when the central character turns into a dinosaur is the moment where this movie differentiates itself from all others. It's completely stupid and very memorable. And then immediately after this, the prologue has the hero metamorphosed into a small lizard in a child's box. I'm sure Franz Kafka never envisaged any of this.The film is also notable for being written and directed by George Eastman, who is famous to most fans of Italian genre cinema as an actor who usually plays convincingly psychotic sociopaths in films such as Rabid Dogs. This flick clearly isn't in the same league as that one, and it is an indicator of the reduction in quality of Italian films in general by 1990. The fact that it's most memorable moments are of unintended (?) hilarity perhaps says it all. Although in fairness to Metamorphosis, its good fun and at least it actually has something memorable about it, which is more than can be said for many similar pictures.

~Spoiler~ Metamorphosis has one of those box covers that I remember seeing time and again as a child and never renting. So it had an air of nostalgia to it when I picked it up for dirt cheap at the local video store. However, that wears thin pretty quickly once the movie gets going. Metamorphosis plays like a low rent version of David Cronenberg's The Fly, which it is. A brilliant young scientist uses himself as a test subject, undergoes a radical change in cellular structure, and attacks his girlfriend. Sound familiar? Well, let me save you some time by telling you to just watch The Fly again. One interesting fact about the film was that it was written and directed by George Eastman. If you don't recognize that name you obviously don't follow Italian cinema. He's starred (that's right, he's an actor) in such classics as After the Fall of New York, Bronx Warriors, and Warriors of the Wasteland. But this is the only film he's officially directed. And I can't say that it's directed badly or even scripted badly. It just doesn't try to become its own movie. And on top of that, there is the acting and the effects. The acting is a bit shoddy from everyone, especially the kid. I know child acting must have its difficulties, but HOLY CRAP!! People hate that kid. And the effects aren't terrible...up to a point (and you will know that point). The big reveal during the finale is such a let down. The scientist turns into a big, rubber dinosaur. I asked myself "What was that?" "It was a nightmare...from the past." I was informed.

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.