The Daily Stream: President Wolfman Proves You Don't Even Need A Camera To Make A Great Horror Comedy
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Movie: "President Wolfman"
Where You Can Stream It: TubiTV
The Pitch: Being the President of the United States is a tough job, but for John Wolfman, his political problems are much worse than anything Watergate or even the January 6th insurrection could have brought to the table. President Wolfman is in an uphill battle to prevent his opponents from selling the United States to China through a controversial "Chimerica" international merger bill, save his son Bobby from being killed by his murderous Vice President, judge a Miss Teen Beauty Pageant, solve a mysterious series of brutal murders throughout the capitol, avoid both a crazed scientist and a vindictive Smokey the Bear, and try to hide the fact he transforms into a werewolf during every full moon.
If "President Wolfman" sounds absolutely bananas, it's by design, but unlike other ridiculous horror comedies, "President Wolfman" was made without ever shooting a single frame of footage. Crafted entirely from recycled stock and public domain footage, the creatives behind "President Wolfman" wrote a new script, score, and digitally enhanced all of the footage to create a movie all their own. Talk about eco-friendly filmmaking.
Why it's essential viewing
I first caught "President Wolfman" at the bi-annual Cinema Wasteland Horror, Drive-In and Grindhouse Movie Convention, knowing absolutely nothing about the film other than the premise of seeing a movie made entirely out of recycled footage. Most of "President Wolfman" is made from clips of the truly abysmal Dean Stockwell film "The Werewolf of Washington," (also available on Tubi) a 1973 horror "comedy" meant to satirize the Nixon presidency.
The film uses clips from "Werewolf of Washington" alongside vintage international Coca-Cola commercials, short films you'd probably see in a 1983 health class, old PSAs with cheap production value — all Frankensteined together to create the final product. Filmmaker Mike Davis claims that "President Wolfman" comprises 112 different pieces of public domain and stock footage, with the redubbed script miraculously bringing it all together.
"President Wolfman" was made with tongue planted firmly in cheek, with envelope-pushing (and often offensively racist) comedy bits that somehow manage to become a genuinely clever satire of American culture, politics, and B-movie filmmaking. "President Wolfman" isn't trying to offend for the sake of being shocking, but to point out how ridiculously problematic the B-movie genre often was. It's as if someone had an AI binge-watch the entirety of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and try to generate a movie of their own using the available footage, and it somehow works beautifully.
What makes a film, anyway?
"President Wolfman" is by no means the first "green film," with even prolific filmmaker (and disgusting excuse for a human being) Woody Allen redubbing the Japanese film "Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi" to make his debut feature, "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" While "President Wolfman" could be easily written off as an experimental gimmick, it instead turns into a remarkable exercise in the limitless possibilities of indie horror. It's clear that Davis put genuine thought and talent into crafting this hidden gem by hiring a genuinely talented cast of voice-over artists to provide the dub, including Marc Evan Jackson ("The Good Place," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine") who stars as John Wolfman.
A film like "President Wolfman" is worth seeing if only for the sheer audacity of its existence. The footage does not edit together seamlessly, the visuals vary wildly in quality, and in no way does the dub even remotely look close to matching the actors' mouths, but in a weird way, it only adds to the film's charm. People often ask for a good horror comedy to watch with a group of friends so everyone can laugh, cheer, and throw popcorn, and this is precisely that brand of movie.
"President Wolfman" asks the audience to question what exactly defines a "film," and begs us to find something to love in even the most poorly received and forgotten films of yesteryear. There's value in absolutely everything that has ever been committed to screen, as long as you know how to use it. "President Wolfman" breathed new life into a mess of footage most people have pushed to the margins, and turned it into something wholly unique. If that doesn't speak to the ingenuity of indie horror, I don't know what else will.