One of a British comedy series of “Carry On…” films (31 of them so far, from the ‘50s all the way through the ‘90s) starring Kenneth Williams. Imagine if Hammer Films made a tongue-in-cheek parody like Police Squad or Airplane. (Oh, wait… That was The Fearless Vampire Killers with Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, wasn’t it?) The memorable title song has that swingin’ 1960s flavor. Though the effects are cheap and tacky, the story and the comedic acting are good enough to make this better than most ‘B’ movies
Six young women have disappeared in the same area of Hokum Woods When Doris Mann goes missing, right from under the nose of her young lover, Albert Potter. He goes to the police… with a big, hairy finger that he found on the scene!
Sgt. Bung, who has a miserable home life and a nagging battle-axe of a wife, visits a nearby mansion where the master of the house is dead. They have a Lurch-like undead butler named Sockett, a Vampira-like woman named Valeria (Fenella Felding) is the mistress of the house, and Dr. Orlando Watt, (yeah, they do a Who’s on First bit) …who is dead, but regenerates himself using electricity or he will disappear like a ghost. And of course, there is a werewolf-styled ape-man who is kept in the cellar laboratory that is stocked with electrical apparatus, Jacobs ladders, gauges, beakers, and wax pools. They haven’t seen anything “strange” in months
Police lab scientist Dr. Fettle (played by Jon Pertwee, the third Doctor,) has analyzed the mysterious disembodied finger. It is that of a long-extinct homo-giganticus! (Dr. Watt found its body and brought it back to life, calling it Oddbod, and Valeria has the beast bring back women to turn them into wax dummies! They sell them to department stores.) Dr. Fettle applies electricity to the finger… and it regenerates a fully cloned Oddbod Junior!
When a local wash-house assistant offers the police a tip, he is killed. Detective Sergeant Bung goes straight to the sultry Valeria to ask if she knows anything. She asks if he minds if she smokes… turning into a mist. When we next see the police Sergeant, he can’t remember a thing about Bide-a-Wee Rest Home mansion or his investigation. But he seems very, very happy.
Then Mr. Potter finds a store window manikin who he swears is his Doris! When another woman disappears, (including the detective’s wife,) Bung has his assistant go undercover dressed like a woman as bait. He is taken! There is a showdown in the castle involving werewolves, a cloned ape-man, a vampiress, and a mummy! It has a wonderfully satisfying ending!
