The Psycho Lover

This is the kind of film that can only be truly appreciated in hindsight. It's one of my most guilty of pleasures, the other being 'Ice House' a nasty little thriller of similar vintage.

Director ONeill I would wager saw his share of Bava, probably at least 'Blood And Black Lace'. The murder sequences in 'Psycho Lover' are marvelous set pieces. And interestingly, the women fight back & get in some good licks, these are not generally weak defenseless women.

The music through-out the film is spot on for the time period. There's just something very edgy about the entire proceedings that I really enjoy. Combined with this are some goofy sequences that again, I rather enjoy. ONeill is a capable director. His use of camera, editing approach, story telling ability, use of lighting & mood is first rate. Absolutely I'd rate this as grade A cinema in terms of technical marks, he gets an 'A' on all counts, good work.

Acting as well is first rate. No one really slows it down & everyone has ample time to work their characters into the plot & develop them fully. Dialogue is sharp as well. You may recognize Laurence Montaige from his stint is several Star Trek original series episodes playing a Vulcan, he looks like Spocks Brown Haired Cousin actually & was a natural for Star Trek. He's a capable actor & I always enjoyed his performances albeit I've not seen too much of his other work or am even aware of his professional career much outside this film & some TV work.

I first saw this title in a Drive-In theater before there was such a thing as the internet. Since then I was on the search having even forgotten the name proper of the film. However, images were burned into my brain forever & I was not going to forget this film & as luck would have it I finally struck pay dirt, first in VHS format. This current version is near pristine, good transfer & excellent condition.

I for one think the Dream Sequence is excellent. I like the whole film so sue me! You've got cool frantic music, a wild Daddy Roth style car, a speed boat, a super intelligent psychiatrist with a lake side cabin hide away, a hot to trot mistress, cool gadgets like cassette tape recorders, radar in his car ?! You've got a psychotic killer on the loose, a frustrated cop, a bitter drunken floozy of a wife...the psycho's land lady is named 'Mrs. Gerber'!?! yowza!

This is not however, the kind of film most of your friends will appreciate. The murders are fairly brutal & graphic (by standards of the time) & there's' definitely not too many PC moments a-happenin in this flick. We'll just have to accept the fact that some pleasures are purely esoteric & to explain them or expect too many others to feel the same way is unrealistic.

'The Psycho Lover'; if you love 60's / 70's psychotronic film, bizarre concepts, definitely NON-PC material, this film is for you. Any film that couldn't be made in todays climate gets 2 thumbs up from me anyways, just on principle alone. Check it out.

The plot of this film isn't exactly original; the film itself even admits to this by mentioning the classic film 'The Manchurian Candidate' halfway through, but for what it is; The Psycho Lover easily provides eighty minutes of entertainment, and it's an above average film to boot. The film centres on the idea of brainwashing someone into committing murder, although this plot doesn't come through until half an hour in, and it is a little difficult to ascertain what is going on at certain points. After the first half hour, I really wasn't expecting this to develop into anything, but things pick up once we see where things are going. Psychologist Kenneth Alden has a problem; he's got himself a hot girlfriend named Stacey, but his relationship with her is being held back by wife, who doesn't want to be with him because she doesn't loves him - but also doesn't want to give him a divorce because she knows not doing so will wind him up. When Stacey tells Kenneth about a film she has seen, 'The Manchurian Candidate', he gets the bright idea of brainwashing someone and having him kill his wife...

One problem I have with this film is that many of its scenes are far too drawn out. However, this isn't always a bad thing as many of these sequences are more interesting than they should be given the type of film. The scene in which we are introduced to Kenneth's wife is very strong, and the sequence that sees our serial killer stalk a victim through an empty house is actually quite exciting. The film was shot on a low budget, and this is always obvious although not that important; as there are no big stunts and the film admirably overcomes its budget restraints. The acting isn't bad either, and Lawrence Montaigne is good in the lead role. He receives good support from Jo Anne Meredith as his wife, while Frank Cuva and Elizabath Plumb bulk out the rest of the central cast. The ending is nice and ironic, and works well considering what has gone before it. Films like this are usually ten a penny, but this one stands out above similar movies, and I will say that if you consider yourself a fan of cult seventies cinema - this one is more worth tracking down than most!

Sexploitation whodunnit, in which a stocking masked creep commits a series of rapes and murders...but is the perpetrator the lothario doctor with a younger mistress and a ball busting, drunk wife? Or his patient? A raving misogynist who has been having a little too vivid dreams about the murders? Or the Edgar Allan Poe lookalike police inspector?

Around half way through the film tires of concealing the killer's identity and drops that angle in favour of lifting ideas from The Manchurian Candidate. A bit of pilfering that the filmmakers obviously felt guilty enough about to explicitly acknowledge the Manchurian Candidate influence in the dialogue. Director Robert Vincent O'Neil would soon after be making another sexploitation-noir "Blood Mania" for Crown International, and if anything The Psycho Lover feels like O'Neil's calling card to Crown International. It's very much in their slick, shot in L.A. style, with the rape-murder nastiness sharing the screen with trippy psychedelic flourishes, gyrating bewbs, T&A make-out scenes and romantic strolls around California beaches scored to soft rock songs. The screenwriter's idea of hip dialogue includes nuggets like "your ego hangs between your legs" and "the hairs on my ass stand on end every time I catch his scent". The doctor's flash car is also a sight to behold, and may temporary bamboozle you into thinking that The Psycho Lover is meant to be a futuristic film. The film overflows with so much love for that vehicle every time it's onscreen...you just know it had to be either someone's pride and joy, or that they'd been slipped a generous backhander to plug it in the movie.

Lawrence Montaigne (Kenneth) is a psychologist who is trying to get to the bottom of the murderous dreams being experienced by Frank Cuva (Mario). In the meantime, there is a murderer on the loose who is killing women just as Cuva describes. Montaigne is also in an unhappy marriage with Jo Anne Meredith (Valerie) and wants a divorce so he can start again with his younger mistress Elizabeth Plumb (Stacy). Only Meredith won't co-operate on this front. Montaigne gets an idea to involve Cuva in a plan….

It's a 1970s colourful trash fest, so you get loads of boobs. However, the ending makes it stand out as we get a seriously good 'Tales of the Unexpected' twist at the end. Ha ha. Brilliant. The film keeps going on the body count but there is no gore, thankfully. There is, however, far too much sexual activity included – not full on shagging – but you get the picture and these scenes outstay their welcome. In particular, the love scenes between Montaigne and Plumb. OK, we get the idea, please move on from this gratuitous nonsense. I don't want to watch him getting his tongue in there.

Overall, the film is worth keeping onto for the ending and, outside of the love-making scenes which drag, there are tense moments and the music is cool.

The Psycho Lover (1970)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Rather interesting thriller has psychiatrist Kenneth Alden (Lawrence Montaigne) helping a patient who is having dreams that he is raping and murdering women. Pretty soon the doctor begins to think that this is guy who is actually raping and killing. Instead of calling the police he instead tries to get the psycho to murder his own wife who is refusing him a divorce.

If you're a fan of Something Weird Video then you know they saved all sorts of strange movies. I love watching the stuff they put out but there's no question that the majority of the movies were quite bad but entertaining. This one here is actually a gem as it manages to try and be something more than just your typical skin flick. THE PSYCHO LOVER isn't a completely good movie but there's no question that it's a lot better than most of its type.

What really sets this film apart is the fact that it really does try to be more like a Hitchcock film than just some quickie sexploitation picture. The kill scenes in the picture are built for suspense and I give director-writer Robert Vincent O'Neill a lot of credit for trying to build up some tension instead of just going for cheap shocks. The attack scenes are well-staged and for the most part they pack a nice little punch.

The film does have some pretty campy moments and mainly the "love" scenes between the psychicatrist and his lover. Some of these scenes with the bubby gum love songs are quite embarrassing and so more damange than anything else. The performances aren't the greatest but they're at least serviceable for this type of picture. There's also quite a bit of nudity to supply some sleaze so fans should enjoy that.

THE PSYCHO LOVER certainly has some flaws and it doesn't quite make it to what I'd consider a "good" movie but at the same time there's enough going on here to make it worth calling it a gem.