Zotz la moneda mágica

Here's something that you don't see every day. In "Zotz!", a college professor (Tom Poston) discovers an ancient coin which has three uses for whomever holds it: if you point to someone, the person feels a sharp pain; if you say "zotz" to someone, the person goes into slow motion; if you point to someone and say "zotz", it kills the person. Not only does he start using it throughout town - with some unintended consequences - but the Soviet Union gets wind of the story (so you know what that means).

Overall, the movie was pretty (seeing him make Jim Backus move in slow motion was something), but the part about the Russian agents trying to steal the coin was sort of silly.

A professor of ancient Asian languages (Tom Poston) comes across a coin sent to his niece from a former student. After translating the coin's inscription, he finds that the bearer has godlike power: he can slow time, or even kill living things simply by pointing his finger and saying "zotz".

This is one of the lesser known William Castle films, not even released on DVD until October 20, 2009 (which you should pick up in the magnificent Castle Collection available now). It is less horror, more science fiction and a healthy dose of comedy. We have the absent-minded professor, some goofy Russians, and some cheesy special effects. Critics have complained that the film cheapens the book for the sake of focusing on special effects: I don't agree. The effects are amusing, but not a focal point of the film for me.

As for the book, which I confess I haven't read, it seems that Castle did not stray too far from the source. Written as an allegory about the danger of nuclear weapons during World War II, only one major change was made: moving the setting to the Cold War. The nuclear weapon analogy is there, and we have the hint of an arms race, which I think is a far more poignant issue than World War II's nuclear concerns.

I enjoyed this film greatly. As I said, you must pick up the William Castle Collection. He's truly a master of the genre, and even forgotten films like this illustrate that. I hope this film's release generates a resurgence of interest in Castle's films, or at the very least additional showings of them at screenings and on networks such as AMC.

Ya gotta admit it's a great title and Tom Poston is rather watchable for the nine-year-olds who are the target audience. It's just a silly chase over a coin with silly magical powers, and if one can overlook the Cold War propaganda was a fun fantasy for playacting with my little friends afterwards.

Watching it again as an adult I found it rather charmless but not a total bore.

Director William Castle, upon seeing the end results of this movie of his, seemed to have realized that this movie wasn't up to his previous movies. For one thing, the gimmick that he came up for this movie was to give patrons a copy of the coin seen in the movie. (Whoopie!) *I* certainly thought that this was one of his weakest efforts.

The premise of the movie, while not really original (even when the movie was made), still did have some promise. But there are two main problems that shoot down the movie. The first is that the characters act pretty stupid for most of the movie. Our hero is a college professor, yet the coin-related actions he does suggest he has put little thought into what he has discovered and what he should do with it.

The second problem is related to that first problem, in that most of the movie is devoted to him *not* using the coin to his advantage (which is what most people would do), or being responsible with the coin. You will keep wondering just when some conflict will come into the movie, and he will be forced to struggle, to bring some ACTION into the movie. Eventually (after more than an hour of the running time has passed), our hero is challenged, but he acts (again) so stupidly when someone with even average intelligence would figure out how to use the coin to end the conflict in just a few minutes.

Not even worth two cents.

William Castle's production of Zotz! is an engaging juvenile comedy featuring likeable Tom Poston as a fellow who comes across a coin that has magical powers, which in due time becomes a matter of interest to Soviet agents. The movie was heavily hyped for kids when first released, and pleased audiences at the time. Now it plays like a Disney version of an Ealing comedy, such as The Man In the White Suit, which it vaguely resembles, with Poston in the Alec Guinness role. This was an odd project for Castle, better known as a producer of horror movies, though it's pleasant enough if one is in an undemanding mood.