Something Weird

In some ways, this is H.G. Lewis's "Citizen Kane." He let himself truly express himself in this one, unrestrained by conventions of logic or continuity. It actually has more special effects than most of his movies – and less of them are gore than in most of the non-adult movies as well. The levitation scene is amazing – low budget filmmakers had been levitating people more effectively than that since Melies – but then he tops everything with the "blanket attack" sequence. Lewis must have been reading Leary, because he allows that LSD could be used for a peaceful purpose, although of course he also gives us a typical 60s "freakout" on top of it (acid can be used for good, but it has to hurt, I guess). This is a movie for a very special audience, which thankfully has found it.

An accident victim (Tony McCabe) makes a deal with a particularly hideous witch (Elizabeth Lee), in which he receives extraordinary ESP powers. He uses these powers to help the police solve crimes.

Just to be clear, the film features a paranormal plot involving LSD drug use, a psychic, a hideous witch who morphs into a sexy young woman, a séance, a kung-fu chopping socialite, ghosts, psychopaths and federal agents. If you can imagine all of this mixed together and fit into 80 minutes, you might have a vague idea of what sort of nonsense is going on here.

One thing that appealed to be was the focus on a maniac who is committing murders in the small town of Jefferson, Wisconsin. I suspect Lewis neither knew nor cared, but Jefferson is very much a real small town. And any shout-out to Wisconsin makes me happy.

I would consider myself a fan of Two Thousand Maniacs, I enjoyed The Gore Gore Girls and thought Blood Feast was OK; but in general, I don't consider myself a fan of Herschell Gordon Lewis and, in fact, every time I see another of his films; I generally become less of a fan. I'm not a cinema snob by any means and while I prefer to watch 'serious' horror films than trashy inept ones; I can appreciate this sort of stuff some of the time. However, Lewis' films are so inept that they often bypass the 'so bad it's good' mark and go all the way back to simply being bad; and that is certainly the case here. The plot moulds together several different ideas, all of them ridiculous. We focus on Cronin Mitchell; a good looking guy who becomes disfigured after an accident with a power line. There is some good news, however, as he also gets extra sensory powers. It's not long before an ugly witch comes to him for a psychic reading and offers him the chance to regain his good looks if he becomes her lover. He does, and then pair gets involved with a murder case.

The film features the usual Herschell Gordon Lewis level of class; obviously, none. The film is another excellent example of how not to make a movie, as the direction, acting, editing etc are all terrible. Perhaps the most horrible thing about the film is the old witch's make-up, and certainly not for the right reasons as it looks extremely cheap and obvious, and this is not helped by the performance from Mudite Arums, who gives it far too much and just comes off looking silly. The plot seems like it was written by a three year old and the way it flows makes absolutely no sense at all and the whole murder plot feels like it was thrown on the end as an afterthought (and it probably was). This film might appeal to those whole enjoy campy pieces of crap; but if you're not one of those people, I really can't think of much to recommend this for. Aside from being rubbish, I also found this film to be an insult to my intelligence and it almost feels like it was made for children. Overall, this is bad even for 'The Godfather of Gore' and everyone but his hardcore fans would do well to miss it!

Something Weird is aptly named. The story is unusual and a strange vibe is present throughout; either that or the psychedelic soundtrack. Don't expect top notch acting, but the main characters are good enough. I can't get the image of the hag's cackling laugh and her tongue sticking out. Poor Mitchell, this guy was so desperate to get his wish granted, but it shows how bitter Mitchell was with his condition. Ah, and the LSD scene was the high point for me. In that state, you would find a phone conversation as easy to handle with as quantum space mechanics.

However, I watched this and did want to see how it turned out. The ending seems abrupt and out of the blue, but it's a weird, kooky romp. Where else can you see a blanket attack?

Lewis's direction is as drab as usual here (cue long scenes of people executing actions from go to woe, free of editing in slow master shots) and there's no gore so don't expect any, yet I actually think that this appropriately named weird tale of ESP, a witch's pact and the mystery of a serial murderer is the best Lewis film I've seen by the standards of conventional film-making. The story has enough developments, payoffs and odd surprises that you may find yourself beguiled even without the typically sensational Lewis content in evidence. Fear not, though; the schlock quota is more than met by the ugly witch's bizarrely crap performance and by many classy moments of stilted dialogue and acting. The pushy jazz score is completely Wild and Crazy, and there's also a prolonged and silly chase on foot ala Blood Feast. The threads of this film don't logically feed each other at all, yet I think that the whole thing makes for a pretty good story, and as usual, the cheapness of budget means you can see and hear all the details of life in the year in which the film was shot.