Anatomy of a Psycho

"A young man is despondent over the conviction and subsequent execution of his older brother. Having idolized his brother to the point of it being an obsession, the young man cannot believe he was guilty, even though he was, and swears to avenge him. The crazed young man decides to carry out his revenge by tracking down and killing all the officials and jurors responsible for his brother's trial and execution," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Boris Petroff's "Anatomy of a Psycho" is a pale period piece, which seemingly sought to (given the title) bask in the glow of two significantly more timeless films. It might have been interesting had it tweaked the covertly homosexual relationship between Darrell Howe (as Chet Marco) and Frank Kiliman (as Bobby Brown), for starters.

By the way, it's easy to mistake Mr. Howe for Ronnie Burns (as Mickey Craig), due to the latter's star billing. Mr. Burns, who plays a slightly more secondary role to Mr. Howe's "bad boy" lead, was the more well-known actor, due to his appearing from 1955-'59 on his parents' TV series. Relax, Ronnie does not stray too far from his familiar role as the nice young son of George Burns & Gracie Allen.

*** Anatomy of a Psycho (1961) Boris Petroff ~ Darrell Howe, Ronnie Burns, Pamela Lincoln

The son of Burns and Allen plays a cold, messed up 25 year old teenager with a group of 25 year old high school friends. His brother is sent to the electric chair and he gets tunnel vision concerning him. There is nothing wrong with the premise. It's just that the acting is atrocious and the plot so stupid. There are two kinds of kids: the punks and the Leave It to Beaver crowd. The scene where the psychotic guy is invited to a party by his sister's boyfriend is absolutely ludicrous. You almost expect him to say, "They're going to have a clown and everything." Anyway, the good guy gets framed and the movie is about how that is handled. One thing I've noticed in watching all these films of the forties and fifties. If you kill someone, no matter the circumstances, they send you to the chair. They try really hard to make this one social commentary, but it's beyond help.

some of same music as "Plan 9" scar came and went as well as changed size killed guy--made it look like another guy killed him.

The title "Anatomy of a Psycho" would certainly lead you to believe this would be an exciting and most likely salacious film. I was very surprised, as the film was anything but like this. It was, surprisingly, a bit dull. The story is about a screwed up young man whose older brother was convicted on murder and was executed. However, the guy won't believe that his brother was guilty and he's sworn to get revenge on those who convicted him. Now considering that much of what he does for revenge requires planning and a cool head, this isn't exact what anyone would term psychotic! Sociopathic....sure...but NOT the behaviors of a psycho. So, I was expecting a wild-eyed and over the top performance by the guy...but got very, very little of this. What a disappointment. In addition to not living up to the title and being a bit dull, the film also suffers from occasional poor acting and a moving and disappearing scar! What do I mean by this? Well, the troubled young man gets his face slashed in the beginning of the film but the continuity is so bad that in some scenes it's gone and in later scenes it's back! And, often the scar grows and shrinks before your eyes! It should also be noted that some of the music was previously used in "Plan 9 From Outer Space"--need I say more?

The bottom line is that this is a bad though not horrible film. And, it's not bad enough to be funny--just pretty dull. Probably not worth your time.

The perils of independent filmmaking are demonstrated in this sour, depressing movie, an example of anti-entertainment. Not a "psychotronic" film (with apologies to author Michael Weldon, who I knew quite well back when he wrote that influential tome) with some outre content, but merely a tedious crime movie, with a terrible cast, non-direction and the dubious hook decades later of having Ed Wood as one of the writers.

Were it a sexploitaton movie, within the parameters of censorship of the time, it could have been titillating. Or if it were explicitly violent in some way, that would satisfy a different audience need. But these overage juvenile delinquents on display offer zero point of identification, and the genre hooks of fantasy, horror, you name it, are missing.

So, when this was made fans could watch infinitely better crime shows on TV, ranging from police procedurals like "Naked City" to suave detectives in action, all of which featured the best talent imaginable (including numerous stars of the future like Redford, Duvall and Martin Sheen just starting out).

It may be that I am out of touch with 60's movies, but I am still waiting for the psycho. Great plot idea (man going insane over the wrongful death of his brother)- lousy deliverance, and was the dance scene really necessary??? I picked this movie up in a garage sale set of horror schlock and was extremely disappointed in this low budget afterthought of a movie. I couldn't even bring up the energy to make fun of it. The only good thing I can report on this was it was only 70 minutes. one minute longer and the psycho would be running through my house, cruelly torturing my DVD player. Say goodnight Gracie - this movie is toast.