Psychic Experiment

Two reviewers really like this movie, everyone else gives it a 1! I'm trying to be honest here, so I've got to give it a 6 (or 6+ -- I dunno). I started out watching this while running in and out of the kitchen, doing this and that, but about 1/3 of the way in it caught my attention and I actually sat down. Maybe it was seeing Reggie Bannister, or those really creepy hose-mouth people, or walls melting. Whatever it was, my jaw dropped at the sheer joyful insanity of this thing. Special effects ranging from really cool to horrible, a plot incorporating everything but kids in a cabin (thank god). I surrendered and went along for the ride, something the monotone world of 1 star regulars never seem to do. I've seen big budget sci-fi/horror films with name actors that don't give me the same kick as this kind of flick. And there are more and more as the current trend in blockbuster sf/horror plays out weekly. V1.0 was started by Sputnik and Atomic Energy; V.02 is today's fear of disease and global changes. "Psychic Experiment" had none of this -- or all, I'm not sure. My mind was blown!

Written, produced, directed and edited by Mel House, Psychic Experiment is an utter travesty of a sci-fi/horror—a convoluted, shoddily assembled mish-mash of seemingly random, poorly executed ideas boasting risible CGI effects that easily qualifies as one of the worst films I have ever seen. Well done Mel!

The plot concerns a top secret establishment called The Facility that carries out secret experiments which enable people to alter reality with their minds, but I defy anyone to make sense out of the many incomprehensible events that occur: mysterious sinkholes appear in the town for no reason, locals suffer from a higher rate of cancer than usual, a flaming woman is born out of a CGI sac and kills a man by filling him with wire that makes him explode, another man comes home to discover his son and wife have melted, a child molester (played by Reggie Bannister of Phantasm fame) causes toy dolls to come alive and kill people, people are randomly sucked into walls by black goop, a fat woman guts her son's girlfriend, and Adrienne King (Friday the 13th) leaves the Earth's atmosphere.

There is quite a bit of reasonably executed gore during all of this indecipherable garbage, and even a spot of nudity (one of the killer toy dolls pulls open a woman's top and smears her breasts with blood); while I usually award a point or two for gratuitous splatter and nekkidness, or simply for sheer weirdness, Psychic Experiment was such a perplexing and ultimately tedious viewing experience that on this occasion I'll stick with a rating 1/10. Any more than that would just be wrong.

I'd like to make it clear that although I didn't think much of this movie, this review isn't going give it a major kicking just for the sake of it as there was undoubtedly some promise shown by director Mel House.

However, Mel House is also credited as Producer, Writer and Editor and I find that problematic.

There are one or two standout scenes in the movie, both of which feature Reggie Bannister. One particular scene, in a supermarket is genuinely creepy and amusing at the same time. This scene alone deserves commendation.

However, the rest of the movie did seem to lack focus and there were times where scenes appeared to be overly bloated. There were other instances where any pace and urgency disappeared and this is where the case of having one guy be writer/director/producer/editor starts to look problematic.

One can blame budgetary restrictions, but the cast appeared larger than needed; there were characters who appeared to be extraneous.

In summary, there was some flair shown in a couple of set-pieces, but this movie lacked something which is essential and that is a story which grabs you and will keep you interested for 90 minutes. Without this, a movie becomes a chore, and that's what happened for me.

"We got word that something big was supposed to happen this week. We know that there is a skeleton crew here but everyone else is off site. I'm beginning to understand why." A small town that is home to a psych hospital is having a problem. The citizens are disappearing and dying gruesome deaths. A reporter is sent to investigate the mystery. To say this movie is bazaar is an understatement. To talk about this at all is going to lead to me giving something away. The only thing that I can say is that the acting and effects are not that impressive, and neither is the movie really, but it kept me watching. I have seen worse, but in the recent string of psych hospital movies this one is toward the bottom. If you are big into horror then you may like this, I though "The Ward" was better. Overall, I'm not sure if the acting and effects had an impact on how I felt, but I wasn't impressed by this. I give it a C-.

Well here we go pop pickers, right off the bat I thought this is going to be well weird. Scary effects and some syfy made for good 📼 viewing. Don't know why so many people are slating this film. Certainly entertained me for the two pounds i spent on it. So jacey gives it 5 stars biffin good horror cheers.