Psychic Killer

Psycho killer flicks are a penny a dozen, but at least this one has something about it. Psychic Killer was released before the slasher craze really kicked off, and is surprisingly more original than many films in its class. The idea behind the plot is, of course, pure B-grade horror hokum, but somehow it works out better than many 'man with a knife' flicks. The film was obviously hampered by budget constraints, and this comes across by way of the fact that much of the movie is dialogue based. The film also has something of a cheerful tone about it, and despite messy scenes that see hands ripped apart by meat grinders and someone crushed under a slab of cement, the movie never really shocks all that much. The plot follows a man who is in a mental institute after being wrongly accused of murder. While there, he learns the ability to 'psychically' leave his body, and upon getting out and realising his mother has died while he was locked away, he vows to use his new found power to get his revenge on everyone that he believes has wronged him.

The film moves slowly throughout, and since a lot of the scenes focus on dialogue, Psychic Killer never really gets a good rhythm going, and every time we see an exciting sequence, it's generally followed by a slow one. This is obviously a result of the budget constraints, although the screenplay is also somewhat at fault as the movie could easily have made more of its central sequences without over stretching the budget. The plot idea is actually one of the film's strongpoints. It's silly and ensures that the movie is very much on the 'B' side of cinema, but it's also really rather interesting. The characters drag the piece down, however, as none of them are given any time to develop and there isn't anyone on the roster that is particularly easy to identify with. The gore scenes are few, but the one that takes place in a butchers shop is a treat. Other murders that see people killed by 'accidents' are rather sinister, but also rather humorous and overall, even though this film isn't brilliant; there's enough to recommend it to genre fans for.

"Psychic Killer" is quite amusing, and at the least can boast a twist on the usual sort of vengeance-themed murder spree. Some viewers might say that the ideas being explored deserve a much better cinematic treatment, but as schlock goes, this movie does show its audience a decent time. There's a fair bit of gore, and a little bit of imagination in terms of the death scenes. As guided by former actor turned director Ray Danton ("Deathmaster"), this has also got a hell of a cast of familiar faces to keep things watchable.

Jim Hutton plays Arnold Masters, a Norman Bates type who was wrongly convicted of murder and sent to a mental institution. While incarcerated, he makes the brief acquaintance of fellow patient Emilio (character actor Stack Pierce, who has a strong presence). Emilio provides Arnold with the tools to orchestrate murders while not being physically present at the murder scenes. As a result, flustered police lieutenant Jeff Morgan (Paul Burke) has to try to solve killings that don't make any sense.

The concepts of Kirlian photography (which can be seen behind the opening credits) and astral projection are good enough of a hook to reel viewers in. Hutton is good as the unbalanced protagonist. Making appearances are Julie Adams and Whit Bissell from "The Creature from the Black Lagoon", Nehemiah Persoff, Rod Cameron, Neville Brand (as a butcher whose only real "crime" is charging too much for his meat), Aldo Ray, and Della Reese. Mary Charlotte Wilcox supplies the T & A as a sexpot nurse who likes to tease her bedridden patient. In a supporting role is film director Greydon Clark ("Without Warning"), who co-wrote the picture with Danton and Mikel Angel.

This movie is "good" fun, although it does lead to a pretty horrific finale.

Seven out of 10.

Kirilian photography is featured throughout this intriguing film. Although promoted as horror, the sci-fi element is strong. Mental patient, Jim Hutton, eliminates his enemies with "accidents" carried out through psychic phenomena. Naturally this series of bizarre killings has the police quite perplexed. Such creative dispatches to the beyond as dropping a cement slab on his shyster lawyer, could easily be interpreted as "black comedy". The lets get right down to "business" romance between policeman, Paul Burke, and Hutton's Psychiatrist, Julie Adams, even has some levity to it. The movie has sexual titillation, nudity, splatter, creative kills, and an original and impressive ending. In short, a good exploitation film, with an interesting sci-fi premise. - MERK

As a result of being wrongfully accused of murdering a doctor and being put in a mental institution, Arnold Masters plans bloody vengeance on everyone directly or indirectly responsible for the death of his poor old mother. Luckily (for him) he inherited a medallion carrying a supernatural force and this allows Arnold's spirit to step out of the body and to commit the murders without leaving a trace. The premise of "Psychic Killer" is giant nonsense but it does guarantee a lot of fun and thrills. Besides, there are more than enough elements that indicate that this movie shouldn't be taken too seriously, like the over-the-top acting and the exaggeratedly ludicrous killings. This movie looks suspiciously much like a standard Roger Corman production: the budget is extremely low, but the ingeniousness of the script and the enthusiasm of the B-cast widely make up for it (Neville Brand and Julie Adams are particularly splendid). In case you like older horror and you have a morbid sense of humor, you're destined to like this cute piece of 70's schlock. The climax is tremendously hilarious and it looks quite a lot like a demented version of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". No essential viewing whatsoever, but a gigantically entertaining 'video-nasty' I can't recommend highly enough.

To be honest, I actually looked forward to watching the entire movie...but then again I'm used to watching the worst of the worst Blaxploitation movies.

But the acting was actually really good. Of course all the characters names have already slipped my mind, but the female psychologist was really good, can't remember if I've seen her in anything else - guess I should research that.

The 'meat' scene was a lot more graphic than I expected. It was cool to see Judith Brown in something else other than all the Pam Grier movies I've seen.

One thing to improve Psychic Killer would have been more of Stack Pierce (THE black Visitor from the TV Series 'V') in the film (at least some more flashback shots would've been cool). Another thing may have been a non-matted widescreen print. Couple of things were cut off in this print. In other words, I think it was shot in 4:3, but matted for the DVD/theatre release.

I really liked this movie, and will keep it in my collection.