Magie noire

What could be driving various beautiful young women to mutilate themselves? What do they all have in common? Could it be the devilish hypnotist Desmond (Jacques Bergerac) and his mysterious assistant Justine (the 50 foot woman, Allison Hayes)? A skeptical detective (Joe Patridge) becomes personally involved when a friend (Merry Anders) becomes the latest victim, and his own girlfriend (Marcia Henderson) falls under the spell of the hypnotist.

As with other movies from the era, this originally came complete with a gimmick designed to lure people away from their TV sets and into the theatres. In this case, that would be "Hypno-Magic". Overall, the movie is pretty amusing, with the suave, handsome Bergerac doing a fine job of taking centre stage. The makeup effects are fairly good for the time this was made, and some of the methods of self mutilation are a hoot, even if we don't see all of them: flammable shampoo, lye cocktail, face pressed into fan blades, etc. One has to wonder if Herschell Gordon Lewis was somewhat inspired by this one when he made "The Wizard of Gore" 10 years later.

The cast keeps it watchable, particularly the striking Ms. Hayes, who does have a (not terribly surprising) twist in store for us right near the end. The filmmakers also get some credit for not over explaining things; for example, not giving us a back story for Desmond and Justine. The movie takes a brief detour into beatnik culture at the start of the second half, showcasing poet Lawrence Lipton and bongo drummer Eric Nord. Jimmy Lydon plays an emergency doctor, and in another doctor role the real life "Great Impostor" Fred Demara is cast.

"The Hypnotic Eye" is agreeable goof ball entertainment for people looking for a vintage "shocker".

Six out of 10.

A previous entry says, in so many words, "this movie is not to be missed." Try FINDING this movie. Until it's released on DVD, a decent copy is impossible to find, even on Ebay. There are some there but they are cheap bootlegs.

"The Hypnotic Eye" is a fairly effective B movie about a spate of self-mutilations by beautiful women who appear to be in a trance when they do the deed. A detective tries to unravel the link between the victims and a stage show that features a hypnotist that they have all attended.

A lot of what appears in the movie is fun, although "The Hypnotic Eye" is barely 70 minutes long, and a lot of this is padding, featuring several needlessly long looks at the "hypnosis" act, as well as a very tiresome sequence set in a beatnik bar where we have to watch the whole show of beatnik music and poetry. It's a shame, because these really slow down the action. Surely it would not have been to difficult to make the actual storyline events take up some more time.

The acting is ok, although a little hammy. The story actually has a really brutal side to it, as the methods the ladies use to self-harm are all pretty twisted. We don't witness many of them happening, but seeing somebody screaming with their hair fully ablaze is quite something for 1960 (even if it's not very realistic). Some of the "after" make up of the others victims is also pretty good.

If all the padding was stripped out, this would rattle along and be a lot more fun, but it would be over in less than an hour! The plot really is tiny and there is barely any quality time given to the climax, in fact events dash to the closing credits with far too much haste...a little time spent on a proper ending and explanation would have been nice. Still, it's pretty entertaining while it lasts.

Involving story starts out with separate reports of young and beautiful women intentionally disfiguring themselves. Investigators come to think they may be linked to a suave hypnotist (Jacques Bergerac) and his sexy female assistant (Allison Hayes in one of her best roles), so one of the detectives decides to use his own girlfriend as bait. This is a consistently interesting film, even if you have to suspend a good deal of disbelief in accepting how easily the culprit can get away with his schemes. The whole concept feels ahead of its time for the period and there are some surprises, especially in a reveal at the end. Good movie. *** out of ****

Okay, I realize that's not saying much. However, this is probably the best movie Allison Hayes was in (however, I do very much enjoy the Unearthly, but Hayes is terrible in that).

Plot concerns a hypnotist (Desmond) who is having beautiful young women mutilate themselves. I won't give it away, but the suspense is good and the movie isn't gory even though the mutilation methods would lead you to believe so (washing hair in fire, washing face with sulfuric acid, brushing face with fan blades, etc).

Hayes plays the evil assistant to Desmond and you're really not sure why she and Desmond are evil until the Climax. Not to be missed!