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There will be inevitable comparisons to The Sorcerers and Witchfinder General(from the same director), from personal opinion Witchfinder General is the better film, technically and dramatically but The Sorcerers is the more entertaining one, Witchfinder is very shocking even now(easy to see why it was banned at the time) and while both have great atmosphere The Sorcerers a little more so. The Sorcerers is not the perfect film, but you don't really expect that, the first 10 minutes did come across as gaudy and trashy which will put put anybody off, while Estelle's descent into madness could have taken longer to develop and been less abrupt and the script-while mostly solid- can have a tendency to be turgid and overly silly. The Sorcerers is decently shot and the evocation of the 60s hippie era is effective and accurate. There is a great soundtrack, and the atmosphere is both fun and creepy. The story can have some dull spots but has a good sense of terror, suspense and thrills. Michael Reeves, who died tragically far too early, directs assuredly, while the acting is good by all. Ian Ogilvy, Victor Henry and Susan George hardly disgrace themselves in support, but they are outshone by both Boris Karloff and especially Catherine Lacey. Karloff is very dignified, menacing and adroit, even when not as active and towards the end of his career he still has what made him a good actor in the first place. Lacey overdoes it a tad at times but that doesn't matter at all when she is such fun to watch and is as scary as she is. In conclusion, atmospheric and entertaining, the first 10 minutes are a turn-off but if you stay with it you'll find a film, even with its imperfections, that is much better than it's given credit for. 7/10 Bethany Cox

It is really astonishing to see how movies from the sixties could get to be very exciting in the horror genre, hardly using any special effects and relying exclusively on the acting of the cast. In this goo die, the old lady really scared me with her eager emotions and the well played desire to live a more dangerous life. Though not really exceptional in one way or the other, the movie creates a very realistic and horrid atmosphere, based upon the simple assumption of mind control. When compared to modern horror movies where bad acting seems to be a basic requirement, the attention is constantly drawn to the tits of the leading, utterly stupid actresses, and the only -supposed to be - scary effect is raised by some fast moving camera shots and horrid gore scenes, this film is a real gem. It furthermore charmed me as a documentary of the sixties, as in a no nonsense style the popular youth culture is shown as it must have been...

There's something that suggests world domination in Boris Karloff's first description of his technique to hypnotize young people but this is soon dispelled by a surprising performance in a rather average film. Interestinglyly pieced together, the director tries hard to portray the idea of control which only sometimes works, but nevertheless does get better as the film nears a climax. Predictable in plot but still violent enough to present a challenge to those expect a little more from their Karloff movies. Great just to see Karloff in an argument in a newsagents at the very beginning - not a usual scene from your run-of-the-mill fantasy thrillers!

The once great hypnotist Prof Marcus Montserrat has fallen on hard times since being ridiculed by the press. He now lives in a tiny flat with his loyal wife, selling his services in the window of newsagents. His master project of mind control sits without a subject until wife Estelle hits on the idea of offering the mind-control device as some sort of wild new trip to a generally disaffected youth looking for the next thrill. With this they manage to recruit one Mike Roscoe and find that they can influence his actions and also experience the sensations that he is feeling, whether it is washing his hands or the flutter of desire for a young woman. The power of the device demonstrated, Marcus has plans for the direction it will go but Estelle finds the ability to experience youthful sensations again in your young body to be a great gift that she is unwilling to part with so easily.

Everything about this film screams that it will be poor. From the very start we learn that it is dated by throwing in so many "hip" aspects in an attempt to appeal to a younger audience while also being a film late in the life of Boris Karloff where it appears he has selected it because it means most of his scenes are done indoors. The gaudy colour/cinematography doesn't help either and within about ten minutes I could feel my brain writing this review already – dismissing it as a trashy piece of 60's trash, trading on "hip" clichés of youth and music while also alluding to better by having Karloff at the head of the cast. To some extent this first impression is correct because it is very much all of these things but yet it manages to have enough about the central plot to prevent it being a cheap and easy horror film but is something better.

It does this by making the scenes with the Monsterrats the most important and engaging scenes in the film and all the 1960's trimmings and young people remain just that – trimmings. The real battle is occurring within this tiny front room and somehow the two cast members manage to make this work despite spending most of their time pretending to feel stuff or concentrating really hard with their eyes closed. Sure Karloff is the star here and does do good work but the film is stolen by a great turn from Catherine Lacey as his wife Estelle. Her fall into madness is well delivered and she becomes the dark heart to the story, even overpowering Karloff himself. Outside of these two the film is generic young people. Ogilvy does reasonably well to convince at being controlled, Ercy and Henry run around and Sheridan looks drop-dead gorgeous. As director Reeves is guilty of some obvious shots and places but when he is in the flat with just Lacey and Karloff, he does manage to produce a genuinely tense atmosphere that is maintained in that room all the way to the memorable final shot.

The Sorcerers is not a perfect film by any means but it is much better than I thought it would be and much better than all the trimmings suggest it deserves to be. It has dated and is deliberately "hip" but it works thanks to Karloff, Lacey and some genuine tension in the confines of a grotty little flat.

The aged Karloff stars as a disgraced hypnotist, eager to try out his new thought transferal device at the urge of his domineering wife (Lacey). Finding an ideal subject in a jaded youth (Ogilvy), the couple discover they can vicariously experience his every sensation while controlling his actions. Karloff wishes his invention to be used for the crippled and elderly to take a virtual vacation, while his wife revels in the thrill of committing various crimes through the young man. Her wishes increase from theft to murder. After she has successfully shattered Ogilvy's life and relationships, it boils down to a battle of wits between the two for control of the young man's psyche. It plays like an episode of the original Outer Limits series, with the couple's venture into realms man was not meant to explore, and tragic denouement although there is no Control Voice to lull us back to normality or offer a moral here.

Michael Reeves made one other film, the stunning Witchfinder General before taking his own life at the age of twenty-five. Who knows what the film's enfant terrible director might have accomplished had he lived? From subtle tricks of lighting, and the use of a story that fits the budget, to imaginative shots and an emphasis on action, it contains all the elements today's independent filmmakers should take note of. It is worth noting Ogilvy would later take on the role of mad scientist involved in mind control techniques in Fugitive Mind.

While dated in many aspects, it's a shame this film is all but forgotten, and unavailable commercially.