At the opening, you see some guy in a trench coat running around in the dark, watching two people on a date. Soon, this detached scene makes way for some recluse masquerading as a "scientist" who welcomes you into his quasi-Halloween type laboratory. He demonstrates for you an array of inventions here, such as a fog horn you can take to your grave, in case you wake up in your coffin after being buried. He also shows you a pebble that he uses to tune into dead peoples' radio stations. He has hair that looks like Don King on steroids, and he sounds like Pee Wee Herman's evil twin.
A brutal murder of a woman at a boarding house where a crossbow is used (!) is counted down to with a stop watch, as you meet the other tenants, who are the suspects in the killing: the elderly landlord, the victim's friend, a bible thumping zealot, a toothy-voiced DJ on a 5 watt radio station, a stereotypical German guy, a wimpy underweight peeping-Tom, and the landlord's daughter and bratty grandchildren. The characterizations are wonderfully and comically over-emoted and strained to the breaking point, especially by the wimp, the German, and the zealot. These guys are hysterical, but then, so is the bizarre version of a seance, where the goofy scientist tries out his invention to contact the victim. I love the red herring conclusion, which absent-mindedly ignores the whole premise of the movie.
The odd thing is how seriously the movie takes itself, as it endeavors to portray psychic investigations, and mix it with a murder mystery. The acting, scripting, and editing make this "strange case" come off as ludicrous camp. The MST3K gang had a field day with this one, and any connoisseur of humorously inept film making needs to see this movie.
