Psychic Killer

WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS: During the 70's, Kirlian Photography and Astral Projection were all the rage (even though Kirlian Photography was discovered in the 1930's). The explanation is simple: every object, even inanimate objects, have their own energy force and there was now a way to photograph it and even manipulate it. Entire films were made in the 70's on the subject (INVISIBLE STRANGLER - 1977; PATRICK - 1978; THE KIRLIAN WITNESS - 1979), and this film, originally to be called THE KIRLIAN FORCE, but changed at the last minute, is one of actor/director Raymond Danton's (DEATHMASTER - 1972; CRYPT OF THE LIVING DEAD - 1973; and much episodic TV; Danton passed away in 1992 at the age of 60) most unusual efforts. The film begins with Arnold Masters (Jim Hutton; DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK - 1973) going crazy at a prison mental institution, screaming "Everything I love dies!" (about his mother; she passed away six months earlier and they just told him now). He has been unjustly committed to the mental hospital for a murder he didn't commit and his personal doctor Laura Scott (Julie Adams; CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON - 1954) is worried about his mental state, especially since he has been so calm before. The prison hospital then puts him in a ward with even worse mental patients, where Arnold meets Emilio (Stack Pierce; TRANSFORMED - 2003), who stands by a fence on the hospital's roof and tells Arnold that he "is waiting for a train" (It is probably the film's most emotional moment) as an AmTrack train passes below them. Arnold declares his innocence to Emilio, telling him how his mother got sick, but because he didn't have the money, the doctors wouldn't operate on her to save her life. He wanted to sell his mother's old home, but she wouldn't allow it and when one of the doctors ended up murdered, Arnold was convicted of murder but judged mentally unfit to serve jail time. Emilio, on the other hand, professes his guilt and tells Arnold that he murdered his daughter because she became a drug addict and sullied the family name. He also tells Arnold that once he kills his daughter's drug dealer (he plans on slitting his throat), he will give Arnold a chance to leave the institution for good. One night, Arnold watches as Emilio uses an amulet to go into some kind of a trance and the next morning, he tells Arnold that he now has to "catch that train", so Emilio climbs over the fence and jumps to his death while an AmTrack train passes. Emilio leaves Arnold all his possessions, including the amulet and a letter that was just delivered that morning that is nothing but a newspaper clipping that says a drug dealer was murdered by having his throat cut from ear-to-ear last night. Arnold then knows that Emilio was able to leave his body by using the amulet and tries it on himself. A hospital orderly finds Arnold on the floor and he is declared dead and brought to the morgue for an autopsy. When the coroner begins to make an incision into Arnold's chest, he suddenly wakes up and the hospital's head doctor (Rod Cameron) tells Laura that if this news gets out (that they tried to autopsy a live person), their hospital will be closed down. Luckily for Arnold (and the hospital) the real person who committed the murder blamed on Arnold confessed, which makes Arnold a free man. He heads for his mother's old house, which is full of cobwebs and has a nice white kitty as a resident. The cat actually gives Arnold the idea of using the power he now has of leaving his body (known as "Astral Projection" or having an "Out Of Body" experience [or OOB]) and getting even with those responsible for his mother's death. His first victim is Dr. Paul Taylor (Whit Bissell; I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN - 1957), the doctor that refused to give his mother the life-saving operation without being paid first. The sleazy old doctor brings a married woman to his cabin in the woods for some nookie, but Arnold talks throughout the entire ordeal and only Dr. Taylor can hear it. It drives the doctor crazy and he goes outside with a shotgun. We hear one shell being fired and then Dr. Taylor is found dead with a broken neck. The detective on the case, Lt. Jeff Morgan (Paul Burke; THE DISEMBODIED - 1957), is stymied by the case because it is obvious the nervous married woman doesn't have the strength to snap a neck. Arnold's next victim is his mother's uncaring Nurse Burdon (Mary Wilcox; LOVE ME DEADLY - 1972; BLACK OAK CONSPIRACY - 1977), who we see sexually teasing a terminal patient in his own home, before doing a striptease and taking a shower. It will be the last shower of her life because the shower head begins to emit scalding water (and turns in her direction so she cannot avoid it) and the nurse is unable to get out of the shower until she crashes through the glass shower door. Again Jeff and his partner, Lt. Dave Anderson (Aldo Ray; TERROR ON ALCATRAZ - 1987) are flummoxed, as the apartment building's hot water heater is incapable of reaching scalding temperatures. Jeff sends Police Sgt. Marv Sowash (filmmaker Greydon Clark, who co-wrote this film with Danton and genre vet Mikel Angel) to the scene of the first crime to see if he can find something that the crime scene investigators missed. Jeff doesn't realize that Marv was Arnold's arresting officer and his next victim, as Arnold takes control of his car and drives it off a cliff, killing Marv. When Jeff interrogates a motorcycle cop (Marland Proctor) who was chasing Marv for speeding, the cop tells Jeff that he could swear he heard Marv say "Help me!". Now that there are three unexplained deaths, Jeff makes the connection of all the deaths with Arnold and keeps a close eye on him and his house by telescope at a house located across the street. Laura also joins Jeff because she is deeply concerned about Arnold and they both spy on him going into such a deep sleep that even continued phone calls don't wake him up (Arnold is actually murdering construction tycoon Harvey B. Sanders [Joseph Della Sorte], who wanted to tear down his mother's house, by dropping a heavy cornerstone on his body using a crane.). It's not long before Laura and Jeff become lovers and sleep together at Jeff's house. It is there that Laura spots Arnold in the kitchen (who has left his body once again), who tells Laura that he watched Laura and Jeff making love and he wishes that it was him instead. When Jeff enters the kitchen, Arnold disappears and Laura tells Jeff that they need to see an old friend of hers, Dr. Gubner (Nehemiah Persoff; THE POWER - 1968), who is an expert on Kirlian Photography and how some humans are able to let their energies leave their bodies to have Out Of Body experiences. Jeff, Laura, and Dr. Grubner go to Arnold's house, where they discover he is in another trance (a trance that actually makes the body look dead). Arnold is actually out killing crooked butcher Lemonowski (Neville Brand; THE MAD BOMBER - 1972) for charging too much for his meat (and putting his hand on the scale)! Lemonowski then is forced to put his hand in a meat grinder (the film's bloodiest effect), has his arms tenderized and then has all his appendages cut off by a band saw (offscreen). When Jeff, Laura and Dr. Grubner make it to Lemonowski's butcher shop (thanks to a police radio report), they find the torso of Lemonowski hanging on a meat hook. Jeff comes up with a brilliant idea on how to stop Arnold: The next time he goes into one of his trances (which he does, to take Laura sexually by force), he will have a doctor next to Arnold's body to sign a death certificate and then his lifeless body will be transported to the nearest crematorium to be burned. That's exactly what Jeff does, and as Arnold's body is being burned alive, the non-corporeal Arnold (who is rapidly deteriorating because of the fire) appears to Laura to say one final thing: "Everything I love dies!" For a film that was Rated PG (this is the 70's version of PG, not the watered-down version of today), this film is very violent in spots (without actually being bloody or gory) and is not shy in showing Mary Wilcox's nipples and naked ass more than a few times when she is taking a shower. The film is never boring and is chock-full of stars familiar to fans of the horror genre (the majority of them are no longer with us) and is a perfectly fine way to spend 90 minutes of your time. Jim Hutton (who died at age 49 in 1979) is rather low-key, but effective, and everyone else does a more than adequate job in the acting department. The final shot (of the cat with the amulet) left this film wide open for a sequel (Could Arnold have transferred his energy into the cat?), but it never happened. That's a shame, because this film is a nice relic from the 70's, when any plot device could be used effectively without seeming corny. Highly recommended. Also starring Della Reese (in a funny cameo where she argues with Lemonowski about his meat practices and accepting Food Stamps), Judith Brown, John Dennis, Bill Quinn and Sandra Rustam (daughter of producer Mardi Rustam, who directed the bad film EVILS OF THE NIGHT - 1985; and directed the new scenes of EVIL TOWN - 1974/1985), Originally released on VHS by Embassy Home Entertainment. But if you want to see the film as it should be seen, buy the DVD from Dark Sky Films and watch it in all its widescreen anamorphic glory. It's short on extras (just some TV spots and the theatrical trailer), but it is a beautiful print that hasn't been washed away of grain. Don't let the PG Rating fool you, this is adult stuff. Rated PG.

This is a review for the Dark Sky Films dvd. This DVD looks good and will probably never look better. Unfortunately for the cast, this was partly scripted by Greydon Clark, who made some of the worst films of the time, and the lines that actors have to recite reflect this. It is also mainly shot at night (or as though it's night -- many scenes are dark), and Hutton has the thankless role of either acting frenzied or catatonic. By means of an amulet passed on to him by a fellow inmate at the mental asylum, he wreaks vengance upon those he imagines harmed his mother causing her death while he was wrongfully accused of a murder. One of the best scenes is an amusing tirade between characters played by Della Reese and Neville Brand. Rather boring and contrived. Skip it.

Three stars only for Rod Cameron's cameo.

It's a great movie, easy to watch but has a few scary sequences. It also has a number of well-known actors from the 1970s. Special effects are not great, but adequate. The seller did a good job and it was sent as described and on time.

And, who are deaf they, anyway?

Blu ray looks great, what's better is the forgotten gem. I merely wished to see Julie Adams outside of the black lagoon. Here she plays a Dana Scully type character on a case that would've been a great episode of X-Files (if perhaps it hasn't been already...wink wink). Highly recommend this well directed, acted, and written film about a wrongfully convicted man who inherits the power to psychically kill those who had him wrongfully imprisoned.

I think most anyone who's seen Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), when asked the most memorable scene, would probably reply the swimming sequence featuring Julie Adams and the creature...it had a sort of sensual, romantic poetry to it, along with featuring Ms. Adams in a bathing suit. And I'll tell you what, seeing her some twenty years later in this film, Psychic Killer (1975), she's aged incredibly well, looking about as beautiful as she did back then...older, yes, but no less attractive, in my opinion. Co-written by Mikel Angel (The Love Butcher), Greydon Clark (Satan's Cheerleaders), and Ray Danton (The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond), who also directed here, the film stars Jim Hutton (Where the Boys Are, Major Dundee, The Green Berets), Paul Burke (Valley of the Dolls, The Thomas Crown Affair), and Julie Adams (Creature from the Black Lagoon, "General Hospital", McQ), who was also married to writer/director Danton at the time. Also appearing is Neville Brand (Stalag 17, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), Nehemiah Persoff (Voyage of the Damned, Twins), Whit Bissell (Soylent Green), Mary Charlotte Wilcox (The Big Bus), Stack Pierce (Cool Breeze, Trader Horn), and Della Reese (Harlem Nights, "Touched by an Angel") in a minor, yet highly memorable role.The film begins in a state run mental ward, as we see a man awakened in a panic, and run screaming through the facility until finally subdued. His name is Arnold Masters (Hutton), and he's plagued with nightmares about his deceased mother. The back story is his mother was really sick and needed an operation, one which he couldn't afford...no cash, no slash, that's our policy...anyway, the doctor who would have performed the operation wound up murdered, and Arnold, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, was accused, charged, and eventually convicted, all the while maintaining his innocence. Anyway, after his recent raving fit, Arnold is placing in the high security loony ward where he becomes friends with Emilio (Pierce), a voodoo guru of sorts. Emilo ends up taking his own life, but not before leaving Arnold some tools of the trade. Arnold's released (turns out the real murderer confessed) with a hearty slap on the back and a `no hard feelings' attitude from the hospital, and returns to the old homestead, with thoughts of revenge on the brain. You see, while Arnold was away, his mother passed on, and those he sees as responsible must be made to pay. There's the court appointed psychiatrist who testified against him, the negligent nurse (Wilcox) who was supposed to care for his sickly mother, the policeman who actually arrested him, Arnold's attorney who basically sold him out, and so on...and thus Arnold begins using his new powers to have out of body experiences to cause a series of bizarre and unexplained deaths, which baffle the police, including Lieutenant Morgan (Burke). Eventually Morgan does make a connection of sorts between the victims and Arnold, seeks the help of Arnold's doctor from the mental ward, Dr. Laura Scott (Adams), whom both end up looking towards a professor in parapsychology, Dr. Gubner (Persoff) for help in not only figuring out Arnold super whammy powers, but also how to stop him.I think this is an excellent example of an inexpensive film done really well, displaying how far a solid story, a decent script, a professional cast of actors, and a good amount of effort can go towards producing an enjoyable film, one much better than I would have thought given its B movie trappings. The movie reminded me a lot of an earlier film titled The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), featuring Vincent Price, in that the main character seeks revenge, through highly unusual means, against those he sees responsible for the death of a loved one. While the death scenes here, which got progressively more fantastic, aren't as elaborate as in `Phibes', they're still entertaining and even slightly comedic. One of the aspects I really liked about this film was how director Danton, who was primarily an actor in his time, kept things moving along, reasonably focused, and used great location shots to his advantage. Very little time was wasted, and my interest was maintained throughout the nearly hour and a half running time. As far as the actors I thought they all did well, especially Hutton and Burke in their roles. In the beginning one can't help but feel a sense of sympathy for Hutton's character, but that changes quickly, especially when Arnold begins playfully taunting the police. One slightly, strange aspect was how far the filmmakers went to prove how deserving each of Arnold's victims were, like the doctor who was about to engage in a sleazy, adulterous affair prior to his death, the nurse who purposely and shamelessly flirted with her terminally ill, bed-ridden patient (exposing her cleavage and such), and the belligerent butcher (who was Arnold's mother's coroner, I believe) who had a penchant for ripping off his customers, and suffered perhaps the nastiest demise. As far as the lawyer character and his eventual fate, there really didn't seem a need to vilify him as most people I know who've had experiences with his ilk would have loved to have done what Arnold did, that is dropping a two-ton cement block on top of his head. Another thing, there was just enough psuedo scientific material, provided by Persoff's character of Dr. Gubner, to lend a sense of believability to Arnold's newfound abilities, thus requiring less of a suspension of disbelief than one would normally expect in a film like this...again, credit goes here to the strength of the material relative to the genre. I also appreciated Adam's character, that of Dr. Scott, a strong, vibrant, caring individual caught between concerns for the welfare of her ex-patient but also fearful of his involvement in the murders. My favorite scene in the film features Neville Brand as a butcher and Della Reese as a dissatisfied customer, the two engaging in a heated exchange with regards to his dishonest business practices. Neither one seemed willing back down an inch...who hasn't wanted to tell off a dishonest merchant at least once in their life like Ms. Reese did here?The widescreen (1.85:1) picture on this Elite Entertainment DVD release looks very clean and clear, and the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio comes through well. The only extra included is an original theatrical trailer.Cookieman108By the way, I have nothing against lawyers personally...they may not be well received in general, but when you need one, be thankful if you find a good one.

t's all VERY 70s but I had fun with the kitschy little horror film none the lessBest enjoyed with milk, pomegranate juice or umm milk

A criminal learns how to send his spirit out of his body and go and kill those who sent him to jail. A detective knows what is happening but what can he do when the criminal has the perfect alibi, that he can be seen in his house when the murders are being committed?

Superb picture quality and an improvement from the old DVD edition which wasn’t bad.

Arnold Masters (Jim Hutton) saß in einer Nervenklinik weil er seine Mutter umgebracht haben soll. Dort lernte er von einem Insassen wie man mit Psychokinese Menschen töten kann. Nachdem auf einmal jemand den Mord an seiner Mutter gestanden hat, wird er freigelassen. Nun beginnt er sich an jenen zu rächen die er für die Schuldigen hält. In den Todesfällen ermittelt Lt. Morgan (Paul Burke) mit Lt. Anderson (Aldo Ray) und die stoßen immer wieder auf Masters, der jedes Mal ein perfektes Alibi hat. Dr. Scott (Julie Adams) und Dr. Gugner (Nehemiah Persoff) klären auf...Ein wirklich unterhaltsamer B-Film der davon lebt, dass er den Charme der 70ger vorweisen kann. Die Schauspieler, Paul Burke gest.2009 und Julie Adams kannte man hauptsächlich aus diversen TV-Serien, auchAldo Ray gest.1991( Wir sind keine Engel) und Jim Hutton gest.1979(40 wagen westwärts) aus dem Kino, sind ordentlich. Der Film hat durchaus Atmosphäre mehr aber auch nicht. Der Film ist bis zum Schluss vorhersehbar, deswegen fehlt die Spannung. Blut ist Mangelware, das liegt aber nur daran, dass diese FSK 16 Fassung um ca. 30 Sekunden gekürzt ist.Bild und Ton sind erstaunlich gut bei diesem 1975 erschienenen Film.Knappe 3 Punkte für diese Version (5/10)

great dvd exceopt for 10minutes that freezes but still great

Not the best iv seen