Psychos - 4 Movies

Rating:
Summary: No hockey masks here!
Review: Besides the snappy cover artwork, this Brentwood box set features 4 movies about "psychos" on 2 double sided disks (full frame presentation for all): THE SADIST, THE KILLING KIND, ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO and MANIAC.

THE SADIST (1963, B&W, Unrated) stars Arch Hall, Jr. (EEGAH!, 1962 and WILD GUITAR, also 1962) as a vicious Charles Starkweather type thrill killer with an equally demented girlfriend. They capture, torment and murder for the sheer pleasure of making their victims suffer. This is a fantastic, sadistic and sleazy film with fine performances all round! The print is fine, but obviously not digitally remastered.

THE KILLING KIND (1973, Color, Rated R) stars Ann Sothern, John Savage and Cindy Williams (Shirley from TV's LAVERNE & SHIRLEY); directed by Curtis Harrington (WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO?, 1971). A young man is forced to participate in a gang rape and comes back from jail even more disturbed; eventually, he becomes a psycho killer. This is a strangely compelling film with some surprisingly nasty moments (including the pre-credits "under the boardwalk" gang rape and a particularly brutal murder later in the picture). The print is washed out but otherwise serviceable.

ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO (1961, B&W, Unrated) stars Ronnie Burns, the adopted son of George Burns, and recycles the music from Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959). The print wasn't very good and the movie seemed thoroughly uninteresting at first glance; it felt more like a "JD" (Juvenile Delinquent) picture than horror. The plot concerns a guy who decides to seek deadly revenge for his brother, who he believes was wrongly executed... yawn.

MANIAC (1934, B&W, Unrated) is directed by legendary roadshow exploitation king, Dwain Esper (MARIHUANA, THE WEED WITH THE ROOTS IN HELL, 1935, and HOW TO UNDRESS IN FRONT OF YOUR HUSBAND, 1937). This is one of the worst movies ever made, but it is enjoyably bad. Brain-damaged, unforgettable bad!!! In fact, the entire cast is so outrageously hammy and over the top, spouting ridiculous dialogue left and right, that mere words alone cannot do it justice! For such an old film, there are some surprising exploitation elements, including a topless girl, a scantily-clad lingerie party, a catfight with hypodermics, real animal fights, rape by a drooling psycho who thinks he's an ourangoutan, and even a maniac popping the eyeball out of a cat, then gleefully eating it! Plus, MANIAC has the maddest mad scientist ever committed to celluloid, Dr. Mierschultz, who delivers one unbelievable line after another: "Tonight, my dear Maxwell, I'm ready to try my experiment on a human!" The plot steals liberally from Poe's THE BLACK CAT and makes reference to MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. The print is pretty good, considering the film's age, though there are several annoying rough spots and jump cuts, including a new title card (presumably the old one was lost), although the rest of the main titles appear to be intact.

All in all, this box set isn't a bad value. THE SADIST, THE KILLING KIND, and MANIAC are all entertaining, so even if ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO fails to please, you're still getting three solid films for one low price... certainly cheaper than buying them all separately. THE KILLING KIND deserved a better print, but what can you do? It's not available anywhere else. If you're expecting FRIDAY THE 13TH style slasher flicks with lots of gore, you'll be badly disappointed. However, if you're looking for some very weird old films with a strange and nasty charm all their own, then PSYCHOS delivers.

Rating:
Summary: No hockey masks here!
Review: Besides the snappy cover artwork, this Brentwood box set features 4 movies about "psychos" on 2 double sided disks (full frame presentation for all): THE SADIST, THE KILLING KIND, ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO and MANIAC.

THE SADIST (1963, B&W, Unrated) stars Arch Hall, Jr. (EEGAH!, 1962 and WILD GUITAR, also 1962) as a vicious Charles Starkweather type thrill killer with an equally demented girlfriend. They capture, torment and murder for the sheer pleasure of making their victims suffer. This is a fantastic, sadistic and sleazy film with fine performances all round! The print is fine, but obviously not digitally remastered.

THE KILLING KIND (1973, Color, Rated R) stars Ann Sothern, John Savage and Cindy Williams (Shirley from TV's LAVERNE & SHIRLEY); directed by Curtis Harrington (WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO?, 1971). A young man is forced to participate in a gang rape and comes back from jail even more disturbed; eventually, he becomes a psycho killer. This is a strangely compelling film with some surprisingly nasty moments (including the pre-credits "under the boardwalk" gang rape and a particularly brutal murder later in the picture). The print is washed out but otherwise serviceable.

ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO (1961, B&W, Unrated) stars Ronnie Burns, the adopted son of George Burns, and recycles the music from Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959). The print wasn't very good and the movie seemed thoroughly uninteresting at first glance; it felt more like a "JD" (Juvenile Delinquent) picture than horror. The plot concerns a guy who decides to seek deadly revenge for his brother, who he believes was wrongly executed... yawn.

MANIAC (1934, B&W, Unrated) is directed by legendary roadshow exploitation king, Dwain Esper (MARIHUANA, THE WEED WITH THE ROOTS IN HELL, 1935, and HOW TO UNDRESS IN FRONT OF YOUR HUSBAND, 1937). This is one of the worst movies ever made, but it is enjoyably bad. Brain-damaged, unforgettable bad!!! In fact, the entire cast is so outrageously hammy and over the top, spouting ridiculous dialogue left and right, that mere words alone cannot do it justice! For such an old film, there are some surprising exploitation elements, including a topless girl, a scantily-clad lingerie party, a catfight with hypodermics, real animal fights, rape by a drooling psycho who thinks he's an ourangoutan, and even a maniac popping the eyeball out of a cat, then gleefully eating it! Plus, MANIAC has the maddest mad scientist ever committed to celluloid, Dr. Mierschultz, who delivers one unbelievable line after another: "Tonight, my dear Maxwell, I'm ready to try my experiment on a human!" The plot steals liberally from Poe's THE BLACK CAT and makes reference to MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. The print is pretty good, considering the film's age, though there are several annoying rough spots and jump cuts, including a new title card (presumably the old one was lost), although the rest of the main titles appear to be intact.

All in all, this box set isn't a bad value. THE SADIST, THE KILLING KIND, and MANIAC are all entertaining, so even if ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO fails to please, you're still getting three solid films for one low price... certainly cheaper than buying them all separately. THE KILLING KIND deserved a better print, but what can you do? It's not available anywhere else. If you're expecting FRIDAY THE 13TH style slasher flicks with lots of gore, you'll be badly disappointed. However, if you're looking for some very weird old films with a strange and nasty charm all their own, then PSYCHOS delivers.

Rating:
Summary: Psychos For Psickos...
Review: PSYCHOS is a four movie set containing enough murder and insanity to fill any economy-sized looney bin. #1- THE SADIST has Arch Hall jr. in the only half decent role of his career as a psychotic killer on the loose. With his mute, equally crazy girlfriend, he slaughters anyone in his path. We watch as three schoolteachers (one woman and two men) become the latest victims in his deranged spree. Who will live? Who will die? I ain't tellin'! #2- THE KILLING KIND opens with a gang-rape of a bikini-clad girl under a boardwalk. John Savage is a twitchy, unwilling partcipant named Terry, forced by his "friends" to get involved. Terry is sent to prison for two years for this, which scorches his brain, making him a sadistic, serial killing nut. Moving back into his mother's (Ann Sothern) boarding house, Terry starts out ok, but slowly spirals downward, especially when a cute gal (Cindy "Shirley Feeney" Williams) moves in. She flirts with Terry, even after he tries to drown her in the pool! Yep, she's a genius. Terry strangles his mum's cat and puts it in the garbage can. He then tracks down Tina (the girl under the boardwalk) and runs her off the road in a fiery and fatal crash. Next, he finds and executes his former lawyer by getting her smashed and setting her on fire. Terry's a lovely guy! All along, mom suspects, yet does nothing. Terry continues his mental disintegration until finally strangling Cindy Williams' character in her bathtub. Mom helps him cover it up, only to slip poison in his chocolate milk. The end. A disturbing movie to say the least, but a good one. #3- ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO concerns Chet, the no good brother of a no good murderer who is bent on revenge after his brother is gassed. Chet is the leader of a bunch of scumbags who terrorize all involved in the trial of the no good murderer. Chet's sister and her boyfriend try to help Chet to no avail. Unfortunately, he "sees the light" in a total wimp-out ending! #4- MANIAC is my personal favorite. It's about Dr. Mearschultz, a mad scientist and his idiotic henchman named Don Maxwell. They steal a corpse from the morgue and re-animate her. This leads to a botched attempt at acquiring another cadaver. Dr. Maerschultz tries to get Maxwell to shoot himself, which gives Maxwell the idea to shoot Dr. M instead! Maxwell puts on a disguise and impersonates Dr. Maerschultz. With Maerschultz's body still lying on the floor, Mrs. Buckley arrives with her husband, who thinks he's the orangutan killer from Poe's "Murders In The Rue Morgue". Maxwell gives him an injection of super-adrenaline (instead of the harmless water he'd meant to give him), causing Mr. Buckley to go completely bonkers! He grabs the living-dead gal and takes off into the night, ranting, raving, and tearing the poor girls clothes off. Meanwhile, a neighbor tells us about his backyard cat-skinning operation. Across town, four women talk about life while prancing around in their underwear. One of them is Maxwell's wife. They happen to read in the paper that Maxwell's just inherited a fortune. Mrs. Maxwell runs to tell him, only to be duped by her husband into a battle royal with Mrs. Buckley in the basement. This is also where Maxwell has bricked up the late Dr. Maerschultz and his cat "satan". The cops arrive, Dr. M is uncovered when they hear satan's desperate meows, and Maxwell goes off to jail. Oh, did I mention that Maxwell had eaten one of satan's eyeballs? A classic for the ages! This 4-pack is well worth the low, low price...