The Psychic Killer begins with a bizarre on screen quote, with an accompanying narration, "Why should any phenomenon be assumed impossible? The universe begins to look more and more like a great thought, than a great machine" Physicist Sir James Jean as quoted in "Time Magazine". No, I have no idea what it means either. Arnold Masters (Jim Hutton) is accused of killing the Doctor who refused to treat his mothers brain tumour. He's been committed to an insane asylum and is currently under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Laura Scott (Julie Adams). While there Arnold befriends another inmate named Emilio (Stack Pierce) who gives Arnold the secret to 'out of body travel' using a magical amulet. All of a sudden Arnold is cleared of murder, as the real murderer conveniently turned himself into the police and confessed. Arnold is again a free man. He arrives back at his old house to discover it in a state of disrepair. Angered by the injustices he has suffered he decides to use the magical amulet for the purpose of avenging himself on the people he thinks has done him harm. First Masters targets Doctor Paul Taylor (Whitt Bissell) who testified at Masters trial and helped send him down. Then Masters goes after Nurse Burnson (Mary Charlotte Wilcox as Mary Wilcox) who he thinks neglected his mother and was partly responsible for her death. Lieutenant Jeff Morgan (Paul Burke) and his assistant Danny Anderson (Aldo Ray) are on the case. They are totally baffled as there is no logical explanation for the deaths which are very suspicious. Morgan finds that Masters is a common link between the victims and asks Dr. Scott to help him out. They visit Dr. Gubner (Nehemiah Persoff) for further help but they find what he has to say hard to believe. Will Morgan get his man? Will he get to sleep with sexy psychiatrist Scott? How many more people have to die before Masters is avenged? Co-written and directed by Raymond Danton I thought this was a decent horror film, nothing outstanding but certainly very watchable. Acting is solid among the veteran cast that also includes Neville Brand as the wonderfully named bad tempered butcher Mr. Lemonowski, and associate producer and co-writer Greydon Clarke as a cop who takes dive off a cliff. The film doesn't feature much in the way of violence or gore, a minced hand, crushed arm and a hacked up corpse on a meat hook is about as explicit as it gets. The death scenes are disappointingly tame, generally speaking. There is some nudity, Nurse Burnson has a nice long shower scene and we get to see her wash her legs and breasts, you know the sort of thing. Music, editing and photography are fine. The script by Danton, Clarke and Mike Angel is well paced and generally kept my interest throughout. I also have to mention the downbeat and somewhat unexpected ending, which I liked. Definitely worth a watch.
Review of Psychic Killer
