By Todd Garbarini
The new Metrograph Theater on Ludlow
Street in New York just finished a series called “This is PG?!†which screened
35mm prints of films that traumatized youngsters during their initial releases
after having been granted a PG-rating by the Motion Picture Association of America. Films that were released prior to the July
1984 introduction of the PG-13 rating such as Jaws (1975), Burnt Offerings
(1976), Invasion of the Body Snatchers
(1978), Tourist Trap (1979), Poltergeist (1982) and, most
specifically, Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom (1984) all had a hand in helping to create the new rating to
bridge the gap between PG-rated films that weren’t quite R-rated material. Released in New York in February 1976,
actor/director Ray Danton’s Psychic
Killer could have easily been a part of this screening as it, too, secured
a PG-rating. There is a fair amount of
violence and bloodshed in this film, not to mention a fairly gory Psycho-inspired shower murder with
nudity, to raise more than a few eyebrows (ironically, 1960’s Psycho has been given an R rating!)
Ostensibly shot between April and July
of 1974, Psychic Killer is a time
capsule of a film, a veritable authenticated record of gaudy clothes, bad
hairdos, enormous cars and men with oversized ties. Timothy Hutton’s father, Jim Hutton, fresh
from screaming at Kim Darby and her little imaginary creatures running around
the house in ABC-TV’s Don’t Be Afraid of
the Dark (1973), plays Arnold Masters, a sort of mama’s boy who lives like
a bit of a hermit. He is blamed for the
murder of a doctor (he didn’t kill him) and lands in prison where he meets
other disturbed persons. While
incarcerated, his mother passes away and this infuriates him as he feels that
her death is directly attributed to his absence. Masters soon obtains a medallion that has
mystical powers (it almost looks like the headpiece to the Staff of Ra in
Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost
Ark from 1981) and gives him the ability to leave his body in a sort of
Out-of-Body-Experience (OBEE) and seek out revenge against those who put him in
prison and those he deems responsible for his mother’s death (David Cronenberg
wrote a similar storyline several years later in one of his best films, 1979’s The Brood. That film was controversial as it employed
young children as mutant killers). When
Masters kills in this state, his body goes into a condition wherein he appears
dead. The film’s premise is based upon
the Kirlian Effect, which was written about extensively
in the 1970s. The idea is, if nothing
else, intriguing.
Two
cops assigned to the case are Lieutenant Anderson (Aldo Ray) and Lieutenant
Morgan (Paul Burke), partners who are desperate to stay one step ahead of Masters
before he can kill again. Also eager to
stop Masters is the prison psychiatrist, Dr. Laura Scott (Julie Adams,
real-life then-wife of director Danton). Mrs. Adams may have fled the clutches of The Creature
from the Black Lagoon, but she has a tougher time bolting from the
occasional silliness that seeps into the script. There is a psychic expert in tow also, one
Dr. Gubner (Nehemiah Persoff) who informally teams with Dr. Scott to stop
Masters.
Psychic
Killer was previously
issued on DVD in 1999 and 2008. The new
Blu-ray/DVD combo, which are mastered from a 2K scan of the original camera
negative, are obvious steps above these previous releases, so the third time is
indeed a charm. This version by the fine
folks at Vinegar Syndrome comes with some nice extras specifically made for the
Blu-ray/DVD combo:
The
Danton Force
featurette (8:55) is comprised of onscreen interviews with relatives of the
late director of the film, Ray Danton. Steve Danton and Mitchell Danton, his sons, talk about how the film came
about and what it was like to be on the set. Their father’s work ethic had a huge impact on them and their chosen
professions. Their mother, Julie Adams,
appears briefly, as does Ronald L. Smith, the first assistant director. The opening prologue of the film, which
attempts to set the audience up with a serious tone, contains a voice over by
director Danton: "Why should any phenomenon be assumed impossible? The
universe begins to look more and more like a great thought, than a great
machine.â€
The Aura
of Horror featurette (8:05) features Mardi Rustam, a Kurdish movie fan born
in Iraq who dreamed of making it in Hollywood. Amiable and well-spoken, Mr. Rustam describes writing to the movie
moguls of the day and making his was to the United States. Psychic
Killer’s original script title was I
Am a Demon. He also produced Raphael
Nussbaum’s Candice Rialson vehicle Pets
(1973), Tobe Hooper’s Eaten Alive
(1976), and 1985’s Evils of the Night,
which is due for a Blu-ray release by the end of the month also from Vinegar
Syndrome.
The Psychic
Killer Inside Me (13:32) focuses on producer Greydon
Clark, also
known for Satan’s Cheerleaders (1973), Without Warning (1980), and Joysticks
(1983). He heard about the Kirlian
Effect on the radio and was intrigued by it and thought it would make a great
premise for a film. The Kirlian Effect was also the working title of the film. Mr. Clark also wrote On the Cheap, a book about his adventures in the screen trade.
Rounding out the extras are multiple
television spots and the original theatrical trailer.
For fans of 1970’s cult cinema, Psychic Killer is a fun ride.
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