The Psychic

Lucio Fulci is best known for his surreal and graphically gory horror movies of the early 80s {i.e.Zombie,The Beyond} but some of his most interesting work was made before. This film,which deserves to be far better known,is a case in point. It's an extremely suspenseful thriller with borderline horror elements,a bit reminiscent of Don't Look Now and quite possibly an influence on several films since such as The Vanishing. Fans of Kill Bill will recognise one of the pieces of music used.

Opening with a graphic but very unconvincing scene of a suicide off a cliff,the head bashing on the rocks,the film does not continue that way,but becomes a slow but intriguing supernatural mystery,with the suspense gradually building and Fulci showing himself quite capable of handling a relatively complex plot. Camera work,music and Jennifer O'Neill's stunning performance are all so good that the relative lack of actual action does not matter too much. Nevertheless, Fulci really proves himself with a really exciting and suspenseful scene near the end where O'Neill is pursued by the killer,and there is clever and evocative use of props throughout.

Interestingly,where most Italian films like this are dubbed by different actors,this one looks like it was dubbed by most of the actual cast,and unfortunately a couple of major plot revelations are hard to make out! However,this is a solid little thriller that ,while not quite on the level of,say Fulci's A Lizard In A Woman's Skin,really deserves to be seen if you think Fulci can only do gore.

Attempting to help herself, a woman marred by psychic visions finds a long-missing body walled up inside her husbands' house which puts him in the police's custody for the crimes and forces her to set out to save him, but soon becomes troubled when the vision leads to something else.

This proved to be an incredibly enjoyable giallo. Among the film's best qualities here is the sparkling setup that gets the film going and gives this one plenty of strong aspects. That we're given enough early on to show her abilities and gifts into the paranormal where we can both see the past as well as into the future, this becomes a driving force throughout the rest of the film. As the initial sequence of her coming under the influence of her latest vision as an adult, going through the contents of the room and looking over everything she finds there gives quite a fantastic setup to the film focusing on this aspect. Once that's firmly in place, the idea of the film resorting to an investigation into the cause of the woman that's found there death within the house gives this an intricately developed and played out mystery. The connection and build throughout the film, generated mainly from the need to prove her husband innocent of the crimes, is quite far-reaching as she goes through each of the clues from her vision and goes through each step, from the photograph to the investigation into the taxi company's history and even what the cigarette brands she finds. This is an important aspect that keeps the film going along nicely and logically with plenty of strong leads and reasoning done to keep throwing everything off. That this still keeps some thrilling suspense present in this section gives this a fantastic finish. As the final stages of the investigation take her into the sphere of the politician who's trying to keep the dead body a secret, there's a great enhancement of the action featured here were the series of chases and confrontations they have. From the back-and-forth hide-and-seek game through the apartment to the chase through the church, this all sets up the dark and chilling finale where the real meaning to her visions and gifts gets into some dark areas with how everything gets played out. It's a fun finale and gives this one a lot to like overall. There are a few minor flaws here. The main issue here is the notable lack of a nominal killer knocking victims off which plays such an integral part of the genre. This one tends to introduce the threat to her life so late here with the majority of time investigating the crime that it's almost entirely possible to forget she's in danger without threats on her or her friends which are quite important. The other issue is the finale, where the twisting plotlines are so over-the-top in how they get resolved in the context of the story as well as what emerges with the final revelation that's not nearly as shocking as it thinks it is. These here are enough to lower this one overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.

This is a scary and intriguing film with a twisted plot , plenty of grisly killings , relentles suspense , ghastly mystery , astonishing images , gory events and well staged murders. A psychic woman (Jennifer O'Neil) discovers a skeleton in a wall in her husband's house , and seeks to find the truth about what occurred to the victim . Along with her psychiatrist friend (Marc Porel) , she seeks to find out the truth about who the person was and who put her there . Meanwhile her suspect husband (Gianni Garco) is imprisoned accused for killing . Early rare deeds begin to happen to them , as she along with husband's sister (Evelyn Stewart) start investigating , discovering weird characters (Gabriele Ferzetti) and tragic murders . Soon enough, she begins realizing the possibility that she may share the victim's fate . Suddenly she could see into the future...and saw her own murder...Suddenly and without warning it's tomorrow... and you're dead.

Chilling Italian terror flick full of screams , chills, thrills , twists and turns .This is an alright Giallo where intrigue , tension , suspense appear threatening and lurking in grim mansions , in every room , corridors and luxurious houses , as well as exteriors , and with numerous suspicious people . The main premise results to be to guess who's the killer among a lot of suspect people . A properly creepy Giallo movie fully of thrills , chills , suspense and frightening happenings , particularly when our starring -who attempts to alter the killing prediction- is mercilessly chased by a mysterious murderer . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color with shining red blood , usual zooms , originally staged crimes with seemingly fascination by razors and knifes , use of images-shock and a lot of plot twists . Being the principal representatives of this sub-genre : Riccardo Freda , Mario Bava , Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci . Stars the beautiful Jennifer O'Neil , recent her successful Summer 42 , here plays well a psychic who inspired by a vision, smashes open a section of wall in her husband's home and finds a skeleton behind it . Gorgeous Jennifer O'Neil is well accompanied by a fine support cast, such as : Gabriele Ferzetti , Marc Porel , Gianni Garko who acted in a lot of Spahetti westerns as well as Bruno Corazzari , Jenny Tamburi who performed various Sex Comedy and Evelyn Stewart who starred several Giallos.

Colorful and adequate cinematography by cameraman Sergio Salvati who photographed splendidly interior and outdoors . This photographer to get the best sightseeing by adequate filming , using nice cameras to capture the flavor of urban . Eerie musical score composed and conducted by Walter Rizzati, as Frizzi, Fulci's regular , and composing in Goblin style . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Luccio Fulci who makes of it pretty eerie and chilly . The motion picture was made by one of the most controversial filmmakers of terror movies , here Lucio Fulci shoots in his usual style with flaws and gaps but being professionally made because he was a skilled craftsman . Reviewers are divided over booth the morals and talents of Fulci (1927-1996) who sometimes directed under the alias ¨Louis Fuller¨. For some critics many of his movies are cruel and shockingly violent, yet their gory surface often conceals religious, social commentaries or intelligent issues. Whether he should be viewed as a cheap sensationalist or just a genius Fulci has a loyal fan base and undeniably has an important and unique influence on the terror genre , creating great works on a medium/low budget such as proved in ¨The black cat¨, ¨Demonia¨, ¨Voices from beyond¨, ¨Manhattan baby¨, ¨Gates of Hell¨, ¨The Beyond¨, ¨Island of the living dead¨, ¨Zombie 3¨ , ¨New York ripper¨ , ¨Don't torture a duckling¨ , among them . This Giallo that tried to disguised itself under many other titles will appeal to Lucio Fulci aficionados , being essential and indispensable watching for their fans . Rating : 7/10 . Better than average Giallo from Fulci .

... Actually it is not exactly an horror movie, but rather more a thriller (or, better, a giallo). Visionary, tense, well acted (& dubbed), nice locations (villas, interiors, landscapes, cars, etc.), care to costumes and details, a nice 7 notes tune... it is a truly enjoyable little gem from the (not enough) celebrated Italian gore maestro. The plot itself, assuming it is possible to have such supernatural powers, develops convincingly and without too many disgusting bloody scenes . In some points (the visions, particularly the reversed statue) I had the feeling that Kubrick in Shining (1980) might have stolen something (MURDER...). Will it be possible? Oh, I was forgetting, the actress (O neill) is wonderful, and Ferzetti (Once upon in the West, On Her Majesty's Secret Service) is playing as well. 8.5/10 Well done Lucio!

The Psychic finds Italian film-maker Lucio Fulci in a decidedly more restrained mood. Never a director to shy away from excessive sex and violence, this entry in his cannon is far more an exercise in suspense with a real focus on presenting an interesting mystery. There is an early scene where a character falls off a cliff resulting in their face being bloodily shredded by rocks as they fall - basically a scene repeated from Fulci's earlier giallo classic Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) – but apart from this, there is no real excessive blood-letting at all. The story is essentially about a psychic woman who experiences premonitions about mysterious murders, before long she finds herself in the midst of a dangerous situation.

The atmosphere of this one generates a real sense of dread. This is mainly on account of the quite distinctively structured mystery that underpins the story-line. The mixing of visions of the past and events yet to come was clever. It means that there is a real sense of intrigue to this one, with lots of visual clues thrown at us that progressively make sense, while often setting us off to entirely the wrong conclusion. It's a jigsaw puzzle of a movie and this is a very nice touch. Because it came quite late in the giallo cycle I guess it was for this reason that it adopted a more original approach, mixing the standard tropes of the genre with a supernatural angle. Whatever the case, this is one of the better written and thought out story-lines from the sub-genre and what it lacks in visceral excess it does make up for with a well-conceived mystery. It benefits too from a good leading lady in Jennifer O'Neill who later starred in David Cronenberg's excellent sci-fi/horror Scanners (1981). In addition it also features a Goblinesque score which was another nice touch.