The Psychic

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.

It's nice when the main character of the giallo you're watching receives all their clues in one huge psychic download five minutes into the film.

Psychic lady, who has already remotely viewed her mother's suicide when she was a child (the only truly gory bit of the film), gets her vision when driving away from the airport after dropping off her new hubby (the always great and glary Gianni Garko of I Am Sartana, I will Kick Your Arse fame).

From then on out it's up to psychic lady to figure out all the clues. Who has she witnessed being murdered and walled up? Why doesn't her vision add up to police evidence? Who done it? It's difficult to review gialli without ruining them so I'll stop there.

I've seen this reviewed as Fulci's best film and his best Giallo, but personally I'd rate Lizard In A Woman's Skin higher (it's more surreal for starters). I would put in on a par with Don't Torture A Duckling though - I was glued to the screen. This man had talent at this point in his career.

Next up: Ghosts of Sodom. I'm thinking the next review won't be so glowing.

The Psychic is one of Lucio Fulci's most well thought out films with less gore than usual and more focus on characters and suspense. Some might find it dull, but I found it refreshing. Who knew he had it in him? Wonderful music score, too!

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.

... 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!