The Psychotronic Man

How bizarre… It's anyone's guess what's truly going on here. Especially after watching the intro where the opening credits go on for a while. And I mean awhile. It was the title that caught my eye "Revenge of the Psychotronic Man". It screams "Hey, look at me"! Anyhow what I got myself into was something bug-eyed. Think of "The Incredible Melting Man", which was made a couple years earlier and the tone is similar, but without the graphic context. Still it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but you can see why it's virtually unknown. While being a penniless production, its clunky, dry and tawdry nature remains for most part rather entertaining. Why is it entertaining… because of just how unusual and surprisingly twisted it plays out? Even when it seems to concentrate on uneventful filler, there's something unnervingly atmospheric and random that makes it hypnotic. Even when some scenarios are risible (like the first death with the constant slow-motion) and long-winded (there's a lot of driving going on). Something which would hit you straight away would be the creepy score that overpowers many sequences and that of some oddball sound-effects like the ominous bell chimes that comes and goes. You get more of a rush from the music than the visual action. The direction is virtually non-existent, but the gritty location work of Chicago and the shadowy imagery gives it a bit of a moody edge. While the performances are on the stilted side, but durable enough and dialogues remain lacklustre. Bemusing low-grade horror Sci-fi.

I actually know something about this film because the producer of the movie was my landlord at one point. The Psychotronic Man is a grade B movie that's true, but it is actually an important and noteworthy piece mostly because of its relationship to film history and several other oddities that surround it.

It was the first feature film made entirely in Chicago since the Essanay era before WW1. It was only able to be made after the death of Chicago's longest reigning mayor, who would not allow movies to be made anywhere in Chicago. It was also an independent feature film, made entirely outside any of the existing studio systems. It was shot completely on location and it used only local talent. Many of the centrally located automobile chase scenes and running gun battles were shot on the sly without the permission of any authorities because no film commission existed. Part of the movie featured a car chase in Lower Wacker Drive which is an odd funky piece of roadway under downtown Chicago. In the next year the Blues Brothers came out and featured a car chase in the exact same place.

It was produced, written, and starred in by an out of work actor named Peter Spelson who decided the best way to get into the movies was to go out and make one himself.

It is however probably most noted for its name. The term "Psychotronic" has come to be an almost generic term for grade B cult films. Google turns up 88,600 different references for the word, all of which come as a result of this movie.

It did well in Europe under various names but it played only once in Chicago where it was made on April, 23, 1980 at 7:00 P.M. in the now demolished Carnegie Theater.

Like many first efforts it is crude by comparison to the things that follow it, but it is truly one the beginnings the of modern American independent movie trend. In truth even Ed Wood had more help.

This movie is so bad in every way, it's not even worth going into. Although I'm a bad movie aficionado, I'd never make it through this one without RiffTrax's comedic commentary. With their riffs, it's worth watching once, but I won't be returning to this one.

The main reason I wanted to review the film was to let people know that there's a scene in a med school where a roomful of students dissect what appear to be real human corpses! (Flayed and contorted into disturbing poses, no less, apparently to make dissection access easier and/or to dehumanize them.)

There's no way this no-budget '70s turkey had the makeup / props budget for those to not have been real. I'm surprised none of the other reviews mentioned this, and I was surprised the RiffTrax guys didn't give their audience a trigger warning beforehand, and instead merely said stuff like "Wow!" during the scene. Since I don't watch snuff films, this is the most disturbing thing I've ever seen in a movie.

Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy, (aka: Mike, Crow T Robot, and Tom Servo from MST3K) have done justice to this gem. Just released today (22-Sep-2017), and available at www.rifftrax.com.

It's nice to have people vocalizing all the inappropriate things that go through your mind while watching this train wreck!

I would advise AGAINST watching this...there's better things to do with your time and/or money. If, for some reason, you ARE gonna be subjected to this, don't expect ANY elements of many sci-fi/horror films - no special effects; no gore; no sex - virtually no attempts. So, it's a no-no, all the way. Rigid acting; illogical continuity. The plot is simple: Rocky uses psychotronic ability to dispense with people; and the Chicago-area cops get onto his trail as a result. Psychotronic wasn't in MY dictionary, but I THINK that it means that he can WILL things to happen. I suspect that he WILLED a lot of time in his car. MY psychotronic powers must need a little work: This movie continued for quite a while after I WILLED it to end.