The Psychotronic Man

I never expected to see a movie like this. A great "bad" film about a psychotronic barber who has looong drives in his car and kills/hurts people by touching his hair and looking all serious (this is something you do when you have THAT psychotronic disease). This has to be a movie that's better (and worse) than anything Ed Wood did, great "dumb" dialogue and wonderful bad actors. See it and you will have a whole new view on film-making..

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.

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.

Here's another great contender for my own personal award of "Most Demented Film I ever watched", but the least I can say is that it was very interesting. "The Pschotronic Man" begins with the longest and most unnerving opening credits ever, but they're quite sinister and atmospheric what with the really creepy music and odd color schemes and everything. This is one of them rare films that already make you feel uncomfortable before it even properly takes off. The slow-paced story introduces Rocky Foscoe; a barber with a few issues that may or may not be caused by the fact that he consumes his own hair shampoos and conditioner lotions. Rocky starts having strange visions, like himself flying around in a car and such similar tomfoolery, and he gradually becomes the world's first and only Psychotronic Man. Basically, this just means that he's an older, fatter and sleazier male version of "Carrie" who can inflict stuff only by using his overdeveloped willpower. At first, Rocky doesn't comprehend the powers that have been granted to him and even seeks professional help to make the unbearable headaches go away, but then he gradually learns how to control his skills and use it against the people he doesn't like, like his own wife who's in the way of his love affairs.

"The Psychotronic Man" is overall a pretty cool flick, but sadly director Jack M. Sell wasn't quite sure which narrative tone to maintain. Does this story require a dramatic, mysterious or exploitative tone? Or perhaps a combination of all three? This indecisive behavior leads to an illogical structure and uneven pacing, for example when a moody love-making sequence is immediately followed by an extremely violent murder vision. The film is also slow and uneventful. Especially considering the plot outline, they could have made this into a far more grotesque and trashy cult experiment; even bearing in mind the budgetary restrictions. The overlong chase sequence, for example, is the least spectacular one in the history of cinema. The cars just drive in straight lines and at snail pace, without tricky maneuvers or causing flamboyant accidents. Still, there's some greatness to find in this oddball production, like the creepy sound effects that are frequently repeated, including a church bell chiming and half the tune of Ennio Morricone's classic music for "Once upon a time in the West". I bet the composer of this film was the only person who had great fun on set.

Bizarre film, to say the least, but it did offer us the collective term for everything in cult, horror and trash cinema that is unique and indescribable. Psychotronic power!

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.