Animal Magic

As always this post will contain spoilers but as the movie in question is 46 years old I think it's pretty safe to say that you've either seen this film or have never heard of it/have no intention of watching it which of course leaves me with this review to try and convince you otherwise.

So the year is 1973 and cinema goers were treated to such greats as The Exorcist, Live and Let Die and Last Tango in Paris. Many may have missed a little British horror flick called Psychomania which was directed by Don Sharp (Curse of the Fly) and was the final movie appearance of George Sanders, it also featured Beryl Reid and Robert Hardy.

The film opens with the introduction of a biker gang known as The Living Dead who cause trouble in their local town and whos leader Tom has an apparent death wish. After the gang cause the death of a motorist we follow Tom back home (after collecting a frog from a graveyard) where we meet his spiritualist mother Mrs Latham and her butler Shadwell. Tom has a chat with his mother about a strange room in the house that has been locked for 18 years following the death of Toms father and following very little persuasion it is agreed that Tom should finally be allowed to enter the room providing he wears a frog pendant for protection.

Whilst in the room Tom has a vision of his mother signing him over to a mysterious stranger when he was a child, he then passes out and awakes to find himself being nursed by bis mother. We then get a little conversation regarding the possibility of returning from the dead which leads Tom to take his own life in the hopes of making his afterlife dreams come true.

His friends take it upon themselves to bury Tom sat upright on his bike (which looks as dumb as it sounds) before taking their leave to continue on their merry biking ways. Tom of course gets his wish and rides from the grave (killing a motorist on the way) before going to a pub and killing five more folks.

The gang are questioned by the police which leads them to gather at Toms grave which is of course empty which freaks them out a little, though nothing like actually seeing Tom who turns up to give them a pep talk on the wonders of being undead. After hearing his pitch the gang decide to off themselves in ever more ridiculous ways. These include riding into traffic, drowning themselves, jumping off a bridge into the path of a speeding truck and best of all skydiving without a parachute.

They all come back to life (looking remarkably chipper considering at least two of them would have been mashed up following their choice of suicide though they have nary a scratch on them) and go back to their merry biking ways though now they can no longer be hurt they think nothing of killing people which also includes mowing down a baby in a pram inside a supermarket.

Whilst all of this is going on we meet Chief Inspector Heseltine (Robert Hardy) who believes that somebody has stolen the bodies and is masquerading as the gang to commit the crimes, He makes a deal with Toms girlfriend Abby, who is the last member of the gang still alive and who has decided that she has no desire to die, to use her as bait to capture the body snatcher(s) but this simply results in Heseltine and two police offers being killed by the gang.

Back at the site of Toms grave he gives Abby an ultimatum, either she kills herself so that he can be with her forever or he kills her so nobody can ever have her (you only return if you commit suicide and are completely committed to wanting to return. As this is happening however Toms mum has decided that she needs to bring her sons shenanigans to an end and so she instigates a ceremony with Shadwell (who it turns out was the mystery stranger from Toms vision) which turns her into a frog and saves Abby by turning all of the undead gang members into rocks. The movie comes to an end with Abby being approached by Shadwell in full mysterious cult dude garb.

So is Psychomania any good? In truth it is alot better than many films of this era as they can tend to be very one dimensional and boring. Psychomania is similar to other films of this age and type in so much as it hasn't aged particularly well but the films plot is so out there that it actually keeps you interested to the very end as you continue to watch to see just where the story is going.

One negative I have in regards to this film the multiple questions that go unanswered throughout.

What happened to Toms dad?

Just what is the significance of the locked room?

Frogs........what the hell?

How do the gang members not get smashed into a million pieces?

What exactly was the deal signed between Toms mum and Shadwell?

Who is Shadwell?

What is Shadwell going to do with Abby at the end of the film?

These points aside however I have to admit that I enjoyed Psychomania and as I said it contained enough intrigue to keep me watching to the very end. As for the questions I've raised regarding the plot, in all honesty I don't think they really matter as this is one of those movies where you don't necessarily need to have every single minute detail laid out and explained to make your viewing experience better.

Will Psychomania be for everyone? No of course not and in truth you need to have an interest in cinema beyond the constant stream of Hollywood blockbusters to really justify giving this a go but if you are prepared to give a 40 year old piece of British cinema a chance then I can thoroughly recommend giving this movie a go.

As for a score I'm going to give Psychomania a strong 7 out of 10.

Oh and thanks must go out to Glenn Hayes who brought this film to my attention when he gave me a tshirt featuring the gangs helmet logo.