The Hypnotic Eye (1960)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

"The Hypnotic Eye" is a fairly effective B movie about a spate of self-mutilations by beautiful women who appear to be in a trance when they do the deed. A detective tries to unravel the link between the victims and a stage show that features a hypnotist that they have all attended.A lot of what appears in the movie is fun, although "The Hypnotic Eye" is barely 70 minutes long, and a lot of this is padding, featuring several needlessly long looks at the "hypnosis" act, as well as a very tiresome sequence set in a beatnik bar where we have to watch the whole show of beatnik music and poetry. It's a shame, because these really slow down the action. Surely it would not have been to difficult to make the actual storyline events take up some more time.The acting is ok, although a little hammy. The story actually has a really brutal side to it, as the methods the ladies use to self-harm are all pretty twisted. We don't witness many of them happening, but seeing somebody screaming with their hair fully ablaze is quite something for 1960 (even if it's not very realistic). Some of the "after" make up of the others victims is also pretty good.If all the padding was stripped out, this would rattle along and be a lot more fun, but it would be over in less than an hour! The plot really is tiny and there is barely any quality time given to the climax, in fact events dash to the closing credits with far too much haste...a little time spent on a proper ending and explanation would have been nice. Still, it's pretty entertaining while it lasts.

When a series of strange self-mutilations against women occurs throughout the city, the police investigator assigned to the case worries a big-shot hypnotist is responsible and tries to keep his girlfriend from falling under his spell and becoming another victim.This here was a fairly entertaining if somewhat slightly flawed effort. The main crux of this one is the fact that there's just as much of a mystery angle as there is a horror angle, almost to the point of that being the film's interest rather than the horror since the mutilations take place before the film starts with us getting involved at the most recent attack while the majority of the film takes focus on the police trying to find the cause of the attacks with little effort before stumbling onto the whole affair at the end. This isn't bad at all despite the change in tactics because the mystery is handled nicely with a rather shocking reveal late in the film that makes it a lot more shocking than expected. The few attacks shown are quite gruesome and graphic for the time-period, with one being quite shocking overall. Coupled with a bevy of attractive women and a rather healthy viewpoint of hypnosis and it's effects, this one isn't all that bad.Today's Rating-PG: Violence.

Hypnotic Eye, The (1960) *** (out of 4) Surprisenly effective horror film has Detective Steve Kennedy (Joe Patridge) investigating some gruesome cases where woman are self mutilating themselves in a wide range of ways. One day Kennedy and his girlfriend (Marcia Henderson) are watching a hypnotist (Jasques Bergerac) and his assistant work (Allison Hayes) and soon it becomes clear that they're putting some sort of spell on the victims. THE HYPNOTIC EYE isn't going to win any awards at the Oscars and I'd say a lot of people are going to be put off by it simply because it's a horror movie but if you're willing to give it a chance you'll be surprised at how good it actually is. Yes, there are still plenty of issues with the film but on the whole I thought it delivered just about everything you'd want from a film like it. As a horror fan, the pickings around this time were rather slim so it's refreshing to see a movie like this where it really goes for it all and delivers some effective chills. What was so surprising about the film is how graphic some of the images were when it came time to show the woman mutilating themselves. It's done in various ways including one setting her face on fire, another splashing acid in her face and another puts her face in a fan blade. Of course these images aren't shown in gory, graphic detail but the opening with the woman setting herself on fire was perfectly done and it really sets up everything else that is going to follow. The make-up effects of the mutilated women are pretty impressive as well. The cast offer up some good performances with both Patridge and Bergerac doing nice work and Henderson is good as well. Hayes is the name best remembered to horror fans and she's given one of her best roles here. I think there is one major flaw in the picture and it happens towards the end when we're treated to the hypnotist doing various tricks on people in the crowd and making them perform for the viewer. This long sequences happens towards the end and it really slows down everything going right in the story and it happens at a time when you should be getting to the ending. This sequence should have remained on the cutting room floor because what follows is a pretty good ending and a nice little twist.

I just heard Michael J Weldon of Psychotronic Video talk about this on a podcast interview. It reminded me of the first time I saw this on television ( sometime in the 1960's I guess) on the late night Friday Chiller show. The woman burning herself, her hair catching fire, etc. was really terrifying. The film is kind of a B-Movie horror-noir with the oily continental Jacques Begerac performing that Hypnotic Eye thing and causing all manner of mayhem and mutilation. Then there was the wonderful Allison Hayes just 2 years past The Attack of the 5o Foot Woman giving another great performance and of course, my favorite, Merry Andrews from TV's How to Marry a Millionaire. They just don't make them like this anymore. A campy horror classic!