The Astral Factor (1978)

Too much of everything

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This movie concerns itself with a young man named "Roger Sands" (Frank Ashmore) who has special mental powers which he uses for his own deranged purposes. For example, at the beginning of the film he happens to see a beautiful young woman and proceeds to follow her into her apartment while he is invisible. He then walks into her bathroom while she is bathing and strangles her to death. Naturally, when her body is discovered this draws the attention of the police chief who assigns a detective named "Lt. Charles Barrett" (Robert Foxworth) and "Sergeant Holt" (Mark Slade) to investigate. Even though they have no idea how the murderer managed to get into the apartment they find a fingerprint belonging to Roger Sands and realize that they have a serial killer on their hands who has unique abilities which they don't quite fully comprehend as of yet. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie definitely had some potential but due to a couple of lackluster scenes here and there didn't quite achieve it. It also had several notable actresses to include Stefanie Powers (as "Candy Barrett"), Elke Sommer ("Chris Hartman"), and Leslie Parrish ("Colleen Hudson") but except for Stefanie Powers their performances were rather weak as well. In short, this film should have been much better and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Average.

AKA--The Invisible Strangler Roger raised by starlet mom--hidden and angry"The Astral Factor" is also known as "The Invisible Strangler", though I prefer to think of it as "That Stupid Robert Foxworth Movie"! This is because no matter how good the film is (and it isn't very good), the basic story idea is so stupid that you cannot help but hate this film. Not surprisingly, it's slipped into the public domain--doubtless because no sane person could ever see this film as a potential money-maker!When the film begins, convicted psychopathic killer Roger Sands is practicing his psychic powers. The nut-job has been studying on his own--trying to develop psychic skills that will allow him to escape his prison cell and return to a life of murdering models and starlets that remind him of his mother...who he previously murdered. But, considering that Sands can turn invisible and do other cool things with his mind, the cops are stumped how to catch this ingenious nutter!As I mentioned above, the plot idea for this one is just nuts! And, some of the acting isn't particularly good. So overall, it's an awful little film--one who simply isn't really enjoyable or worth your time. You could EASILY do better!

The Astral Factor is about a psychopath, imprisoned for murdering his mother, who somehow learns how to make himself invisible by studying books while incarcerated in a hospital for the criminally insane. Needless to say, he escapes and goes on a killing spree.This one begins quite well in all fairness but it soon gets somewhat tedious. The storyline is such a bad basic idea you have to wonder how the likes of it ever got as far as to be given the green light for an actual movie. Well, while it was made as film, it seemingly sat on a shelf for near enough ten years before actually being released. It's really not all that surprising to be perfectly honest. While the story is pretty terrible, it's not really that that is the chief problem. Sometimes bad stories make for good films after all. No the issue is probably that, with very few exceptions, movies about invisible men are almost always terrible. What can be more cinematically tedious than an invisible character? What it does mean though, is there are some very silly murder scenes which I guess could provide some laughs I suppose. But for me the best aspects about this one were the appearances of Elke Sommer and Stephanie Powers. Sommer starred in a few interesting cult films in the 70's and her presence is always welcome, while it was strange to see future 'Hart To Hart' TV star Powers cavorting about with her butt exposed. She played the detective's trophy wife! She does zero housework and spends all his hard earned cash. She and Sommer were at the very least interesting diversions in a film in need of them.

If it wasn't for the scene in which Stephanie Powers graces the viewer with her naked backside & some side boob action one would be forgiven for thinking "The Astral Factor" a TV Movie of the week (Which were quite prevalent in those days). As is it's one of the few things that DOES stand out in this lackluster dip into the new age pool. If you're already a fan of seventies era films & TV shows you'll no doubt recognize several of the actors from such fare as "The Love Boat", & "Fantasy Island". Needless to say that there's nothing groundbreaking going on here. If your standards are low (REALLY low) then you may get something out of this. Otherwise buyer (And viewer) beware.