Rating: N/A
Dir: Herschell Gordon Lewis
Star: Tony McCabe, Elizabeth Lee, William Brooker, Mudite Arums
[0] Eventually, Lewis moved away from pure gore, though he still returned to it occasionally. This is one of his excursions into non-sex ‘n’ violence film-making. A man is nearly killed by an electric shock – when he recovers he gets some good news and some bad news. The good news is that he now has second sight and can fortell the future. The bad news is that he is horribly scarred, so he turns to making a living as a masked fortune teller. One day an old hag arrives and promises to cure his scarring if he will become her lover. He agrees – it turns out she is capable of looking quite pleasant if she wants to. The police then invite him in to use his psychic powers to help them solve a murder which has baffled them.
This is a dull film. There is very little in it of interest to anyone, especially if they are looking for trash. It is just too bad to qualify. The acting is dire, without the ham quality that made 2000 Maniacs a far more memorable film, with the honourable exception of the hag (played by some actress whose name I forget, and can’t be bothered to look up, because as far as I know, she has never appeared in any other film [Ed: it’s Arums]) who deserves some sort of award for the worst impersonation of an old woman I think I have ever seen. There is no drama, tension or excitement in it whatsoever. It was recently back at the Scala on a double bill with The Gruesome Twosome, but I left before it came on, even though I’d already paid my three quid. Avoid.