PSYCHOMANIA

UK, 1971, 95 minutes, Colour.
George Sanders, Beryl Reid, Nicky Henson, Robert Hardy, Roy Holder.
Directed by Don Sharp.

An odd, short, horror occult film made by director Don Sharp, maker of a number of horror thrillers including the Fu Manchu series with Christopher Lee and of such action films as Hennessy and Bear Island. The film was one of George Sanders' last films and he's matched here with English comedienne Beryl Reid. Nicky Henson is a rather stolid hero/villain. There is a strong English supporting cast. The film has echoes of so many of the occult films of the seventies but does it with somewhat tongue-in-cheek. It also, not so seriously, combines it with the bikie trend from America at the time. The film is quite entertaining and an example of unusual cinema fantastique.

1. The appeal of the occult films during the seventies? Superstition, horror, dreams, the imagination? Their visual style and contrivance? Their strained plots and audiences' willing disbelief? The appeal of cinema fantastique?

2. The odd title and its tone, indications? Psycho and madness? The soul? The devil?

3. The British production, the small budget, the stars? The director and his skill in action films and the way this was manifested in the bikie scenes and the confrontations? The creation of British atmosphere, the small town, the wealthy home, the ordinary people, the bikies? Colour? Action sequences? The ritual overtones of the occult? The contribution of the score?

4. How plausible the plot? The suspension of disbelief? The consequences for the imagination? for the power of the devil. people living on after death, lack of conscience. the ability to terrorist at will?

5. The importance of the visuals: the bikes and the living dead, the house, the contrast of the ordinariness of the village with the Latham household, the picturing of violence? The special effects of the ending and the transformation of the living dead?

6. Tos as a British type of the seventies, the gang leader, his influence, power? His attitude towards his mother, towards Shady? His wanting power of life after death? His going through the ritual and dying? His hold over the other members of the group and persuading them? His persuading Abby but her failure and his reaction? The violence that he wrought? The confrontation with Abby? The transformation at the end as his mother sacrificed him? The sketch of a character for this kind of horror film?

7. Mrs Latham and her relationship with Shadwell? Her indulgence of her son? The flashbacks to his birth, his being dedicated to the devil? The allegory of her life? The finale and her releasing him, the ironic humour of her being turned into a toad?

8. Abby as a pleasant heroine, a participant in the living dead gang, her being present at the acts of violence, her unwillingness to die? The hospital sequence, the final confrontation and the people changing before her?

9. The picture of the gang? the various types, men and women, the importance of the sequences of their deaths - violence and mayhem? Their attacks on the town, shops etc.? The influence of the bikie films from America?

10. Shadwell ? George Sanders and his sinister presence, influence over Mrs Latham, over Tom? A suave devil?

11. The police investigation and the traditions of the British detective film?