Anatomy of a Psycho (1961)

Just so...so bad

Best movie ever!

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

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

Anatomy of a Psycho (1961)** (out of 4) Chet (Darrell Howe) is outraged after his brother is put to death for killing a man and swears to seek vengeance against anyone who helped put him away. His sister Pat (Pamela Lincoln) is dating Mickey (Ronnie Burns) whose own father testified against the brother but Chet doesn't know this... at first.ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO has a lot of interesting ideas but this is simply "C" movie material and what good ideas are here are never fully explored and the end result is a decent juvenile delinquent picture. If you're expecting something like REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE then you're certainly in the wrong picture. This was rumored to have been ghost written by the one and only Edward D. Wood, Jr. so one should know what to expect.As many reviews have pointed out, there's certainly nothing ground-breaking here and for the most part the film it quite dull. Where the film does work is the fact that it's pretty much just cheap entertainment and as long as you don;'t take it too serious you can get some mildly entertainment from it. The entire story is something we've seen countless times before. The revenge aspect really isn't anything new but the twist here is that the guy put to death really was guilty. The impact this has on the surviving brother's mental state is where the film brings up some interesting ideas but they just aren't fully explored.The performances are pretty much what you'd expect from a film like this. They're pretty much all over the place but the over-the-top performance by Howe does at least add a little spark to the material. The dead-pan performance from Michael Granger adds some entertainment as well. The rather bland and straight-forward direction by Boris Petroff doesn't add much but then again he at least made a film that didn't have countless errors (like Wood would have).

Hypersensitive Chet (endearingly overplayed with considerable scenery-gnashing panache by Darrell Howe) is left despondent over the conviction and execution of his hoodlum older brother. Despite the fact that his brother was guilty, Chet nonetheless decides to exact revenge by setting up the son of a witness for murder. The tepid direction by Boris Petroff and the blah script by Jane Mann and Don Devlin alas allow the meandering narrative to never pick up the steam it needs in order to really cook and be effective; as a direct result of this, the movie fails to build much in the way of both tension and momentum (for example, a major trial set piece doesn't pack any real dramatic punch to speak of). Moreover, the sudden moments of violence tend to be clumsily staged and hence unconvincing. That said, the decent acting from the game cast prevents the picture from being a total wash-out, with especially commendable work by Ronnie Burns as the likable Mickey, Pamela Lincoln as Chet's sweet sister Pat, Michael Granger as the diligent Lt. Mac, co-writer Devlin as the short-tempered Moe, and Frank Killmond as the wimpy Bobbie. Howe's occasional hilariously histrionic outbursts provide a few unintentional belly laughs. Joel Colman's snazzy black and white cinematography makes nifty use of fades, dissolves, and super-impositions. Michael Terr's overwrought score hits the rousing melodramatic spot. A merely acceptable time-waster.

This here movie is one of those old drive in type movies which actually its a fair film. The cast is different though and the movie maybe slow at times but this movie does have its moments. Some of the scenes in My opinion was ahead of its time and similar ones wasn't seen until films made later on down the road. The film has solid acting and interactions between the characters. Anatomy of a Psycho is written by the late Don Devlin who is the father of epic movie writer Dean Devlin. The late writer also has a part in this film. I wouldn't consider this film a horror film but more like a crime or a thriller. Sometimes movies like this one are some of the most realistic ones. This is part of a double feature which the other on the tape is called Hatchet for the Honeymoon which is also a good oldie! The movie is not perfect but like I said it has its moments. Give this movie a chance if you old crime flicks!

This is for Erzebet of Philly. What Ronnie are you talking about?? I believe it was Darrell Howe who played Chet in the film was the villian and not Ronnie. You might want to view the film once more. Anyways, the film is still a piece of poop and yes, this was not Ronnie Burns greatest hour :( Paul