The Hypnotic Eye (1960)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

What could be driving various beautiful young women to mutilate themselves? What do they all have in common? Could it be the devilish hypnotist Desmond (Jacques Bergerac) and his mysterious assistant Justine (the 50 foot woman, Allison Hayes)? A skeptical detective (Joe Patridge) becomes personally involved when a friend (Merry Anders) becomes the latest victim, and his own girlfriend (Marcia Henderson) falls under the spell of the hypnotist.As with other movies from the era, this originally came complete with a gimmick designed to lure people away from their TV sets and into the theatres. In this case, that would be "Hypno-Magic". Overall, the movie is pretty amusing, with the suave, handsome Bergerac doing a fine job of taking centre stage. The makeup effects are fairly good for the time this was made, and some of the methods of self mutilation are a hoot, even if we don't see all of them: flammable shampoo, lye cocktail, face pressed into fan blades, etc. One has to wonder if Herschell Gordon Lewis was somewhat inspired by this one when he made "The Wizard of Gore" 10 years later.The cast keeps it watchable, particularly the striking Ms. Hayes, who does have a (not terribly surprising) twist in store for us right near the end. The filmmakers also get some credit for not over explaining things; for example, not giving us a back story for Desmond and Justine. The movie takes a brief detour into beatnik culture at the start of the second half, showcasing poet Lawrence Lipton and bongo drummer Eric Nord. Jimmy Lydon plays an emergency doctor, and in another doctor role the real life "Great Impostor" Fred Demara is cast."The Hypnotic Eye" is agreeable goof ball entertainment for people looking for a vintage "shocker".Six out of 10.

WARNING!! Do Not Try These "Specialized" Beauty Treatments At Home! (1) A sulphuric acid facial. (And/Or) (2) A flammable shampoo while standing over a lit gas burner.Believe me - The overall effects could be devastating! The reason why I say "specialized" beauty treatments here, is that these particular treatments, believe it or not, are especially designed to ruin beauty, rather than enhance it - Which is the very reason why these sorts of treatments are being so sadistically administered in The Hypnotic Eye (a somewhat sleazy, but often amusing Horror/Thriller from 1960).As the story goes - Something (or someone?) very sick and twisted is driving beautiful, young women into grotesque acts of self-mutilation. Careful police investigation inevitably leads handsome Detective, Steve Kennedy, to a debonair stage hypnotist named Desmond and his glamorous assistant, Justine, who harbours a deep and, yes, very deadly secret.In a nutshell - The Hypnotic Eye is nerve-frying, unintentionally humorous, Horror, played out alongside a beatnik culture, that's combined, and then neatly mixed in with a predictable "women-in-peril" storyline.

...this brainless cheapie would deserve a much lower rating. Everything from unintentional laughs like the line about the lady who mutilated her face because she thought her electric fan was a "vibrator" to the bogus "Beat" poet at an even more bogus "Beat" nightclub to the obviously closeted psychiatrist to the blatantly misogynistic tenor of the entire proceedings just, shall we say, screams? It's all the fault of a terrible script, of course, one that was apparently written by and for the mentality of the children who were likely the primary audience. The ostensible hero is a clueless dolt, the women aren't much smarter, the central topic of hypnotism is handled with no genuine understanding whatsoever, and the ludicrous plot is rife with gigantic holes and glaring inconsistencies. Still, if you turn off your brain, the film has its charms, mostly for the nostalgia value. Pretty strictly MST3000 viewing only, but one could do much, much worse.

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.