PSYCHOMANIA (1973)

THE FILM THAT KILLED GEORGE SANDERS. 

OK, probably not but the legend is that after seeing a rough cut of the movie, Sanders went home and committed suicide.  Apparently that's a lot of bushwallop because Sanders was apparently out of the country when the film was edited together.  But anyway, I'm sure starring in this movie didn't help his disposition any.  PSYCHOMANIA is a movie that I've owned for years on DVD but didn't get around to watching until this year; and I didn't even WATCH the DVD I owned but instead got the wonderful Arrow blu ray to watch.  Yep, horror maniacs represent.  So yeah, this wacky film is kinda a loveable mess.  Not a good movie by any means but one which I really took a shine to anyway.  It's the early 1970's so that's a huge point in its favour.  It's got a bunch of English bikers who kinda sorta maybe turn into a Satanic cult.  Points points points.  It's got the superb George Sanders and Beryl Reid.  Beaucoup points there!  It's got Nicky Henson (whom I know most from both ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR and as the 'cool guy' in an episode of FAWLTY TOWERS) being buried sitting on his motorcycle. Upright.  In the grave.  Sitting on his motorcycle. 

This is horror fried gold right here!!!!  So what's all this about?  Well, there's a really nasty biker gang terrorizing England.  They call themselves 'The Living Dead' and they go around causing destruction and mayhem. 

Tom Latham (Nicky Henson) is their leader and his mother (Beryl Reid) is apparently some sort of cultist who encourages her son Tom to kill himself; if he truly believes in their demonic master than he will be resurrected and live eternally.  But only if he really believes at the point of death.  Well, Tom tries to convince the biker gang -- who aren't too sure about this -- and promptly offs himself.  The gang asks permission to bury Tom and Mrs. Latham and Shadwell the butler (George Sanders) are all for it.  Shadwell turns up at the funeral (where Tom is buried upright sitting on his motorcycle) and the butler asks to place a frog medallion in the grave before they fill it with earth.  This he does and this they do. 

Later, Tom bursts out of the grave riding his motorcycle; scattering dirt and terrifying a passerby.  Hmmm, I wonder if Richard Corben got the idea for Meat Loaf's 'Bat Out of Hell' album cover from this movie???  I'd say so.  When the gang sees that Tom has indeed returned from the grave just as he said he would, the members of the gang all fall over themselves to commit suicide and, before you can say road leathers, they all come back from the dead and are even nastier than before.   mean, at one point a resurrected female bikers offs a baby in a supermarket!  So all the gang has died and returned from the grave.  All except Tom's girlfriend Abby (Mary Larkin) who is still unwilling to kill herself.  However, Tom isn't really going to take no for an answer.

This is such a bonkers concept that, no matter how well (or not well) the movie pulls it all off, it's almost irresistible to we horror maniacs, innit?  Denis Gilmore (who plays the ginger gang member 'Hatchet') actually appeared in VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED as one of the creepy kids along with George Sanders in 1960!  Interviews with the cast members are revealing including Mary Larking's slightly terrifying experience with a rather chilly Beryl Reid and Nicky Henson's story about the team providing George Sanders with a director's chair with his name on the back and the name being mispelled as 'George Saunders".  No wonder the poor guy killed himself!  And how the hell is June Brown (Dot Cotten) in this movie and I didn't notice her?!?!?!?!  I mean, she plays the mother of one of the biker gang goils and I just watched the damn movie and I didn't notice her?!?!?!?!  I mean, I noticed John Levene (DOCTOR WHO'S Sgt. Benton) playing a constable so how they hell did I miss June Brown?!?!?!  Sheesh.  Oh well, back to the film.  At the very least, it's a helluva lot of fun if not a superb motion picture.  But for me, PSYCHOMANIA is a stupid but fun winner.