Psychomania (1973)

I love this movie so much

You won't be disappointed!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Is there such a thing as a perfect movie? Maybe. Maybe not. But if you ask me, this combination of the occult and biker culture ranks really close.Tom Latham (Nicky Henson, Witchfinder General) leads The Living Dead, a motorcycle gang that causes trouble and occasionally dabbles in black magic. The worm filled apple didn't fall far from the tree - Tom's mother, deceased father and butler Shadwell (George Sanders, All About Eve and Rebecca) follow the Left Hand Path. With their help, he learns how to die and come back from the dead - roaring from his freshly buried earth on his motorcycle (later Lemmy would do this in Motörhead's "Killed by Death" video).Soon, one after another of the gang commit suicide and return from the dead. Soon, the gang is killing cops and menacing babies. And their names! Gash, Hatchet, Chopped Meat, Hinkey and Bertram! This movie is about pure mayhem! I wonder, was all of England in the grip of Satan in the early 1980's?Director Don Sharp keeps things stylish and moving. This isn't his first go-round with frogs in cemeteries, pacts with the devil, mysterious suicides and zombies. Check out his other film, Witchcraft. He was also behind Dark Places, Hammer's Rasputin: The Mad Monk and the final movie in The Fly series, Curse of the Fly. This is his best work, though.

Psychomania,I remember this VHS box at the local Avondale stores that popped up in the county. I rented it a couple of times, but never really experienced what the plot line on the back of the box had to offer... Recently TCM aired it and I have to say it should have been declared the "Spinal Tap" of UK horror schlock of the times! I love it. The leader of the gang (who resembles Don Stroud) leads his followers into a rebellious rampage filled with frogs, Satan and Druid overtones. A must for fans of the evolution of Zombie films. Notice the extremely early looking CGI at then end of the film. It looks as though they actually burned the negative. A Shepperton Studio Classic.

Well, here it is, gang. Living proof that you don't need gore, or even a single drop of blood, to create quality horror. Not to say that this film is all that scary. It's just an all around entertaining film. This is Psychomania, a very British production about a biker gang called The Living Dead. All The Living Dead seem to care about is creating havoc for the village they live in. The Leader, Tom wants much more, Tom wants to be immortal, so he can create havoc for the entire world. Tom, like most rich kids, is rebellious, yet cowardly. Tom and his mother, along with the butler, who I guess, is Satan, find the rich boy his immortality, so he'll stop whining. All one needs is to truly believe that if you kill yourself, you will come back, and that's pretty much it. Well, that and a frog. That's all there is to it. Only a creative genius could conjure up a powerful plot such as this. With his valuable, new knowledge, Tom soon ends it all, by driving his motorcycle off a bridge, not before terrorizing the village one last time (as a mortal). After returning from the grave, in dramatic fashion, immortal, as well as invincible, Tom has reached new levels of arrogance, he soon convinces the rest of the gang to join him in the dark side. One by one, what follows is the most creative suicide spree in B-movie history.I dig Psychomania for quite a few reasons. for starters, the score couldn't be more fitting, although, how awesome would a Black Sabbath score have been? Just a thought. For something so amateur, Psychomania comes off very professional, at least, the acting, not so much the story, or character development. Although, the camera work is nice. Psychomania has a certain late 60's rebellious style about it that shows in the semi-witty dialogue. The B-movie cheesiness is more subtle in England, but it's most definitely present. If you don't go into this expecting a masterpiece, Psychomania will most likely be a worthwhile experience. For more in awesome Horror from England, check out Vampyres. for tougher bikers, check you Werewolves On Wheels. In closing, Psychomania might not scare the hell out of you, but it is totally enjoyable, and yet another one of a kind, courtesy of the wonderful world on B-cinema. 8/10

I mean, come on...George Sanders, biker thugs who return from the dead, and a creepy, wah wah-drenched soundtrack. What's not to like? "Psychomania" isn't the kind of film you overanalyze; it's the kind of film you sit back and enjoy for the simple pleasure it offers. Nicky Henson (Ian Ogilvy's buddy in "The Conqueror Worm") might have been embarrassed about starring in this low-budget scare flick, but he does a very respectable job as Tom, the smirking rebel without a cause who wants to live forever. Beryl Reid plays his enigmatic, oddly passive mother, a medium who wants Tom to stay away from the mysterious room in which his father died. The terrific George Sanders is their butler, Shadwell. He seems fairly harmless at first, but his sinister significance becomes apparent soon enough. Lots of eerie moments and a nice, gloomy, '60s-gone-sour atmosphere. Watch "Psychomania" late at night, all by yourself, with the lights out :)