The Psychotronic Man (1979)

• Year: 1979
• Released: 01 Apr 1979
• Country: United States
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164143/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_psychotronic_man
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: PG
• Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
• Runtime: 90 min
• Writer: Phil Lanier, Jack M. Sell, Peter Spelson
• Director: Jack M. Sell
• Cast: Peter Spelson, Chris Carbis, Curt Colbert

2.9/10

The Psychotronic Man Storyline

Just as Rocky thinks the world is proceeding along quite well, he dashes out of his shop in a kind of trance, as though possessed. Once outside he is driven to hunt for a victim and after he has found someone, he kills them with whatever forces are latent in his subconscious.

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The Psychotronic Man Movie Reviews

Indie horror flick let down by padding

THE PSYCHOTRONIC MAN is an indie horror flick that seems to have been made in order to rip-off PSYCHIC KILLER, the entertaining little video nasty wannabe. This one’s a very cheap-looking film with muted colours and on-the-street camerawork; if you’re familiar with the kinds of thrillers put out by Vinegar Syndrome then you’ll know the look. An ordinary guy discovers a talent for killing people with his mental powers so he goes on a random killing spree while the cops hunt him down. It’s not very gory or suspenseful, and the acting is as basic as you’d expect, but I did enjoy the first half of this movie. Sadly, the second half gets way too bogged down in silly slow motion action scenes which merely act as padding in order to get the running time up to the required length, but drag the pacing down to a snail’s crawl in the process.

Weird with a capital “W”

Here’s another great contender for my own personal award of “Most Demented Film I ever watched”, but the least I can say is that it was very interesting. “The Pschotronic Man” begins with the longest and most unnerving opening credits ever, but they’re quite sinister and atmospheric what with the really creepy music and odd color schemes and everything. This is one of them rare films that already make you feel uncomfortable before it even properly takes off. The slow-paced story introduces Rocky Foscoe; a barber with a few issues that may or may not be caused by the fact that he consumes his own hair shampoos and conditioner lotions. Rocky starts having strange visions, like himself flying around in a car and such similar tomfoolery, and he gradually becomes the world’s first and only Psychotronic Man. Basically, this just means that he’s an older, fatter and sleazier male version of “Carrie” who can inflict stuff only by using his overdeveloped willpower. At first, Rocky doesn’t comprehend the powers that have been granted to him and even seeks professional help to make the unbearable headaches go away, but then he gradually learns how to control his skills and use it against the people he doesn’t like, like his own wife who’s in the way of his love affairs.

“The Psychotronic Man” is overall a pretty cool flick, but sadly director Jack M. Sell wasn’t quite sure which narrative tone to maintain. Does this story require a dramatic, mysterious or exploitative tone? Or perhaps a combination of all three? This indecisive behavior leads to an illogical structure and uneven pacing, for example when a moody love-making sequence is immediately followed by an extremely violent murder vision. The film is also slow and uneventful. Especially considering the plot outline, they could have made this into a far more grotesque and trashy cult experiment; even bearing in mind the budgetary restrictions. The overlong chase sequence, for example, is the least spectacular one in the history of cinema. The cars just drive in straight lines and at snail pace, without tricky maneuvers or causing flamboyant accidents. Still, there’s some greatness to find in this oddball production, like the creepy sound effects that are frequently repeated, including a church bell chiming and half the tune of Ennio Morricone’s classic music for “Once upon a time in the West”. I bet the composer of this film was the only person who had great fun on set.

Bizarre film, to say the least, but it did offer us the collective term for everything in cult, horror and trash cinema that is unique and indescribable. Psychotronic power!

Chicago seemed tired last night

Psychotronics are a conspiracy theory that posits that “government agents make use of electromagnetic radiation (such as the microwave auditory effect), radar, and surveillance techniques to transmit sounds and thoughts into people’s heads, affect people’s bodies, and harass people.”

This film uses that term and ended up inspiring Michael J. Weldon to create his magazine Psychotronic Video, which sought to discover and get the word out about movies that the mainstream ignored.

Chicago barber Rocky Foscoe – what a name! – has discovered that he has psychotronic powers that he uses to blast his wife and create enough of a problem that a SWAT team – and government agents that want to use him for their own dark agenda – have to be called in.

Produced completely out of the studio system, shot entirely in Chicago and self-financed, The Psychotronic Man is the very definition of a regional film. As a result, you can watch this secure in the knowledge that no matter how dangerous the stunts look or how great the downtown settings are filmed, they were all done with no permits.