Customer Reviews

Psychomania

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Geneon edition of this DVD is missing the seance scene. This scene introduces Shadwell and the mom and shows the mom's psychic ablilities, showing what she gets out of Shadwell's presence. So it's kind of important. (It also shows why she's sleeping in a chair.) It's only two or three minutes long, but it shouldn't be missing!!!

Ah, wait a minute....there isn't any such genre; this movie is one of a kind! How could I say no to a film with the plot premise: zombie biker gang terrorizes small town's inhabitants. To be far to the lack of quality in the movie, I didn't so much as love this film as I was fascinated by the sheer weirdness--the back acting, the occult counter-culter plot, and oh yes, the bad acting! As the Amazon review for this film pointed out, Psychomania avoids the extremes of any particular theme: it isn't particularly scary (there is no blood whatsoever), it isn't all that violent (there is lots of riding around, but that's all Tom and his gang seem to do--there is, however, a great scene where Jane (a gorgeous Ann Michelle), one of the biker members, mows over a baby carriage [that kid's going to be bitter when it grows up!]); you sure don't get much in the line of social commentary either--in fact the morality of Tom and the gang's actions isn't never directly addressed at all--so cautionary tale it is not! The believability factor is pretty extreme also. Hatchet's suicide onto the freeway should have left him a barely recognizable scrape, but lo and behold, he's in the morgue perfectly intact; ditto for the skydiver biker--eeeyouch! he wasn't even dented! As for the occult, it would've been nice to have had five minutes more of exposition devoted to the source of that frog cult or have a little more light shed onto Shadwell's identity. Still it's probably best not to look too far into these kinds of movies. Interestingly, some of the talent cast have been in many other films. As another reviewer pointed out, Nicky Henson was in many other films (I saw Conquorer Worm awhile ago, but don't remember him). I happen to be a huge Doctor Who fan, so I recognized John Levine and Beryl Reid from those shows. If you are a fan of the biker horror genre, then by all means go see Werewolves On Wheels as it has many of the same elements: the cheesy song halfway through, the surly biker gang, the nonsensical plot, and an ending even more bizarre than this movie's. But if you like your movies dark side weird, then start with Psychomania!

The much ballyhooed biker film genre is one I rarely, if ever, visit on my cinematic excursions. I have never seen more than ten minutes of "Easy Rider," nor have I witnessed Marlon Brando donning the leather jacket and rebellious attitude in "The Wild One." Forget "Quadrophenia" or even Herschell Gordon Lewis's "She-Devils on Wheels." If it's got a guy throwing caution to the wind on the back of a hog, I have not been there to witness it. The closest I get to a motorcycle movie is when I happen to catch a James Bond film where guys on bikes try to chase down 007. Heck, I can't stand watching that motorcycle show on television where the blowhard screams at his sons all day. That is why I am so surprised I not only rented "Psychomania" but also liked it immensely as well. Here's a movie every lover of low budget cinematic sludge can fully endorse. Here's a movie loaded with ugly guys sporting atrocious haircuts zipping around the highway. Here's a movie where reanimated biker gang members can ride through a brick wall without putting a scratch on their choppers. Here's a movie with characters named Hatchet and Chopped Meat. What are you waiting for?

The Living Dead is the name of the game in a small English village as far as threatening motorcycle gangs go. An equal opportunity employer, the group includes both men and women in their reigns of terror throughout the countryside. What do they do? Oh, just your everyday harmless antics like chasing cars off the road, buzzing pedestrians, and speaking bad English. The leader of the gang is Tom (Nicky Henson), a goofy chap with a psychic mother and no father figure. His girlfriend Abby (Mary Larkin) provides a few kicks when fellow member Jane (Ann Michelle) isn't trying to muscle in. Tom's greatest thrill isn't his girlfriend, however, but trying to figure out a way to live on the wild side. Thanks to his mother (Beryl Reid) and their aging butler Shadwell (George Sanders), he's about to do just that. Mum is part of some frog cult (!) that vigorously promotes the idea that anyone may return from the dead if only he or she wishes to hard enough. You've got to be careful that you don't change your mind at the last minute, though, or you won't ever return. Tom's father apparently wasn't sure, probably because he remembered his son's haircut at the last second and decided he couldn't take coming back to that, but Tom is all for trying out the secrets of the frog cult.

Tom, sad to say, moves on to another plane of existence after soaring off a bridge during a police chase. His friends gather at the gravesite for a truly poignant and memorable service, with the high point being the acoustic version of "Ride Free" played with all due seriousness. Tom's demise crushes Abby, but hope blooms anew as her beau bursts out of the ground alive and kicking on his motorcycle! It worked! He goes on a rampage through the town, killing several people who just happen to irritate him, and then begins to pester the other members of the group to commit the final act. Most of his pals take him up on the offer, dispatching themselves through a variety of methods including skydiving without a parachute, diving into the river weighted down with chains, and taking a freefall out of a tall building while calling out to a police officer below "I'll be right down." Abby even attempts to join Tom's brand new version of The Living Dead by taking a heavy dose of pills, but her heart isn't really in it and she survives with the help of the authorities. The cops, mystified why a few deceased gang members killed morgue personnel and then walked out of the building, put pressure on Abby to bring down the group. "Psychomania" ends with a series of spectacularly cheesy special effects.

It's rare to see a movie as ridiculous and over the top as "Psychomania." It's also rare to enjoy a movie as ridiculous and over the top as "Psychomania." But enjoy it I did. I can't decide which I liked better, the motorcycle gang or Tom's mother and the creepy butler Shadwell. I probably should go with the former since we spend the most time following their exploits. I howled with laughter watching these dolts tool around the countryside while wearing little skull shaped masks. You'd think they would know that blocking their peripheral vision could result in an accident, but even if they did they wouldn't care. Part of being in a motorcycle gang is learning how to live life on the edge. Besides, those haircuts are more dangerous than any riding mishap! It's truly amazing to see how society defined bad behavior even a few decades ago. Nowadays we have to worry about all manner of depraved behaviors. Indeed, you only need open your newspaper to see the latest list of atrocities committed right outside our homes. In "Psychomania" the worst behavior seems to be speeding, nudging cars off the road, and being disrespectful to private property. Sure, things worsen after the gang comes back from the grave, but that's only because it's a crime against God and humanity.

I'm a tad disappointed in the DVD. There weren't any extras, and the picture quality was truly dreadful. You'd figure a laugh a minute schlockfest like this would receive the five star treatment from a company like Blue Underground or Anchor Bay, especially considering master thespian George Sanders starred in it. Sadly, the actor took his life a year or so after "Psychomania" was unleashed on the public. Despite this tragic turn of events, I dare you to despise this film. It's too much fun to really dislike it.

How could you not enjoy this movie? The music is an awesome score by John Cameron, very psychedelic. You've got bikers commiting suicide, then they are resurected from the dead, perfectly normal. How could you not like a horror movie involving a devilish butler and a toad!

I don't know what it is about Psychomania, but I'll be doggoned if I didn't enjoy this movie. This low-budget motorcycle gang horror movie made at the hands of one-time Hammer director Don Sharp looks rather cheesy, revolves around a rather porous storyline, and comes up empty in the special effects department, but it works for some reason. I hate biker movies, but this one is just kooky enough to capture my attention. Tom is not your typical motorcycle gang leader, and The Living Dead is not your typical motorcycle gang. These crazy kids like to hang out and motor around the local cemetery sporting their ridiculous skeleton-like helmets, taking periodic breaks to run drivers off the roads and to terrorize the local community. Tom himself lives in a grand manor house, though, with his séance-conducting medium mother and an ever-present serving man named Shadwell. Tom is somewhat obsessed with death, always asking his mother how to come back from the dead. He has now finally been given the key to the manor's mysterious locked room, the room in which his father died mysteriously eighteen years earlier. This is a scene that is never really explained, but soon Tom has learned the answer to the question he has been asking. It turns out that all you need to do to come back from the dead is to believe wholeheartedly that you will do so while you kill yourself. He actually manages to pull the whole thing off, and the new and even more dangerous Tom soon has the whole gang committing suicide in various ways in order to really live up to the gang's name.

Naturally, such goings-on do not take place without the devil's full knowledge, and ignorance of a debt does not preclude the devil from making his clients pay for their wrongs. The truly awful special effects put a real damper on an already less than exciting ending, but the devil and I seem to be fairly happy with the overall results. The man downstairs seems to have quite a penchant for frogs, by the way, but this is just another aspect of the film that is never really explained. As long as you don't take this film seriously and prepare yourself for some plot elements that go AWOL along the way, Psychomania is quite capable of providing you with an hour and a half of strangely satisfying, albeit rather lame, entertainment.

It's something much better! This film may not have much in the way of plot or acting, but what it does have is that most intagable of film qualities-the ability to stick in your head for ever after having seen it. I myself saw it as a young'n on Elvira's tv show back in the 80's, and could never forget the sight of bikers turning to stone! Indeed, I had to ask myself if I saw what I thought I saw. What you have is a movie ripe for the Mystery Science Theater treatment, or just a good time with some friends and a bad movie you can get some good laughs out of. The rundown is: A bratty son of a Medium leads a mod gang of hooligans, "The Living Dead" (complete with skull-painted helmets) and wants mum's secret of eternal life. The butler might be the devil? We're not sure. Brat kills himself, rides his hog out of his grave and convinces his gang that ritualistic mass suicide is fun! Of course, convincing his girlfriend is another matter-hilarity ensues! 90 minutes will go by and you won't know what any of it meant, but you won't be able to forget-Psychomania!

This movie is a blast- 1970's motorcycle movie with a horror twist. Acadamy Award winner it isn't, but a lot of fun. One scene was an inspiration to the band Motorhead for their "Ace Of Spades" video (cemetery scene). A few friends and I saw this film in @1981 on a late-night local station and talked about it for years and I was very happy to get my hands on a few copies. Only one scene could I say was out of place (making the anti-hero main character look like the picked-on outcast) with a stupid song, but hey, what do you want for a 1970's English motorcycle horror "B" movie??? Buy it and enjoy!

I too have seen the picture many years ago as a teenager. The film stuck in my mind for all these years. The storyline is engraved in (stone) ... LOL . I highly recommend the film to the 30-40 crowd, it brings back some fond memories of being a teenager & the wild things we did or fantasized, about . It flashes back visions of the way the world was back then in the U.K. A true classic , in my book esp. if you liked to ride bikes.

a very silly british film which is also great fun. a gang of hells angels decide that if you kill yourself while expecting to come back to life then that is just what will happen. and once they become invincible hells angels what do they do? take over the world? no-they visit the local supermarket and push over piles of baked beans etc! also featuring an amusingly bad folk song scene-and these guys are supposed to be hells angels! so it's an awful film right? put it this way-i'm buying it!

A biker's search for eternal life leads him to the Frog Cult (that's right, the Frog Cult). He discovers the key to immortality is to commit suicide with the absolute belief that you will return from the dead. After successfully returning from the dead he shares this secret with the rest of his gang who take turns committing suicide and making themselves immortal. As immortals the biker gang, known as "The Living Dead", terrorize an English town killing mortals for fun. An interesting side note is that the bikers and their bikes become immortal, as the bikes can now be ridden through brick walls. I love this movie. I saw it when I was about 10 and I have been haunted by it ever since. My decision to buy an English motorcycle was undoubtedly subconsciously influenced by this movie. I have seen many biker movies and this is by far my favorite. "Easy Rider" is the "Ishtar" of biker movies compared to "Psychomania"!