Customer Reviews

Zotz [VHS]

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Please put this reknowned Tom Posten movie on DVD so that humble people such as myself can afford it. Thanks!!!

"The Magic Word for Fun...ZOTZ!" Thus reads Columbia Pictures' withering one-line ad campaign for William Castle's "Zotz!" (starring Tom Poston, Jim Backus, Margaret Dumont and Cecil Kellaway), an alleged comedy that debuted to no particular acclaim in 1962. Obviously the marketing department was slap out of lipstick for this pig.

What's regrettable is that "ZOTZ!" could have been a smart and even sexy flick if Castle had stuck to the premise of Admiral Walter Karig's novel of the same name.

For those scratching their heads, Karig's 1947 story was a fanciful metaphor for the dilemma of the Age of Nuclear Weapons... What do we do with a weapon capable of annihilating any thing, any enemy, any country, and with as little effort as pointing a finger?

What do we do? Well, for starters, we learn not to point fingers and threaten our neighbors, or we might very well destroy ourselves. A simplistic observation for those of us with nearly 60 years of Cold War hindsight; but it was a revelation to Walter Karig when he wrote "Zotz!" (just two years after the bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki).

The plot of "Zotz!" was just as simple: Prof. Jonathan Jones (a professor of ancient Eastern languages) comes into possession of a cursed amulet; Jones deciphers the amulet's powers to cause pain, to retard motion, and to kill, and he immediately suffers the consequences of his discovery. This is where the book and the movie part company.

Karig's story went on to explore some of the dire (and truly comical) consequences of absolute power, including sexual dysfunction---Prof. Jones realizes to his horror that when he points ANY part of his body at another living creature, it sends the victim into spasms of debilitating pain. This is a lousy realization for him to make during an intimate encounter with a beautiful woman...

Now, this shows comedic promise: Here is a man of unlimited power who must vigilantly remain flaccid, lest he inflict intense physical agony on his love interest. That's the stuff of classic cinema!

Ah, but does William Castle even attempt what could be one of the most awkwardly comic sexual encounters ever filmed? He does not. Well, in truth, he cannot...remember, it was 1962. Sex in mainstream entertainment was barely out of the box at the time. And William Castle wasn't a terribly clever film maker.

Instead, Castle's movie offers up a series of dry, two-dimensional vignettes merely demonstrating the ZOTZ effect: Professor Jones kills a moth; Professor Jones kills a lizard; Professor Jones becomes drunk at a faculty dinner and utters the magic word ZOTZ...zany hyjinx ensue.

Unlike Karig's book, the closest this film comes to making a political statement against weapons of mass destruction is when Professor Jones attempts to turn the terrible ZOTZ amulet over to the Department of Defense; but the Pentagon bigwigs are too dimwitted to hear him out.

Granted, William Castle's "Zotz!" did employ some unusual special effects for its day, including a rooftop "slow bullet" sequence: Intoning the mystic word "ZOTZ," Prof. Jones freezes a .45 slug in mid-flight and steps easily out of its path; then Jones leaps from the rooftop and falls about twenty floors in slow motion, end-over-end, to the sidewalk, as normal-speed action continues in the background. I doubt that such a surreal sequence had been attempted in film before.

It's in the final moments of the film, however, that Castle finally admits to his audience that he doesn't understand or doesn't give a damn about Walter Karig's intended message. Under Castle's ham-handed direction, Ray Russel's screenplay inexplicably finds us on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with Tom Poston mouthing patriotic platitudes, then fade to the fluttering American flag with churchbells ringing liberty across all the land. And roll credits...

What does it mean? Is this fun? It can't be serious; but it can't be comedy, either, because, hey, there's the flag, right? Almost as an afterthought, Castle attempts to turn Karig's thoughtful anti-nuke metaphor into a pathetic piece of flag-waving Cold War propaganda. And he fails even at that.

How and why Walter Karig's much more whimsical ending was omitted from the film is one of the great mysteries of William Castle lore. As Walter Karig penned it, Professor Jones, following his tumultuous flirtation with godhood, chooses to chuck it all and seek a thoroughly anonymous role in society---that of a pest exterminator, whistling as he works, zapping roaches and rats one "ZOTZ" at a time. Now THAT'S funny.

Alas, William Castle (in his questionable wisdom) chose not to end a comedy on a comedic note; even though Karig's ending would have been perfect for Tom Poston, and may have conceivably salvaged Castle's dismal, downward-spiraling romp.

I've searched for years for this movie, ZOTZ!, because it's a classic and it's unique to it's genre. It does get a little corny in the end, but for it's time it was a magnificent movie. Tom Poston was fabulous in the part and the supporting cast was great! If you're into fantasy based movies from the 1960's then you'll probably like this one. I wholeheartedly recommend it!

And the DVD is coming when? Heck, I will settle for Laserdisc if you have it. WS please!

I saw this movie when I must have been eight years old. I must confess I have not seen it since. But it is one of those bizarre films which sticks to the ribs of my mind. I remember it as a black and white comedy. Not a Ha Ha laugh out loud comedy, but as something that makes you think. The plot involves a college professor who decyphers the inscription on an amulet found in the temple of an ancient god. The god's name is Zotz. He is a much more intesting god than the phoney windbag in the Old Testament, who also has a hidden name (maybe if Jews say it, it makes them fart - I wouldn't know). If you hold the amulet - actually a coin about the size of a quarter - and say "Zotz," whatever you are looking at goes into slow motion. If you point at something while holding the amulet, it experiences a sharp pain. And if you point and say "Zotz" at the same time, you kill the thing you are looking at. What a neat idea!
I can't explain why this film has been lodged in my head all these decades. But every so often, I think about what I would do if I had that coin. Especially when I am driving. The memory of this film is a kind of guilty pleasure. In the movie, the amulet is finally lost, which is perhaps the only ending possible here. But the thought of going on a killing spree with a small coin in my pocket and total anonymity is so delightful that I pray to the Great God Zotz to manifest Himself in DVD.

a somewhat funny movie,it's a totally diffrent movie, I really liked it.