Rish Outfield's reviews
Ray Milland stars as Doctor Xavier (really!), whose brilliant work on vision enables him to develop a serum that increases his visual acuity at an alarming rate. It also appears to affect his sanity as well. The movie takes a turn for the more interesting when he gets a job at the carnival ‘seeing' into the shills, becomes a sort of mystic healer, and later takes his talent to Vegas. Don Rickles is very good as the huckster who takes advantage of the good doctor's abilities.
Another Roger Corman production for A.I.P. (American International Pictures), this one steers clear of the gothic Poe stories, and tells a cool Science Fiction story (so Science Fiction, in fact, that I debated not reviewing it at all for the site). It's very '60s and VERY talky. There's a funny moment early on where a scientist working with exotic chemicals uses a bunsen burner to light his cigarette. As with most of Corman's films, too much was shot in studio. In a LAME dancing scene in which he sees people naked, the silliness quotient went through the roof. When it gets going, it feels like an extended "Twilight Zone" episode, and that's a good thing. There's no killer, and it was hard to pick a Threat. He becomes obsessed, wanting to see more, and more often--even though he hates the effect. The film features nice music by Les Baxter--a lot of jazz, but some good dramatic stuff as well. There's the token appearance by Dick Miller (his character was supposed to be in his twenties), but again, that's a good thing. The special effect of Milland's eyes toward the end is pretty remarkable, even if it's just coloured contact lenses. Though most of it is treated rather lightly, the concept is as disturbing as it is intriguing. The ending is abrupt and leaves you thinking, "Well?" Stephen King said in his book Danse Macabre, that there was originally an additional, chilling line at the end of the film, and man, would that have been something!
Line To Remember: "That monkey died!"
I'd Recommend It To: Sci-Fi fans who can see past camp.

Total Skulls: 8

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood hits camera
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?