The Psychopath (1966)

A film I hadn't seen in its entirety since a rare late night screening on either BBC or ITV back in the late seventies or early eighties, by chance I caught the end of The Psychopath (1966) on a live streaming channel the other night.  This screening used the more than slightly scuzzy looking German print, (with the original English dialogue track),  that has been the source of most versions available via illegal download sites, well known video sharing sites and dodgy streaming channels over the past couple of decades.  One of Amicus' less well known (these days at least) films, it was made before the company had settled into its regular niche of producing portmanteau horror films and represented an attempt to imitate rival Hammer's recent series of psychological horror films, (Maniac and Paranoiac, for instance), inspired by Hitchcock's Psycho.  Not only does the Amicus; film echo that of Psycho, but it was also scripted by Robert Bloch, who had written the source novel for the Hitchcock film.  Unfortunately, it never rises to the heights of that film although, in its own right, it is an entertaining movie.

As can be seen from the trailer, The Psychopath is, in truth, more of a murder mystery than a psycho-drama, with Patrick Wymark's police inspector investigating a series of bizarre murders where a doll in the victim's image is found with each body.  Bloch's script tries for a Psycho vibe by making the main suspects a strange and socially maladjusted young man who lives with his quite clearly mad mother, (who actually is still alive).  The fact that she has a house full of creepy dolls means that we're never really in doubt as to the killer's identity, despite a poor attempt at misdirection on Bloch's part, involving a millionaire and his displeasure over his daughter's choice of boyfriend.  Where the film's strength lies is in its direction by Freddie Francis, (who had also directed a number of Hammer's sub-Hitchcock dramas).  Not only are the killings imaginatively staged, but the whole film is stylishly directed, with Francis' making effective use of a rather garish colour palette and unusual camera angles to frame his scenes, giving them an off-kilter feel.  Indeed, the film somewhat resembles an Italian giallo, even though that genre was barely established in Italy and still not that familiar to British audiences.  The resemblance is further emphasised by the fact that, as in most classic giallos, the killings have their roots in some past family trauma.  The sparse, but effectively atmospheric, musical score by Elizabeth Lutyens is also highly reminiscent of the sort of scores employed by many true giallo movies.  Perhaps not surprisingly, in view of these parallels, The Psychopath proved very popular on the continent, particularly Germany.  Well worth a look if you can get to see it, (Arrow released it on DVD a couple of years ago, so it is now available legally), The Psychopath is one of Amicus' stronger early movies, despite its derivative nature.