The Psychic (1968)

The story goes that writer James Hurley was sufficiently unhappy with Herschell Gordon Lewis' treatment of his script for Something Weird (1967), that he wrote, directed and produced The Psychic (1968) in attempt to rectify what he saw as the earlier film's faults (with Lewis on board, ostensibly as cinematographer).  The films do, indeed, have similar themes, in both a man gains psychic powers as a result of an accident and seeks to exploit them, but with unexpected consequences.  But whereas Something Weird goes off into typically bizarre Herschell Gordon Lewis territory, involving witchcraft, psychedelics and serial killers, The Psychic tries to present its subject matter in a more straightforward, mundane way.  The problem is that it is so mundane that it is dull.  Nothing much at all ever seems to happen  Sure, we're told that the title character has been using his newly acquired powers to help local people, we don't actually see any of this.  Likewise, when he leaves his wife and daughter and goes on tour with his psychic act, in search of fame and fortune, we see next to nothing of this act which is supposed to be wowing audiences to the extent that an agent signs him up and gets him TV appearances.  Even when something dramatic does happen, it is executed in such a low key way that it seems a non-event.  When the main character's young daughter is kidnapped by a child molester, there is absolutely no sense of urgency in the reaction from either her parents or the police.  Even when the child is found alive but sexually assaulted, it feels an anti-climax - nobody seems to care about the poor girl's ordeal or the trauma she has suffered.

The situation isn't helped by the film's obvious lack of resources - everything about it looks poverty stricken.  The 'studio set' where the protagonist makes  an ill-fated appearance on a TV chat show is obviously somebody's living room, for instance.  The sound quality is poor, the lighting indifferent and Lewis' cinematography is static, seemingly bereft of zooms, close ups or any other kind of camera movement.  All too often, it looks like a badly filmed amateur stage production, with two people in a room, talking stilted dialogue at each other.  Which, if nothing else, at least makes The Psychic look like a Herschell Gordon Lewis film, but without the quirky bits.  (For many years, it was routinely misidentified as one of his films).  Clearly, somebody, somewhere, felt that the film, as originally shot, was too dull to be released even to the drive in exploitation circuit.  Consequently, the finished film includes a series of apparently randomly inserted soft core porn scenes, in which the main character has sex with various women - all the time watched by a child-like blonde in a bikini, licking a lollipop.  (The latter is eventually explained as a personification of his powers).  Presumably shot by Lewis to pad the film out and add exploitation value, these sequences aren't particularly explicit or erotic, but they do reinforce the main character's fundamental dislikablity, further demonstrating his objectification of women and callousness toward them.  (In the course of the film he also leaves his wife to pursue his psychic career, abuses his female assistant and reveals, live on his talk show appearance, a female guest's lesbian past, simply as an attempt to save face after his psychic powers had earlier failed him).

The fact is, though, that writer/director Hurley's instincts were right: the material itself has considerable potential for a serious drama. The whole business of the main character basically faking his failing psychic powers to help the police find find his daughter in order to re-establish his credibility, rather than through any concern for safety, could itself provide the plot for an intriguing character study, exploring the clash between morality and selfish ambition.  Likewise, the main scenario, of an already deeply flawed and amoral character suddenly gaining psychic abilities and the question of how he would use them could have made for an interesting drama, as would his reaction to losing these powers.  Sadly though, the film opts to try and cover all of these themes, but in the shallowest way possible, doing none of them justice, never developing any of the ideas and dilemmas they create.  Hurley's lumpen, unimaginative, script, combined with a non-existent budget and production values ensure that the film is sunk before it even has a chance to get started.  Lewis' would-be erotic inserts help only in at least giving the film a mildly surreal feel, but ultimately add nothing to the plot's development.  Although, to be fair, the film overall shows little in the way of development, of any kind.  The main character starts as an insufferable jerk, unpleasant to all around and by the end of the film has learned nothing from his experiences, with the loss of his powers leaving him wallowing in self-pity.  From a viewer's perspective, watching The Psychic is an equally unedifying experience..