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The Hypnotic Eye

Play trailer Poster for The Hypnotic Eye 1960 1h 19m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 3 Reviews 27% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
A stage hypnotist's (Jacques Bergerac) ugly helper (Allison Hayes) suggests terrible things to spellbound beauties.
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The Hypnotic Eye

Critics Reviews

View All (3) Critics Reviews
Clyde Gilmour Maclean's Magazine No explanation is ever given...suspenseful, but implausible. Oct 21, 2019 Full Review Mark R. Leeper Mark Leeper's Reviews The film gets its thrill (if that is the word) from cinematic misogyny and sadism. Rated: 4/10 Aug 9, 2018 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews An unattractive whacky "gimmick" horror movie aping the William Castle tradition. Rated: C+ Oct 23, 2013 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Dave S The Hypnotic Eye is actually much better than it has any right to be. A young woman mistakes the flame of the gas stove for the kitchen sink while washing her hair and is burned to death. This follows a series of grotesque accidents similar in nature – beautiful women disfiguring themselves in unusual ways. Before you know it, the police are investigating a stage hypnotist and his lovely assistant for suspicion of murder. The movie is grotesque at the best of times, but manages to pull things off with a certain panache. There are scenes that seem out of place (the beatnik coffeeshop, the extended hypnosis show at the end) and seem to have been included to fill out an already meager running time, but, despite its flaws, it's still pretty entertaining stuff. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Silly, but entertaining low-budget thriller about series of beautiful women inexplicably disfiguring themselves, washing their hair on a stove burner (that opening scene had me hooked!), using acid like facial cream, and other icky scenarios. As the title would suggest, the film revolves around a stage hypnotist who the police begin to suspect when the wife of the lead detective becomes a potential target. It's all pretty corny and the mystery is not much of a mystery, but it's still good campy overly dramatic fun. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Well done cheesy hypno mind control horror B-movie. The whole thing starts out with a memorable gas stove burner POV shot as a hypno victim washes her hair at the stove with disastrous results. Jacques Bergerac is rather good as a accented French swave stage hypnotist with a ghastly off stage agenda. He uses a hypno handheld device. It's a flashy light strobish one, not the spiral one as I had remembered from the first time I saw this movie. His victims are all attractive women. He has a ruthless assistant played by Allison Hayes who also played the 50 foot Woman, but is normal sized in this although just as sick mean, like, "Who's the fairest of them all?" Except she is very unfair. Anyway, some nondescript handsome guy plays the cop trying to solve the mysterious self mutations of these women, and his girlfriend gets involved. He is assisted by a shrink who gives us a stern warning about messing around with hypnotism at the very end. One scene has beatniks at a coffee house jazz beat poetry reading. The poem is about the poet's movie going life. Maynard G. Krebs was a much more convincing beatnik. The production is assisted by a very good musical soundtrack by Marlin Skiles. There is a pretty funny scene toward the end when Jacques Bergerac makes the whole theater audience do goofy stuff from the stage. Maybe they thought they would actually get people in movie screenings doing this stuff, but this was probably mostly a drive-in movie. Either way it provides a sort of comic relief and bring the plot movement to a halt for what seems longer than it is. The thing reaches theatrical heights with its gripping ending, literally! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Is this film obscure? I don't know. It seems like it would have been a popular film. Anyway, this was a great film. It had a pathetic concept or reasoning behind the evil, but the pacing of the film and the plot were superb. This is now one of my favourites of the era and I would watch it again. My only complaint is the scene before the ending, it's way too dragged out. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member I originally saw this movie as a 9 year old. It left such an impression on me that I had to see it again as an adult I finally did so at the age of 62. While "cheesy"by today's standards and seeing police unable to think to ask surviving victims questions leading to what common denominators they might have, I still thought it was a good flick. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member The city is stricken by a wave of self-mutilations performed by beautiful women who seem to be in a hypnotic trance. The authorities suspect a stage hypnotist with a popular act, but the stakes are raised when the hypnotist sets his sights on the girlfriend of the detective investigating the case. What is the hypnotist's secret, and why does it seem to involve his beautiful assistant? - Written by acidxian Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Hypnotic Eye

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis A stage hypnotist's (Jacques Bergerac) ugly helper (Allison Hayes) suggests terrible things to spellbound beauties.
Director
George Blair
Producer
Charles B. Bloch
Screenwriter
Gitta Woodfield, William Read Woodfield
Production Co
Penguin Productions
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 22, 2016
Runtime
1h 19m
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