Watching this 1960's horror oddity the other night I was
surprised to notice how little the story stands up to examination. I'm not
saying that a horror film has to spackle in all the spots where the real world
might leak in but it was strange that the central driving engine of the film
remains a mystery. Avoid the next paragraph if you don't want to read about
what could be considered a spoiler for THE HYPNOTIC EYE. But, come on! The film
is 57 years old and the real evil doer is obvious in the first ten minutes!
OK. Now we can talk! Once Justine (the always lovely and
cruel Allison Hayes) is revealed as the reason behind dastardly hypnotist
Desmond's destructive, disfiguring commands, we are never told why he is going
along with her evil plan to mutilate random beautiful women. Is he in love with
Justine? Is she blackmailing him? Is she somehow controlling him? What is
driving him to go along with this madness? And did Justine learn her hypnotic
skills from Desmond or vice versa? Or, once Desmond has the girls under, is it
possible for anyone to control the victims? I want some damned answers!
So many questions! And the film isn't really worth all the
trouble, either. It's merely OK with a pretty limp story that is only
occasionally goosed forward by some pretty ladies or self-inflicted violence.
And, woo boy - is this film padded! It could have lost ten full minutes of
Desmond's stage act with ease.
But I was amused by some of the padding -
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