Something Weird (1967)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Herschell Gordon Lewis

Writer:

James F. Hurley (writer)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror

Tagline:

Something Weird comes to haunt you...

Plot:

An accident victim makes a deal with a particularly hideous witch, in which he receives extraordinary ESP powers. He uses these powers to help the police solve crimes.

Plot Keywords:

Psychic | Serial Killer | Drug Abuse | Levitation | Supernatural

Cast

Tony McCabe	...	Cronin 'Mitch' Mitchell
Elizabeth Lee	...	Ellen Parker
William Brooker	...	Dr. Alex Jordan
Mudite Arums	...	The Hag
Ted Heil	...	Det. Maddox
Lawrence J. Aberwood	...	Chief Vinton (as Lawrence Wood)
Larry Wellington	...	Rev. Ammond
Roy Collodi	...	Dr. Roxin
Jeffrey Allen	...	Dr. White
Richard Nilsson	...	EMT Doctor
Carolyn Smith	...	Nurse Browning
Norm Lenet	...	Stein
Louis Newman	...	Ambulance Attendant
Dick Gaffield	...	Drunkard at Restaurant
Janet Charlton	...	Secretary

Also Known As:

The Eerie World of Dr. Jordan (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Hur-Lew Productions

Trivia:

Included as one of Elvira's "Something Weird" collection (seen on Comcast On Demand Oct. 2006).

Movie Connections:

Featured in Shiver & Shudder Show (2002) (V)

Something Incredibly Incoherent

I definitely won't question the accuracy of this movie's title. It's weird, all right. I daresay extremely weird even for the usual standards of director Herschell Gordon Lewis, but it's also an unbelievably incoherent film that jumps from one incompetently plotted storyline onto the other and blends themes that simply don't belong together, like witches and serial killers…or E.S.P, karate-fighting and virulently attacking blankets (that's right!). As weird as it may sound, some of the basic story ideas featuring in "Something Weird" definitely have some potential, they're just elaborated poorly and unimaginatively. The main character is Cronin Mitchell. Since he got electrocuted at his job, he developed an impressive sixth sense, the so-called Extra Sensory Perception. His face also was severely mutilated in the accident and he hides it behind a veil whilst he receives customers to predict their futures. One day he's visited by an old witch who offers to restore his handsome manly face in exchange for unconditional love. Mitchell accepts, mainly because the witch takes on the face and body of a ravishing blond goddess most of the time. Meanwhile, the police are hunting a relentless serial killer who already murdered seven women and they call for Mitchell's psychic powers to help. Karate-fighting, womanizing and LSD-using doctor Alex Jordan has to test how powerful Mitchell's E.S.P is, but he quickly falls in love with the ravishing blond goddess … who actually is a hideous witch. Anyone still paying attention to the plot? Didn't think so… The idea of processing aspects like E.S.P into his film is very ambitious for a H.G. Lewis exploit-production, but he simply lacks the talent to use it properly. Personally, I'm a huge admirer of Lewis' repertoire, but that's mainly because his most famous titles are the pioneers of splatter and gore flicks! Films like "Two Thousand Maniacs" and "Blood Feast" didn't necessarily require solid screenplays, because the copious amounts of gore and bloodshed were always able to distract you. "Something Weird" doesn't feature any gore and therefore it's so much easier to point out the weaknesses and – without the delicious gore – it's also much harder to overlook them. The acting performances are atrocious, the editing seems to be done by a 5-year-old and the use of monotonous jazzy sounds rapidly gets very upsetting. The make-up on Mudite Arums (the hag) is hilariously unconvincing, particularly because only her face looks old whilst the legs are still quite foxy. The aforementioned blanket-attack and the infamous LSD-trip scene are two prime examples of why this movie is called "Something Weird". However, the title was inventive enough to become the name and logo of one of the coolest video distributing companies ever, so at least Lewis minor misfire spawned at least something positive as well.