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The Astral Factor More at IMDbPro »
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| Index | 23 reviews in total |
17 out of 22 people found the following review useful:
Budget "Boogie Man" film., 26 September 2004
Author:
kvande-1 from oregon
This budget "Boogie Man" film was just that.
I thought this movie was worth watching. Elke Sommer shows some nice
cleavage and we get to see Stephanie Powers naked butt. That almost is
worth it by itself.
This is definitely midnight movie fare, but I thought it told a story
of an invisible stalker that was almost convincing. This movie embodies
the flavor of 1970's budget movies. Stephanie Powers is fun as the cops
playful girlfriend. Elke Sommer gets to be the drunk mean witch. The
ending left something to be desired, as we really don't know what
happened to the boogie man.
I think this was worth watching. 6/10
11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
mediocre bloodless serial killer thriller, 6 January 2005
Author:
FieCrier from Upstate New York
A mentally ill prisoner, through some sort of yogic meditation, manages
to make himself invisible and escapes. As a child, he'd been unwanted
by his celebrity mother, who nevertheless kept him close to her and
didn't let him create a life of his own. He had strangled her, and
apparently other women, giving him the nickname of "the celebrity
strangler."
Having escaped, he goes after celebrity women who had testified against
him. The police, having learned he was into reading mystical books in
prison, for some reason contracted a para-psychological institute. The
institute thinks perhaps the strangler is killing women by astrally
projecting himself. In reality, he's merely strangling them while he is
invisible (and naked). He nearly gets caught when to reach one woman,
he has to don a scuba suit to get out to her boat. It's more
interesting when he manages to strangle a woman in front of many
witnesses simply because they don't realize what is going on.
Eventually, a trap is set for him.
I kind of wonder if this was originally done as a TV movie, perhaps as
a pilot. There doesn't seem to have been any reason for introducing the
lead cop's girlfriend/wife Candy and the psychics unless they were to
return in subsequent episodes.
It's not very good, but it's not terrible.
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Obscure science fiction junk from the 70's, 12 July 2006
Author:
malcomforbes from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
I bought this film on a cheap DVD from a 99 cent store. I know very well why it was 99 cents. It starts out in the prison where the strangler, Roger Sans, is being held. He starts to meditate and becomes 9/10 invisible when his stupid insomniac cell-neighbor sees him. He picks an argument with him and gets telekinetically attacked. A guard comes in and is locked in Sans's cell while he escapes in a tacky hand-held shot accompanied with ridiculous "heartbeat" and "heavy breathing" sounds. He visits his mother's grave, where in a weird flashback-ish scene it is explained that Riger's mother never cared for him and never let his life progress. A police officer, a particularly stupid officer, approaches him, claims Roger is a vandal and threatens to call reinforcements. This is where one of my favorite bad movie things happens. His eyes glow when he telekinetically pushes him into an open grave. This sounds normal, but the glowing eyes effect was achieved by painting glowey stuff on a still picture of the strangler. Greaaaaaaaaaat. Anyway, a bunch of inconsistencies ensue, Robert Foxworth shows his HIDEOUS rear area, Elke Sommer wears a bikini, and blablablabla. However, let me point out the silly ending. Roger Sans is sneaking up the stairs to kill Elke Sommer. However, the police are hiding watching him, and have charged the railing with electricity to know when he arrives(!) Robert Foxworth rapidly fires a machine gun until there is a shot (in negative to illustrate the invisibility) of Roger Sans screaming as bullets go in everywhere. He falls onto the floor, pulsating from inverted to normal tone. His last words: "I never wanted to hurt you mama." He then glows brightly. It fades away and a void opens up in the floor, where a blue glowing Roger Sans careens into another dimension and creates a glowy blast thing. The void in the floor closes up and that is the end of Roger Sans. It is a little hokey, but it genuinely disturbed me. Tell you what, buy the DVD and skip to the end. You'll actually feel a little weird. Bad, very bad.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
A glimpse of Stefanie Powers' behind, 18 November 2009
Author:
Cristi_Ciopron from CGSM, Soseaua Nationala 49
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
THE ASTRAL FACTOR is a pretty exciting, albeit silly, supernatural
thriller about a cereal killer who, after having studied ESP and
psychic sciences, escapes from prison to have his revenge by
assassinating some hot matrons; slightly clumsy, gruesome like a
genuine _giallo, THE ASTRAL FACTOR, an honest '70s C thriller, boasts a
delightful feminine cast—Stefanie Powers, Leslie Parrish, Elke Sommer,
Jennifer Burton (--an erotica starlet--).
The movie's title is explained, by misleading—because this guy's case
isn't one of 'out—of—body travel', but one of _dematerialization, or
rather of mere invisibility.
In the C flicks she made in the mid—'70s, things like GONE WITH THE
WEST and THE ASTRAL FACTOR, uprising starlet Stefanie Powers had the
good habit of providing us with a glimpse of her naked behind; by then,
she was already 33—34 yrs. An article says that CRESCENDO is 'notable
only for her brief nude scene, the only one in her career'; it seems we
have a definition problem. Stefanie shows her ass in at least two other
flicks—those mentioned. So, take heart, Powers fans, it's more to
Stefanie than it looks like!
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Not great but pretty satisfying overall, 27 August 2008
Author:
lazarillo from Denver, Colorado and Santiago, Chile
This movie is kind of like the more famous 70's cult horror film
"Psychic Killer" in that it deals with a prisoner who develops psychic
powers which he uses to escape and take revenge on his enemies. But
while in that movie the convict was an innocent man taking
well-deserved revenge, the psychic killer here is a grade-A lunatic out
to finish the job. In an interesting back-story he is revealed to be
the disturbed illegitimate son of a famous actress/sex symbol who kept
him isolated from her social circle to avoid scandal, and ended up
being strangled by him. (This might have been inspired by the real-life
Hollywood murder of B-movie actress Susan Cabot in the 1960's,
allegedly by her troubled, illegitimate dwarf son). It's never really
made clear whether his psychic "powers" actually involve astral
projection(thus the alternate title "The Astral Factor") or if he is
simply able to appear invisible somehow (thus "The Invisible
Strangler"). The inept cops are powerless to stop him regardless, even
when he is obviously in non-"astral" form and has rendered himself
decidedly visible by putting on a scuba suit.
What really makes this movie though is the all-star cast(or, as some
wag might say, the "all has-been and never-would-be cast"). The lead
detective is played by Robert Foxworth, who appeared most memorably in
the ridiculous 70's mutant bear/environmental horror flick "Prophecy".
German actress Elke Sommers appears as a "special guest star" (as
opposed to the other actors who were apparently "regulars"). She plays
a sexy former "Miss Galaxy" who the cops try to protect while she
lounges around her mansion in skimpy bikinis. Sue "Lolita" Lyon has a
five minute role as an early victim without uttering a word of dialogue
(which is probably for the best as acting was never her strong suit).
Mariana Hill ("Mrs. Fredo Corleone" in "The Godfather Part II") appears
also, in accordance with an apparent law that she had to appear in
every low-budget exploitation/horror movie made in the 70's and early
80's. The best though is Stefanie "Hart to Hart" Powers, who is VERY
sexy as Foxworth's bimbo girlfriend "Candy". She routinely refers to
herself in the third person, and buys herself an expensive fur coat on
HIS birthday (which he doesn't object to since she's obviously wearing
absolutely nothing underneath it). Some will probably tune in for
Powers' "nude scene" (if you don't blink you might get to see the top
part of her bare butt), but frankly her whole performance is downright
wood-inducing (even if, like me, you don't usually go for the whole
Marilyn Monroesque dumb bimbo thing). So what, if her entire character
is completely superfluous. . .
This actually seems kind of like a 70's TV movie or series episode--it
would not have been out of place as an episode of "Kolchack, the Night
Stalker" actually. But since I like "Kolchack" and 70's TV movies I
found it pretty satisfying overall if, admittedly, not all that great.
5 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
The dialogue requires the viewer to seek chemical dependency, 27 October 2005
Author:
seattle-twistyroad from United States
The Astral Factor contains dialogue that limps its way through the
plot. The cast is full of actors I've enjoyed watching on screen for
years but none of them managed to get past the wooden interaction of
the characters. The dialogue is just that bad. This movie is so stilted
in places that it competes with my all time really bad but fun
favorite, "The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes."
This one in my opinion is a little bit to bad for casual weeknight
watching. Elke Sommers character, however, has the correct idea by only
appearing on screen with a drink in her hand. This is good advice for
anyone interested in watching this gem on a Saturday night. Heck, with
enough scotch and soda and the near nude scenes of Stephanie Powers to
help it out; you might like it.
6 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Crazy and inept, but somewhat fun., 20 February 2007
Author:
Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls
Forget about the nonsensical other title "The Astral Factor"… In just two words, "Invisible Strangler" perfectly summarizes what this low-keyed 70's Sci-Fi horror movie is all about! There's a strangler on the loose and he happens to be invisible, which makes it all the more easier to practice his macabre hobby of killing beauty queens. The lamentable screenplay doesn't really bother to enlighten us about how exactly mommy-obsessed psychopath Roger Sands renders himself invisible or why he goes after five women specifically. All we know is that he spent more than enough time in prison to gain supernatural powers and, after his escape, he uses them against everyone who testified in his court trial. There's absolutely no mystery surrounding the serial killer's persona. For example, macho police lieutenant Barrett (Robert Foxworth) doesn't discover the connection between the strangled victims himself; he just hears that Roger Sands peculiarly escaped from his cell and automatically assumes he's the culprit. And since we're never informed about the crimes that put Roger in prison the first place, it remains unclear exactly how obsessive his quest for vengeance is. Most of all, nobody seems to be really astonished about the fact they're dealing with an invisible maniac! Like it's the most common thing in the world to witness a woman, surrounded by an army of police officers, getting strangled by invisible hands! The lack of background info and character drawings makes "Invisible Strangler" a suspenseless and often tedious film, and it's really no surprise it took another five years after finishing the film before it got released. However, it's a not a complete waste of time, since the murders – albeit gore-free – are sometimes imaginatively staged. The film is also (unintentionally) comical because the characters often say the craziest things at the most inappropriate times. Especially Candy, the luscious girlfriend of lieutenant Barett, appear to live in another universe, as she wishes her lover to have fun catching his maniac. She's also the world's absolute worst cook and doesn't like to wear pants. Candy hasn't got anything to do with the murder investigation, so it's rather awkward Stefanie Powers received top billing for her role. Then again, it certainly isn't the only awkward aspect about "Invisible Stranger". Why is Roger the killer so obsessed with his mother? How come becoming invisible is reminiscent to a bad-quality TV broadcasting? Why on earth does Roger not abuse his power to spy on them naked ladies before killing them? Why am I asking so much questions about a bottom-of-the-barrel 70's horror production?
If your standards are low, 4 February 2011
Author:
Tiberius27-1 from United States
If it wasn't for the scene in which Stephanie Powers graces the viewer with her naked backside & some side boob action one would be forgiven for thinking "The Astral Factor" a TV Movie of the week (Which were quite prevalent in those days). As is it's one of the few things that DOES stand out in this lackluster dip into the new age pool. If you're already a fan of seventies era films & TV shows you'll no doubt recognize several of the actors from such fare as "The Love Boat", & "Fantasy Island". Needless to say that there's nothing groundbreaking going on here. If your standards are low (REALLY low) then you may get something out of this. Otherwise buyer (And viewer) beware.
This cast has more potential, 30 August 2010
Author:
Skot Pare from Windham, NH
Science fiction and horror have different standards than other movie
genres. Quite often, something that would be considered terrible in
another type of film becomes a cult classic. This, however, is not one
of those films. It is just plain terrible.
I loved the TV show 'Hart to Hart' and thought Stefanie Powers was
wonderfully sexy in the style of Agent 99, Diana Peel or McMillan's
Wife. She is the closet thing to interesting in this disaster.
Robert Foxworth is far from my favorite actor but he is oh so much
better than this. It may be caused by a really bad script, bad
directing or just not really caring. It is good for all these folks
that their future careers did not rest of this film.
The special effects are pathetic, which, if the movie had anything else
going for it, is not always a major consideration in movies of this
era. What little humor there is fails to provide the comic relief for
which one would hope. Then again, their is little or no tension from
which you need relief.
Invisible Narrative, 31 January 2010
Author:
Chris. from Australia
Incarcerated killer learns to transcend existential boundaries and
temporarily abscond from his gaol cell, preying on a vast array of
glamorous former Hollywood starlets. Detective Foxworth is baffled by
the apparent lack of physical evidence, and begins to speculate on a
supernatural cause. Aside from an original premise and a great cast of
former 60's sexpots (Powers, Lyon, Hill, Sommer and Parrish), with
names like 'Bambi' and 'Candy', there's not much right with this tepid
mystery.
Mother fixated killer Ashmore does little other than look constipated,
perspire and affect intense mind grips, while Foxworth's perplexed
expression suggests he's struggling with the concept of the killer's
meta-physical abilities. As an audience, it was also a struggle to
remain engaged, as the movie laboured from one murder to the next
seemingly without selection or purpose. Powers is entirely irrelevant
to the plot, a vexatious waste of talent simply for the status her name
brings to the dull production. Whatever value the original idea had, it
quickly evaporates, the all too brief cameos being the only partially
redeeming qualities.
Wasting an attractive cast, "Invisible Strangler" has invisible special
effects, paltry production values and incoherent dialogue to match its
laborious narrative approach. Female viewers will be less concerned
with the bevy of babes on show, and more appalled by the blatant
misogyny of the storyline. A disappointing revision of "The Invisible
Man" borrows heavily from "Psychic Killer" released a year earlier in
1975, and should have been so much more entertaining.
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