The Power

This thriller from director Byron Haskin and producer George Pal is a fairly understated effort considering some of their other features were "The Naked Jungle" and "War of the Worlds." The terror here is implied and there are precious few special effect sequences. The story concerns super intelligence, telekinisis and the ability to kill with thoughts. As one reviewer stated earlier, it will remind you of "Scanners."

Miklos Rosza's eerie score is quite effective in enhancing the tension and paranoia through the use of a hammer dulcimer. This instrument actually appears onscreen twice during the film.

As with all of Pal's features the photography in "The Power" is outstanding although the film does suffer a bit when cropped for television. Try to catch it on TCM in letterbox.

There are a couple of clever animation sequences that will remind you of Pal's Puppetoon shorts from the '40s.

"The Power" is a taut psychological drama that commands your attention throughout.