"Psychomania" was billed as a horror-comedy; it is odd how often those two genres seem to run together, and with what success. Laughter provides release from the unbearable, and an acknowledgement of frankly ludicrous gore, while of course many comic set-ups revolve around situations that are objectively very frightening. Unfortunately, I found this particular film far more confusing than amusing, let alone scary; the acting is frequently very flat, the pacing is alternately self-indulgently slow and far too disconnected for menace, and for me the only moments of actual terror came from watching the stuntmen do the falls and waiting and waiting for the camera to cut away before they hit the ground for real...
I've often seen films that feature unnecessary exposition in case the audience might not get the point -- this is the first one I can remember in a long time that seemed to need extra exposition to explain what on earth was going on. I don't think the toads are ever made clear, and nor is the role of the forbidden room: or the spectacles found there. Tom's mother seems happy for her husband and son to attempt to become undead (there is an implication early on that Shadwell 'never gets any older' either, although this is again mixed up with the apparently-unrelated toads), and yet she panics when Jane returns as well, issuing a warning that the girl has become "evil". We are shown a flashback scene in which Mrs Latham appears to be making some kind of sacrifice at the stones involving the infant Tom, but this is never explained and doesn't seem to be related to the whole 'undead bikers' plot, since all the others become undead just as easily.
In fact, the whole Satanist element of the plot (and I wouldn't have recognised it as such if it hadn't been so categorised in the programme notes) seems to have very little connection with the rest of the film, save for providing a /deus ex machina/ -- also unexplained -- by which to dispose of the bikers at the end of the picture. When Abby decides to kill herself, she dreams that her happy afterlife with Tom is interrupted by a toad-related autopsy: again, I just don't understand how this fits in, especially as Mrs Latham and Shadwell seem to be generally well-disposed towards her.
I'm afraid there are moments of distinctly bad acting on display, in particular among the young cast. As the smirking Tom, Nicky Henson looks the part but doesn't always sound it, and most of his gang are for all purposes indistinguishable until an especially flat line reading shows up. It was the presence of George Sanders in the cast list that initially drew my attention to this film, but while he manages to invest his role with enigma the script doesn't provide it with any actual meaning.
All in all, I found this film simply a disappointing mess, succeeding neither as horror, satire, or comedy deliberate or inadvertent. It doesn't even fit the "so bad it's good" category and shows no sign of intelligence or character development, although it does manage a few genuine laughs around the theme of suicide. I'm not averse to a decent chiller or a good black comedy, but this doesn't deliver along those lines -- it's more of an "eh-what?", a poorly-digested mishmash.
I've often seen films that feature unnecessary exposition in case the audience might not get the point -- this is the first one I can remember in a long time that seemed to need extra exposition to explain what on earth was going on. I don't think the toads are ever made clear, and nor is the role of the forbidden room: or the spectacles found there. Tom's mother seems happy for her husband and son to attempt to become undead (there is an implication early on that Shadwell 'never gets any older' either, although this is again mixed up with the apparently-unrelated toads), and yet she panics when Jane returns as well, issuing a warning that the girl has become "evil". We are shown a flashback scene in which Mrs Latham appears to be making some kind of sacrifice at the stones involving the infant Tom, but this is never explained and doesn't seem to be related to the whole 'undead bikers' plot, since all the others become undead just as easily.
In fact, the whole Satanist element of the plot (and I wouldn't have recognised it as such if it hadn't been so categorised in the programme notes) seems to have very little connection with the rest of the film, save for providing a /deus ex machina/ -- also unexplained -- by which to dispose of the bikers at the end of the picture. When Abby decides to kill herself, she dreams that her happy afterlife with Tom is interrupted by a toad-related autopsy: again, I just don't understand how this fits in, especially as Mrs Latham and Shadwell seem to be generally well-disposed towards her.
I'm afraid there are moments of distinctly bad acting on display, in particular among the young cast. As the smirking Tom, Nicky Henson looks the part but doesn't always sound it, and most of his gang are for all purposes indistinguishable until an especially flat line reading shows up. It was the presence of George Sanders in the cast list that initially drew my attention to this film, but while he manages to invest his role with enigma the script doesn't provide it with any actual meaning.
All in all, I found this film simply a disappointing mess, succeeding neither as horror, satire, or comedy deliberate or inadvertent. It doesn't even fit the "so bad it's good" category and shows no sign of intelligence or character development, although it does manage a few genuine laughs around the theme of suicide. I'm not averse to a decent chiller or a good black comedy, but this doesn't deliver along those lines -- it's more of an "eh-what?", a poorly-digested mishmash.