thelastblogontheleft Okay THIS WAS A WHOLE LOT OF FUN. I knew I was in for SOME kind of treat when it opens up with these grainy, gritty shots of The Living Dead riding through a foggy field on their bikes. Like, this movie is wayyy too cool for me.It's just a funny, silly movie, but it has some dramatic aspects as well. The scene with Tom (Nicky Henson) dancing with his mom is awesome and shortly after we realize she's got connections with some dark forces and helps Tom make a pact with the devil so he and his fellow gang members can commit suicide and then come back from the dead — but only if they truly BELIEVE they will come back.Tom is just carefree in the most destructive sense of the word, and very reminiscent of Alex from A Clockwork Orange. He's all too excited to fly his motorcycle off a bridge so he can come back and TRULY be part of the living dead. His friends and fellow gang members give him THE MOST AMAZING funeral ever — burying him upright, fully dressed, on his motorcycle. Shortly after a complete stranger is cutting through the site — referred to as The Seven Witches for the seven stone structures that represent, duh, seven witches who broke a pact with the devil — when he hears the TRULY creepy sound of a motorcycle enging revving under packed dirt. Out bursts Tom, ready as ever to truly mess things up.Once the rest of the gang learns of this sweet deal, they're eager to join him — all except Abby, his lady love. It's fun to watch each gang member choose their own method of death — including one jumping out the window of a high rise as a police officer watches, truly sticking it to the man — and then they're back in action, too, minus Abby who is way too wigged out by all of this.Tom's mother (played by Beryl Reid) is not psyched about any of this, especially after seeing how her son's main goal in his second shot at "life" is just to be as violent and belligerent as he can, wasting no time between being brought back to life and murdering just a few folks at a local bar. So mom breaks her bargain with Lucifer and turns into a frog herself. Awesome. The rest of the gang, including Tom, are turned into stone right as he attempts to make Abby choose everlasting life with them or death, so now they can chill with the Seven Witches forever.Truly just good, awful fun.

MartinHafer This was the final film of George Sanders. Apparently, this film was the one he was working on when he decided to kill himself. Well, after seeing the sort of silly and stupid film this was, I can easily see why Sanders decided to end it all--it must have been to atone for being in this hilariously bad film! PSYCHOMANIA has cult favorite written all over it. You certainly can't accuse this of being a good film, but there is a certain kitschy silliness about it that make it fun. The film begins with an incredibly lame-o biker gang called "The Living Dead"--wow, THAT'S subtle. They spend most of their time acting out in many really dumb and wussy ways. This is definitely NOT a biker gang in the tradition of the Hell's Angels--most like Hell's Wussies. Anyway, the head of the gang has a mother that is into the occult and toads (why toads?!?) and somehow he learns that if he kills himself and believes he's coming back, he can--and be immortal! Once back, Tom convinces the rest of the gang that life is great when you are dead and one by one they start killing themselves. Believe it or not, this is all very funny--and my daughter and I found ourselves laughing at these scenes. Once undead, the zombie bikers look pretty much like anyone else--they just seem to enjoy killing people. Again, it ain't sophisticated, but it is, in a VERY low-brow way, quite funny.So what happens next? Do the undead punks kill off each and every person in the UK? Do they form a band--after all, they already had nice stylish hairdos and clothes!? Do they decide to follow George Sanders' lead? See this film for yourself to find out for certain.PSYCHOMANIA is chock full of silly stunts, psychedelics, incredibly dumb and ineffective police, mumbo-jumbo, frogs and an incredibly deadly earnest style--it takes itself very, very seriously. And, undoubtedly, it's dumb...but funny because of its dumbness. However, it's obviously not a film for everyone--mostly for bad movie fans and for anyone who likes laughing at the 1970s.I'd give the film a 2 for quality, a 4 for the frog and an 8 for being so dang funny--though it's supposed to be a horror film! An overall score of 4 seems reasonable.By the way, was the leading character's mother a toad?! I'm not sure about this...but I think it's the case. Crazy man!

moonspinner55 When a motorcycle gang leader was born, his mother apparently signed her soul and his over to a spiritualist whose symbol is the Frog. Now grown up and raising hell in a British village, the hooligan comes to understand that if he commits suicide, he'll soon rise from the dead an indestructible zombie. This catches on, and pretty soon all his followers (in a biker gang called The Living Dead!) are throwing themselves out of planes and over bridges. Low-budget wheeler from the UK isn't badly made, but doesn't have its tongue far enough in cheek. As a result, some of the mayhem the kids create is ugly and disturbing rather than gleefully nasty. George Sanders (looking sadly aged) plays the occult leader who doubles as Beryl Reid's butler (!), while good girl-biker Mary Larkin amusingly resembles Mariel Hemingway. Watchable enough, yet the supernatural plot twist on the genre isn't taken to the bizarre highs one may hope for. The picture stays depressingly grounded, despite ethereal directorial touches and a nightmare-in-the-daylight ambiance. ** from ****

mrush I went back old school and actually rented a VHS copy of this thing to watch after reading about it for years.I'll have fond memories of it cause I watched it about half drunk but actually it wasn't too good.This spoiled rich kid,Tom,in what I took to be London,is the leader of a motorcycle gang.His mum is a well known spiritualist or seer or whatever you call them in town and Tom becomes interested in the occult because of his mum's doings and Tom gets his whole gang interested in this thing called death.Tom and his mum and their creepy butler,Chadwell,somehow figure out that a person can come back from the dead if at the moment of death they truly believe they will come back.There is also something about toads and Tom's dead dad and some secret room in Tom's house but all that is sort of garbled...not sure if that is because of the Dos Equis or just because it was a crappy movie.Anyway Tom and his gang then seek to fulfill their leader's goal...an undead motorcycle gang.This movie had potential with the premise but the way it come out didn't live up to that potential.For one thing the motorcycle gang was a boring dorky bunch--from their goofy helmets with the big plastic bones on them to their criminal acts which consisted of riding through town and knocking guys off ladders,who just happen to be on ladders out in the middle of the sidewalk for some reason,and knocking trays of bread out of guys hands,who just happen to be walking through town with big trays of bread for some reason.The gang also rides into the grocery store and knocks over cans of stuff.Once in a while they'll harass a truck driver and make him wreck but all in all this gang just didn't have enough meanness to make it interesting.Where is all the gang rapes and baseball bat brain explosions that motorcycle gangs are famous for? There are a couple of cool scenes of a motorcycle flying up out of the ground and going through a brick wall but mostly it was a dull uninteresting story.No gore that I remember and certainly no nudity...this movie could be shown on TV without any editing at all I think.I was hoping for a little more from this movie but at least I can say I've saw it and now I can move on and try and find a copy of some other long lost movie that might be a forgotten treasure.