MrGKB ...this brainless cheapie would deserve a much lower rating. Everything from unintentional laughs like the line about the lady who mutilated her face because she thought her electric fan was a "vibrator" to the bogus "Beat" poet at an even more bogus "Beat" nightclub to the obviously closeted psychiatrist to the blatantly misogynistic tenor of the entire proceedings just, shall we say, screams? It's all the fault of a terrible script, of course, one that was apparently written by and for the mentality of the children who were likely the primary audience. The ostensible hero is a clueless dolt, the women aren't much smarter, the central topic of hypnotism is handled with no genuine understanding whatsoever, and the ludicrous plot is rife with gigantic holes and glaring inconsistencies. Still, if you turn off your brain, the film has its charms, mostly for the nostalgia value. Pretty strictly MST3000 viewing only, but one could do much, much worse.

MartinHafer Something weird is happening. Reports are coming from all over town that beautiful young women are mutilating themselves--and no one, even the women, know why. The police are baffled and the trail leads to a stage hypnotist who MIGHT be giving women some sort of hypnotic suggestions to injure themselves! But why? What's all this about anyway? This is one of those films where you just need to accept the premise and go with it. Sure, you can't do evil things like this with hypnosis (I should know, as I have training in hypnosis and WOULD use it for evil if it was possible!). But, ignore this and watch this interesting little horror-suspense film--a film far better than I expected. That's because although it is a low-budget film with a cast of lesser-known actors, the script is exciting and creepy. I also liked the William Castle-style of direction--with the hypnotic eye! Just be warned--it might be a bit too creepy for small kids. Still, it's a dandy horror-suspense film.

JoeKarlosi Involving story starts out with separate reports of young and beautiful women intentionally disfiguring themselves. Investigators come to think they may be linked to a suave hypnotist (Jacques Bergerac) and his sexy female assistant (Allison Hayes in one of her best roles), so one of the detectives decides to use his own girlfriend as bait. This is a consistently interesting film, even if you have to suspend a good deal of disbelief in accepting how easily the culprit can get away with his schemes. The whole concept feels ahead of its time for the period and there are some surprises, especially in a reveal at the end. Good movie. *** out of ****

thefensk I wish someone would re-release this, or TCM or somebody would show it. It was just another really bizarre offering from the late fifties/early sixties. It used to be a regular on the lat Saturday night TV horror show in my hometown (in Houston the show was called Weird) and this one fit the bill--really weird.Cinematic excellence? Surely not. But it was offbeat enough to keep your attention. Even had a debunker who explained away a lot of the "magic" for the police (and the viewers).The plot does have an interesting twist with the hypnotist's girlfriend. Sure it didn't win any academy awards but few movies do.I give it a seven because it falls within the genre of movies that are so bad they are actually good.