FANTASIA OBSCURA: The Swinging Sixties Turn Sinister in This Timely Tale of Mind Control
There are some fantasy, science fiction, and horror films that not every fan has caught. Not every film ever made has been seen by the audience that lives for such fare. Some of these deserve another look, because sometimes not every film should remain obscure.
Sometimes, when you say, “It’s trad, dad,” you may not just be referring to a Richard Lester film from 1962…
The Sorcerers (1967)
Distributed by: Tigon British Film Productions / Allied Artists Pictures
Directed by: Michael Reeves
One of the oldest rivalries out there is the generational one. It existed long before the 1960s; the main variant in that decade, over the others before it, was that Jack Weinberg brought up the concept of never trusting anyone over 30.
Which considering what Boris Karloff and Catherine Lacey get themselves up to, is probably a solid lead, man:
The film does a brilliant job of establishing the main characters, Professor Marcus Monserrat (Karloff) and his wife Estelle (Lacey) in a pre-credits cold open, that defines these two well and suggests why we should be wary of them:
We then cut as the credits flash on screen to a club during the height of the Swinging Sixties, where Lee Grant & the Capitols are the house band and we get a threesome out to enjoy London’s nightlife. We watch as Mike (Ian Ogilvy) wallows in ennui as a Carnaby Street-minted “angry young man” who ignores his girlfriend Nicole (Elizabeth Ecry) to the point that his mate and fifth wheel Alan (Victor Henry) ends up dancing with her.
At that moment, unable to even care anymore, during the evening Mike abandons his friends to take a walk and clear his head. It’s at this low point that he crosses paths with Marcus, who promises him a mind-blowing experience. Up for a few kicks, Mike comes along to the Monserrat flat, where the good doctor and his wife finally get what they’ve waited so long for:
We find out soon enough, though, Marcus did not tell Mike everything. While he promised the young man that his mind would be expanded, he did not let him know that the procedure would leave him vulnerable, hackable even, giving Marcus and Estelle the ability to experience whatever Mike is seeing. Not only does the couple gain the ability to experience life through Mike’s senses, they find that they can control the young man, make him do what they want, when they concentrate.
(Insert Facebook data misuse scandal joke here…)
Marcus sees what he’s done to Mike, making him his “meat-bag drone,” as a positive, a step towards his ultimate goal: to use the process to 
give the elderly and crippled a chance to experience the world through younger, healthier eyes. Estelle, on the other hand, sees much darker applications for what she could do with and to Mike.
After appealing to Marcus to use Mike to make up for lost time during their “wilderness years” when the couple were discredited by the medical community, Estelle gets Mike to steal a fur coat for her. After the successful snatch and grab, Estelle’s darker desires start to take over, to Marcus’ chagrin, especially as he’s unable to override Estelle’s hold on Mike.
Which is unfortunate for Mike’s old girlfriend Audrey (Susan George), who gets a visit from Mike while Estelle’s in control. The poor young lady is ill-prepared for Estelle using Mike to murder her; Estelle, on the other hand, decides once was not enough, and sends Mike on a further hunt, bringing him to run into and then go after the singer at the club, Laura (Sally Sheridan, credited as “Dani”, with vocals dubbed by Toni Daly):
Soon, it becomes a series of simultaneous struggles rushing towards a big showdown: it’s Mike’s friends against Mike, Mike as Estelle’s stand-in against the Bobbies, and Estelle against Marcus for control of Mike.
Of these three, the Estelle-Marcus contest is the most interesting to watch. Karloff and Lacey squaring off with facial strains, watching as they try and muster their wills to overwhelm each other, gives us two pros projecting their internal efforts to use their minds. Having two opponents who were so close to each other as the story opened now fighting to the death for one person’s destiny, both actors make quite a bit of their situation when they joust.
And it’s in watching these two characters, and what motivates them, that we find drives for them that feel very modern. Marcus’ desires to experience things remotely parallels some later research into virtual reality, some of which involves remote interface with other humans as proxies, a field of study being actively explored in this decade. Estelle’s descent, in comparison, is a remarkably prescient look at online disinhibition effect, the behavioral disorder that brought us Gamergate and other actions caused by a lack of empathy. Seeing these in a film from 50 years ago gives it a remarkable gravitas that make it feel very modern.
(Interestingly, before Estelle develops a taste for blood, there’s a scene where Mike and Nicole make love that we are never told if Marcus or Estelle “rode along” for. Why the film missed a golden opportunity to look at teledildonics, we don’t know, though we could assume it was probably the British Board of Censors’ fault…)
That said, the film’s direct theme from the time, about the exploitation of youth by their elders, still comes forth with great clarity and heft. This is a timeless and universal concern, whether it’s about sending youth to die in needless foreign wars, or saddling them with crippling college debt they won’t get out of even with good jobs, that would only have failed to touch a viewer in the worst of hands.
Which was certainly not the case here. Reeves, this being his next-to-last film before he’d do Witchfinder General, was at the top of his game as director. Unlike the film that followed, he was with the cast he wanted, and got along with everyone. They, in turn, gave him great work across the board (save for Ecry, who never really shines as well as her costars here in this, the one role in her career as the romantic lead).
In fact, the original script called for Marcus to be a much less sympathetic character. Karloff discussed the role with Reeves and (over the objections of co-writer John Burke) between the two of them came up with a character arc that made for a stronger plot line, a good example of how well the experienced star and young director got along.
Or, if you’re a cynical SOB, it’s another story where an old man bosses around the youth again…
NEXT TIME: Unlike Snap!, not everyone who claims to have the power does that well with it…
