The Power — The Power(DVD)
Originally appearing in 1968 The Power was directed by Byron Haskin- a California based director, 1940’s special effects artists, and cinematographer- over his career he directed 39 films & TV show episodes- taking in the likes of Treasure Island, The War Of The Worlds, Conquest Of Space, and Robin Crusoe On Mars- The Power was his final film.
The film's plot focuses in on a secret government team who are investigating pain in people, so they can create the perfect astronaut. One of the scientist carries a questionary with his colleges- and finds out one of them is highly intelligent & possesses telekinesis. Fairly soon members of the team are dying, and it’s up to a young George Hamilton, playing disgraced Professor- to try & figure out who is the culprit.
The picture moves from some fairly enjoyable & dramatic action scenes- we get a desert chase down with bomber planes, scaling a lift shaft, car chases that land with cars crashing in the water. Onto disorientating & trippy visuals which go from manic ‘n’ winking toys & dizzying fairground rides, onto bulging tongue & eyeballed murder, through to bodies attacked by ice- then boiled by fire, moving on floating skeletons & skulls in space, etc. Added to this we get a nicely eerier & dramatic hammer dulcimer focused score. For the most part, the whole thing keeps one held through much of its runtime- though towards the last quarter- before the OTT finale- things do lag a little.
The print on this DVD is serviceable enough- though at one point you do get a blurry glitch on the film, but this only happens once. Like all of the Cheezy film releases, this is very bare-bones release- with just the films original trailer & trailer reel.
You can certainly say that The Power is a fairly out-there thriller, and in a way it’s a pity it didn’t go further, as it would have been great to have even more trippy visuals- but as it was put out by MGM, I guess it was limited how far they could go. On the whole, I’d say if you enjoy more unusual thrillers, with campy- to-unsettling touches, and of course crazy 60’s visuals- then I’d say pick-up The Power.