Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Horrorfest 2017: X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes

It wouldn't be Horrorfest without an entry from Roger Corman, master of the low budget flick and mentor to many of Hollywood's finest. He directed one of Edgar Wright's favorite horror movies, 1963's X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES.

The movie gets a lot of mileage out of its star, Ray Milland, most famous probably for THE LOST WEEKEND. If they hadn't nailed the casting, the movie probably wouldn't be as entertaining as it is, with Milland as a mad scientist who does an experiment on himself to get x-ray vision, and then becomes addicted to keeping his x-ray vision while also driven mad by the implications of seeing "everything."

One cool thing about this movie is that it seems willing to go anywhere. Despite its low budget origins it is not content to stay in one location – Milland goes from his lab, to a carnival where he earns money as a novelty and then on to Vegas where he cheats at cards. Along the way he meets Don Rickles as a carny willing to exploit him.

One of my favorite things about going to the movies is when you see one that really exploits every inch of its premise. Corman knows how to do that, taking the concept of having x-ray vision to places that wouldn't have even occurred to me, all of it coming to a head at a religious revival where Milland basically declares he can literally see God. What happens next… well, you won't believe your eyes. Get it?

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