The Sorcerers (1967)

This is one of the few later in Karloff's career I still had to track down and eventually Turner Classics showed it 5:00 AM later on a Friday morning. To say I wasn't expecting Karloff to be the sympathetic character taken advantage of by his elderly disturbed wife in the film (Catherine Lacey) is a nice surprise. Lacey's Estelle takes advantage of a "hypnosis machine" (it produces a psychedelic effect, with all the pretty colors of what would seem to be a LSD trip) built and developed by Karloff's Professor Marcus in a room in their paltry flat in London. It seems like Karloff took from whatever devices, gizmos, and mechanics scrabbled together from rummage and junk heaps in order to build the complicated works needed to produce the desired effect. To "infiltrate" the mind of Ian Ogilvy's handsome antique store owner, Mike Roscoe, by luring him to the flat, Karloff's Marcus promises him an experience that would chase away the boredom. Mike has no idea that Marcus and Estelle were using the machine to penetrate his mind and set up shop there, with the ability to puppet him as they see fit, even feeling what he does, including swimming, telling him where to walk, to crack an egg, break into a building, riding a motorcycle, and getting into fisticuffs with a friend. But when Estelle longs to go further, violently and sadistically, while Marcus attempts (and fails due to his weakening condition) to stop her, the results for poor Mike are disastrous.

Knowing that Karloff was in great pain at the end of his life, I see him walking with the cane in London with this admitted sadness. I know that he would be dead very soon. While I do wish "Targets" was actually his swan song because it is just so damn good, I like that he isn't a heel in this film...he tries to stop his wife from commandeering Ogilvy's mind and body, failing due to his obvious deteriorating health. Seeing Karloff tied to furniture in the poverty row flat on the floor, mocked by Lacey who just has more strength and vicious drive than he does, was actually hard to watch for me...Lacey is very effective as the monster who genuinely loves to kill. Ogilvy, who I have seen in some fun British horror, makes for a tragic pawn in a game of wills and mental fortitude between the couple who brought him into their flat under false pretenses.

I think besides how impactful Lacey is as the shocking psycho (at first, she does seems to like feeling young and free within the presence of a young man, but that drug seems to only fancy her buried darkside) that startles and eventually assaults Karloff, is the awesome late 60s London night scene (and it does seem obvious Michael Reeves didn't have permits) where Reeves gets a lot of footage out and about the city. It really does feel like we get to trip around London, so with Karloff walking about it some is extra cool. Oh, and seeing a beautiful and young Susan George -- a pretty, trusting friend of Ogilvy's who doesn't realize he's possessed by an evil that will be visited upon her -- as a victim in her own tiny flat was a nice surprise since it was so unexpected.

While "Witchfinder General" is, to me, Reeves' masterpiece, I found "The Sorcerers" to be a pleasant little shocker, made clearly on the cheap by him. You typically get the very best transfer of a film on TCM, so "The Sorcerers" could badly use a cleanup and better treatment. I'm guessing the quality of the film is due to what Reeves had at the time. Still perhaps this will be seen as part of the film's allure...there is a Grindhouse feel and vibe to the film I think works in its favor. Because Estelle and Marcus live in such drab conditions, spending a lot of the film in the flat, the thrill of what life is left is vicariously spent through Mike. Karloff was taking a lot of low budget projects at the end of his life, but this might actually have benefited this particular film since it was among Reeves' brief, cut-short career. Great ending, in my opinion, where Marcus briefly gets control and puts an end to Estelle's reign of terror. The look on Estelle's face when she provokes Mike to kill against his will and horror on Marcus' face because he can't stop her is palpable. Ercy, as Ogilvy's girlfriend, is a stunning woman, and Henry is the friend bewildered at Ogilvy's change in behavior.