Psycho A-Go-Go
| Psycho A-Go-Go | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Al Adamson |
| Starring | Roy Morton Tacey Robbins Lyle Felice Kirk Duncan |
| Cinematography | Vilmos Zsigmond |
| Distributed by | Hemisphere Pictures |
Release date |
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| Language | English |
Psycho A-Go-Go (also known as Echo of Terror)[1] is a 1965 crime thriller directed by Al Adamson, starring Roy Morton and distributed by Hemisphere Pictures.[2] The film was originally a straight action thriller, about a psychotic jewel thief who abducts a woman and her child to get back some stolen jewels hidden in the child's doll. There were a number of musical nightclub scenes in the film, as director Adamson was trying to promote actress Tacey Robbins' singing career at the time.
Plot
A psychotic man named Joe Corey participates in a jewelry heist orchestrated by the crime boss Vito. They bind and gag the secretary and take the gems, but the secretary crawls to and pushes the alarm. One of the team, Travis, is shot by a security guard, and Joe finishes him off. With police closing in on the building, Joe tosses the stolen jewels off the side of the building into a pickup truck, intending for their getaway driver, Vicki, to retrieve them, but the truck's owner, Dave Clark, takes off before she can do so. Vicki gets his license plate number, and they break into the Registry of Motor Vehicles to look up his name and address. Vicki is officially Vito's girlfriend, but maintains a passionate secret affair with another of the thieves, Nick.
Dave's daughter Nancy finds the gems in the truck and hides them inside her doll. Nancy and her mother, Linda, set off on a trip to a national park on Lake Tahoe with the doll by bus. The thieves search Dave's truck and house, then beat him up after he denies knowing where the jewels are. Joe lures a worker at Linda's nightclub to a motel room where she tells him where Nancy and Linda went on their vacation, before murdering her for his own pleasure.
Joe and his mute accomplice Curtis abduct Nancy and Linda at the bus station at their point of arrival while Vito, Nick, and Vicki keep watch over Dave at his house. Linda's sister, Sherry, comes by and grows suspicious when Dave fails to answer the door. Sherry convinces her husband Frank, a police detective, to check it out. The thieves become more desperate as Joe and Curtis cannot find the jewels in Linda's luggage. Vito catches Nick and Vicki making out and decides to kill Nick, when Frank and his partner arrive. Nick throws a pillow to distract Vito, preventing him from killing Frank. In the ensuing skirmish, Vito drowns Frank's partner in the pool, and Nick shoots Vito dead.
Joe tries to rape Linda, but Curtis intervenes, and beats Joe senseless. Once Joe recovers consciousness, he shoots Curtis and pursues Nancy and Linda into the snow-covered wilderness. Dave and Frank follow them into the woods. Nancy accidentally drops her doll, and when Joe stops to pick it up, Frank shoots him. Joe plunges off a cliff. Nancy's doll, landing on the rocks beside him, sings as his life slips away.[3]
Cast
- Roy Morton - as Joe Corey, a sadist running with a ring of jewel thieves
- Tacey Robbins as Linda Clark, a nightclub singer
- K. K. Riddle as Nancy Clark, Linda's child
- Kirk Duncan as Dave Clark, Linda's husband and Nancy's father
- Joey Benson as Frank Ward, a police detective
- Shary Richards as Shelly Ward, Frank's wife and Linda's sister
- John Talbert as Curtis, a mute and member of the jewel thief ring
- Lyle Felice as Vito, the head of the jewel thief ring
- Tanya Maree as Vicki, Vito's girlfriend
- John Armond as Nick, Vicki's secret lover
The actress who plays the voice of the singing doll is credited as simply "Christy".
Production and release
In 1969, Psycho A-Go-Go was completely re-edited, with additional footage featuring actor John Carradine as a mad scientist, and the film was re-released by American General as The Fiend with the Electronic Brain.[2]
In 1971 Adamson added more new footage featuring actors Kent Taylor, Tommy Kirk and Regina Carrol, and re-edited the whole thing into an entirely different film titled Blood of Ghastly Horror, which was theatrically distributed by Adamson's company Independent-International.[3][4][5] It was also later released to late-night television under yet another title, The Man With the Synthetic Brain,[6] with the nightclub worker's murder scene excised.
The original 1965 version of Psycho A-Go-Go was released on DVD by Troma Pictures, with an introduction by Sam Sherman.[4]
References
- ↑ "Reviews and Criticism of Vietnam War Theatrical and Television Dramas" (PDF). Lasalle.edu.
- 1 2 Sandra Brennan (2016). "Psycho a Go-Go! (1965)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016.
- 1 2 Ray, Fred Olen (1991). "The New Poverty Row". McFarland and Co. Inc. ISBN 0-89950-628-3. Page 110
- 1 2 Gibron, Bill (2004-03-30). "Blood of Ghastly Horror". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 2012-04-10.
- ↑ Unscripted final reel. Adamson, Al. The Guardian (1959-2003) London (UK). 09 Aug 1995: 11.
- ↑ O'Neill, James (1994). "Terror on Tape". Billboard Books. ISBN 0-8230-7612-1. Page 39