The Sorcerers

1967 "Boris Karloff He Turns Them On…He Turns Them Off…to live…love…die or KILL!"
6.2| 1h27m| en| More Info
Released: 25 October 1967 Released
Producted By: Tigon British Film Productions
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

The great hypnotist Professor Montserrat has developed a technique for controlling the minds, and sharing the sensations, of his subjects. He and his wife Estelle test the technique on Mike Roscoe, and enjoy 'being' the younger man. But Estelle soon grows to love the power of controlling Roscoe, and the vicarious pleasures that provides. How far will she go, and can the Professor restrain her in time?

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Reviews

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.
Konterr Brilliant and touching
Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Prichards12345 It's a tragedy that Director Reeves took his own life. Both his British horror movies show a film-maker of real talent, with a keen eye for composition and who is not afraid to show the grim, bloody reality of violence. What Reeves might have achieved had he lived can only be speculated upon.The Sorcerors, of course, gives Boris Karloff a great late-career role as a scientist who discovers a process to help him experience other people's sensations and feelings as if he were the person himself. Altruistically thinking of how old and infirm people could again experience a full life he sets up trend-setter Ian Ogilvy for his first experiment. Unfortunately he hasn't counted on the less than scientific attitude of his wife.Catherine Lacey is splendidly evil as Karloff's spouse, growing evermore addicted to the sensations she experiences. She soon learns to control their subject, and her husband appears powerless to stop her.Reeve's school friend Olgilvy is excellent in the central role as Mike - a difficult part to pull off but he handles it with aplomb. The film is really a clever comment on the generation gap - something that was the cause of real concern in the 60s - but despite its very low budget it never fails to convince and occasionally even thrill. The Sorcerors is well worth a view. Then follow it with the even better (and much bloodier) Witchfinder General...
GL84 Perfecting a mind-control device, a doctor and his wife use it to live vicariously through a youth in mod London but when the results of the control bring about her dark side he attempts to regain control from her before it's too late.Overall there wasn't a whole lot to really like with this one. Among the biggest problems with this was the fact that hardly any kind of horror occurred during the first hour of this one, as this is taken up with the two going over the process for the experiment and how they're going to gather him as a subject before turning to the early parts of their control by letting him go about town meeting up with his friends. Since these are all innocent endeavors, from going out to the club and swimming and then later driving along the freeway on a motorcycle at top-speed, none of these scenes are all that frightening or even designed to be which in turn makes these scenes simply use watching people do bland, boring things since we can't undergo the experiences featured here and the end result is simply bland, boring and just not a horror film at all. Likewise, the fact that he's undergoing these kinds of scenes yet no one thinks anything is strange with his behavior is also pretty troublesome, as all of his mentions of blackouts and unaccounted behavior tend to ring pretty troubling alarms in his friends about his behavior yet nothing is done and everything continues on as normal. It's not until bodies start piling up that they start to think something may be wrong, and even then the situation isn't handled all that well as there's hardly anything done about this nor is there any carryover about his previous statements regarding his influences, in the end really tending to make this a pretty troublesome effort. When it does become a horror film, this one isn't bad as the stalking scenes are quite good with there being some tension in the wait for him to coil and snap, despite the kills themselves being pretty bland and thrill-less being forced to use obscured knifings or strangling to do this but in the end all is somewhat forgiven with a great action-packed car-chase through the streets of London that is quite fun and enjoyable whipping around at those speeds to make for quite a great time here in the final half. It's just that so much of what happened before wasn't that interesting.Today's Rating/PG-13: Violence, Language, sexual content and heavy smoking.
TheLittleSongbird There will be inevitable comparisons to The Sorcerers and Witchfinder General(from the same director), from personal opinion Witchfinder General is the better film, technically and dramatically but The Sorcerers is the more entertaining one, Witchfinder is very shocking even now(easy to see why it was banned at the time) and while both have great atmosphere The Sorcerers a little more so. The Sorcerers is not the perfect film, but you don't really expect that, the first 10 minutes did come across as gaudy and trashy which will put put anybody off, while Estelle's descent into madness could have taken longer to develop and been less abrupt and the script-while mostly solid- can have a tendency to be turgid and overly silly. The Sorcerers is decently shot and the evocation of the 60s hippie era is effective and accurate. There is a great soundtrack, and the atmosphere is both fun and creepy. The story can have some dull spots but has a good sense of terror, suspense and thrills. Michael Reeves, who died tragically far too early, directs assuredly, while the acting is good by all. Ian Ogilvy, Victor Henry and Susan George hardly disgrace themselves in support, but they are outshone by both Boris Karloff and especially Catherine Lacey. Karloff is very dignified, menacing and adroit, even when not as active and towards the end of his career he still has what made him a good actor in the first place. Lacey overdoes it a tad at times but that doesn't matter at all when she is such fun to watch and is as scary as she is. In conclusion, atmospheric and entertaining, the first 10 minutes are a turn-off but if you stay with it you'll find a film, even with its imperfections, that is much better than it's given credit for. 7/10 Bethany Cox
Spikeopath The Sorcerers is directed by Michael Reeves who also co-writes the screenplay with Tom Baker from an original idea written by John Burke. It stars Boris Karloff, Ian Ogilvy, Catherine Lacey, Victor Henry and Elizabeth Ercy. Music is by Paul Ferris and cinematography by Stanley A. Long.When aged scientist Marcus Monserrat (Karloff) tries a new hypnosis machine on bored young man Mike Roscoe (Ogilvy), he and his wife find they can control his actions and experience what he is experiencing. Initially this breakthrough is a rewarding one, but Marcus' wife Estelle (Lacey) wants more and soon things start to get decidedly amoral.Michael Reeves sadly died of an accidental drug overdose aged just 25, this having crafted the Cruel Britania brilliance that was Witchfinder General. Prior to that he helmed The Sorcerers, an equally great production, a sci-fi horror fusion that pulses with a pessimistic tone. There's no great budget for the talented young director to work with, but it barely matters, in fact it benefits the film greatly, as the two elders (Karloff wonderful, Lacey magnificent) live vicariously through Roscoe's (Ogilvy fresh faced and perfectly exuding a bored man after further thrills) misadventures. But the kicker here is that it is Karloff's scientist who recognises things are going out of control, and it is he who strives to stop his obsessed wife from committing heinous acts.Set to the backdrop of swinging sixties London, with mini skirts, Brit pop music and Norton motorbikes firm period reminders, The Sorcerers captures the zeitgeist of the time. Blending psychedelia with sci-fi and amoral horror with wistful yearnings, film comes out as an original piece of work. Thematically, as has been noted by the critics who have afforded this under seen classic some time, it says youth is wasted on the young while also planting us the film viewer in the metaphor chair. If Reeves was being caustic we will never know, sadly, but it does bear thinking about in light of how horror films, and their blood thirsty fans, would evolve come the millennium. Michael Reeves a visionary?From Lacey bringing one of horror's forgotten monsters to life, to a no cop out ending of pure bleakness, The Sorcerers never lets up on gnawing away at the senses. An original film made by an original director, and deserving of more widespread exposure. 8/10