The Hypnotic Eye

Most movie trailers boil down a film to its essence, resulting in 2½ minutes of unbridled sensationalism. That’s pretty much a trailer’s raison d’être and we love ’em for it. But what if the entire movie was like that? Such is the case for another of the films in our Great Global Trailer Search, 1960’s The Hypnotic Eye.

The film opens in the deceptively bland manner of a shampoo commercial; a lovely young blonde enters and goes through the routine of washing her hair. Instead of using the sink however, she turns on the stove and drops her head into the flames. The film’s titles run over the appalling sight of  her agonized expression being consumed in the fire.

Directed by the usually good-natured George Blair (TV’s Adventures of Superman), The Hypnotic Eye continues in that sadistic vein with a gruesome plotline seemingly inspired by the more misogynistic headlines of the Police Gazette. The mystery, such as it is, ties a series of self-mutilation deaths to a popular hypnotist played by the rakish French actor, Jaques Bergerac (his assistant is played by statuesque dreamgirl Allison Hayes, undiminished after her supersized stint in ’59’s Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman).

Warner Archives have released a fine-looking dvd of this memorably sleazy potboiler but the trailer remains missing. If you have any info regarding its whereabouts, please head over to our Great Global Trailer Search page and lend a hand. The Hypnotic Eye commands you!