The Psychopath (1966) - April 10, 2018

[bruce holecheck]

Freddie Francis' twisted thriller THE PSYCHOPATH (1966) hits Blu this April from Kino!

Coming April 10th!
First Time on DVD and Blu-ray!
Brand New 4K Restoration!

The Psychopath (1966) Starring Patrick Wymark, Margaret Johnston, John Standing, Alexander Knox and Judy Huxtable - Written by Robert Bloch (Psycho) - Directed by Freddie Francis (The Skull).

Legendary horror director and 2-time Academy Award®-winning cinematographer Freddie Francis (The Skull, Tales from the Crypt) directed this classic Amicus chiller which is filled with surprises and keeps its viewers on the edge of their seats. With a serial killer on the loose, Police Inspector Halloway (Patrick Wymark, Where Eagles Dare, Repulsion) investigates a pattern of grisly murders whose perpetrator leaves a small doll by the body of each victim. The four victims are all brutally murdered in different grotesque ways… a knife, a blow-torch, a rope and a car. The case leads Halloway to disabled doll collector Mrs. Von Sturm (Margaret Johnston, Burn, Witch, Burn) who knows a set of dark secrets that may hold the key to the shocking truth. Beautifully shot in Scope by John Wilcox (The Evil of Frankenstein) with a screenplay by Robert Bloch (Psycho) and co-starring John Standing (The Legacy), Alexander Knox (Woman of Straw) and the lovely Judy Huxtable (Scream and Scream Again).

Special Features:
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Troy Howarth
• Reversible Blu-ray Art
• Original Theatrical Trailer

[t_rav]

Yes!!

More Amicus is always a good thing

[WesReviews]

I don't understand how this one sat unreleased for so long. Did it even get a DVD release?

[t_rav]

Originally Posted by WesReviews

I don't understand how this one sat unreleased for so long. Did it even get a DVD release?

I don’t believe so. Not unless it was released really late in the DVD era. I had searched for it only a few months before I started my blu-ray habit.

[Boggle]

How does this film rate compared to other Amicus films or other films by Freddie Francis?

Boring? Stellar? Talk to me.

[bruce holecheck]

Originally Posted by WesReviews

I don't understand how this one sat unreleased for so long. Did it even get a DVD release?

There's an Italian DVD from 2012. Quality is reportedly mediocre.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by bruce holecheck

There's an Italian DVD from 2012. Quality is reportedly mediocre.

I bought it not so long back. A cropped transfer from a very faded print with missing footage dropped in from VHS. TBH I was just happy to get to see it though typically not long after I do so something far better comes along. [emoji4]

[TerrorTom]

Nice! ...I would also like to get the other "lost" movie with same title from 1973. Anyway, keep those psychopaths comin' !!

[javi92]

So is this any good?

[Jobla]

It's an early body-count film penned by the great Robert Bloch. Although I've seen it since the 1970's, I have only seen it cropped. I hope very much that Kino will transfer it in proper widescreen. Cropping it just presents the film as a series of close-ups.

I don't think it's particularly suspenseful. Bloch is more interested in the "horror of personality," and this film falls into that category.

Never released on VHS or DVD in the US.

[Gerby]

I liked it a lot, as others have said it's been impossible to see a decent copy of it so i am looking forward to this release. In terms of Freddie Francis' films, i don't rate it as highly as Girly, The Skull or Paranoiac but it's certainly as good as everything else he made.

[bruce holecheck]

Some transfer details, from Kino:

We scanned the 1.33:1 Techniscope 2 perf Original Color Neg and the separate main and end title 2.35:1 reels - all in 4K. Followed by the techniscope reconstruction, color correction and DRS. Our release of THE PSYCHOPATH is presented for the first time in 2.35:1.

[oddbox83]

Surely a typo. Techniscope negs are certainly not 1.33:1. That aside, sounds promising.

[babybreese]

Same size piece of film as a 35mm 1.33 frame,
but with 2 'scope images squeezed on there.

It does seem to be an odd way to describe the OCN, I don't think I have seen it used before.

[WaverBoy]

Insane that this excellent Amicus obscurity is getting a Stateside Blu! I can happily retire my crappy but watchable Italian DVD.

[Jobla]

I assume that the Italian PAL release wasn't in 2:35-1? I had a German PAL of it years ago, and that one was cropped to approx. 1:85-1. It may have been "mastered" from a foreign VHS release. I remember that the color was quite faded.

I should add that the Paramount/Amicus releases from the mid-1960's (THE SKULL, THE DEADLY BEES, THE PSYCHOPATH) tended to have a muted color palate.

[bruce holecheck]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

Surely a typo. Techniscope negs are certainly not 1.33:1. That aside, sounds promising.

I think you're right -- a full aperture Techniscope neg would be 2.33:1. From Wiki:

The Techniscope format uses a two film-perforation negative pulldown per frame, instead of the standard four-perforation frame usually exposed in 35 mm film photography. Techniscope's 2.33:1 aspect ratio is easily cropped to the 2.39:1 widescreen ratio,[2] because it uses half the amount of 35 mm film stock and standard spherical lenses. Thus, Techniscope release prints are made by anamorphosizing and enlarging each frame by a factor of two.

[Scottie]

Pre-order

[WesReviews]

Done.

[Jobla]

Ditto.