THE SORCERERS (1967) ***

Boris Karloff stars as a hypnotist, who along with his wife Catherine Lacey devise a method to telepathically control their subjects and force them to obey their will.  They dupe poor Ian Ogilvy into signing up for their experiment, which proves to be an immediate success.  There is one side effect:  The couple experiences all the sensations Ogilvy feels during his hypnosis.  After making Ogilvy steal an expensive fur coat, Lacey becomes addicted to the thrill of committing crimes.  She eventually overtakes her husband and uses the powerless Ogilvy to commit murder.

The Sorcerers was made in the late ‘60s so there’s a lot of trippy, psychedelic stuff in there.  During the experiment, Karloff’s machine emits garish strobe lights and projects tie-dyed colored lights on Ogilvy’s face.  There’s also a couple of mod musical numbers in a nightclub that helps to pad the running time out a bit.  These are the only dated bits in the film, which starts off as marginally silly, but becomes more engrossing and disturbing as it goes along.

Director Michael Reeves is low key in his approach.  The horror comes out of the corruption of the elderly couple as they push Ogilvy to commit more and more criminal acts.  There’s also the horror Karloff experiences as he witnesses the moral deterioration of his wife firsthand.  Then of course there’s Ogilvy’s horror at not being in control of his own actions, as Lacey forces to murder his friends.  Reeves deserves credit for stretching out such a thin premise and turning it into an absorbing battle of wills.  

The ‘60s was such a volatile time that you can almost see The Sorcerers as a parable for the era.  Since the generation gap was getting larger and larger at that time, you can view Karloff and Lacey as the older generation trying control the younger generation.  By contrast, you can also look at it as the younger generation being constantly overpowered and forced on a course of action their elders have already put in place for them.

Sure, this might’ve worked better as a forty-five-minute tale in a horror anthology.  It’s the power of the three lead performers, coupled with the skill of Reeves that keeps you so invested.  It’s a testament to Reeves’ directing chops (not to mention Karloff’s acting ability) that he can pass off close-ups of people concentrating as his finale and still make it suspenseful.  It’s a shame Reeves died so young because he certainly showed a lot of promise.  His next film, the iconic The Conqueror Worm, proved to be his last.