Cheesetastic Film Review: The Hypnotic Eye (1960)

Hypnotic Eye Poster

I just love films with a gimmick.  They are cheesetastic and fabulously campy, so I was thrilled to see The Hypnotic Eye on TCM.  The premise of the film is that women are finding themselves hideously deformed.  The catch - they deform themselves without being aware of it.  The opening scene alone was shocking - a woman sets her hair on fire.  Grotesque, yet absolutely no way I was turning the channel.  Jacques Bergerac plays hypnotist Desmond.  Through the course of the film we find out that the women who are disfiguring themselves have all been hypnotized by the enigmatic Desmond.  I won't spoil the ending, but cult icon Allison Hayes, who plays Desmond's assistant Justine plays heavily into it.

Hypnotic Eye Opening Sequence

What was so interesting about the film is Bergerac was really trained by a hypnotist and the segments of the film with the hypnotic elements really had actresses that were hypnotized.  I found the stage portions intriguing.  At home, I followed along with the film, and it really added to the experience.  I wish the main audience participation element was earlier in the film, because it totally took you out of the plot of the film.  The point of the participation segment occurred right before the climax of the film.  Taking the 10 minutes out at that point detracted from the plot itself.  It would have made much more sense near the start of the film.

Allison Hayes

I would have to give this film a 8 out of 10 on the Cheesetastic Film Scale.

Hypnotic Eye Lobby Card