not horrible nor great

I wanted to but couldn't!

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

There is indeed a cult following to this movie, alternately titled THE DEATH WHEELERS in some releases. I recall the first time I ever saw the film on a terrible VHS copy put out by one of the really low quality companies that recorded everything in slow speeds to use less tape, the end result being a washed out picture with glitches, static, rolling bars and terrible sound. To say I was unimpressed would be an understatement. And yet I heard and read of people loving this movie and wishing there would be a great print offered by someone. Arrow Video has met that challenge.The story is fairly simple. A bike gang known as The Living Dead tool around on motorcycles that would leave much to be desired by U.S. biker gangs. With skulls painted on the front of their helmets and their name printed on their leather jackets they terrorize motorists on the road by racing by them or straight at them. Oooo scary.The leader of the gang is Tom (Nicky Henson), a long haired well-bred and well-dressed young man with a curious interest in life after death. His mother (Beryl Reid) is a psychic who holds séances in their posh modern styled home. She has a servant of sorts in Shadwell (George Sanders). We're not quite sure if he's her butler, confidant or lover but he's there and helps her. It seems she holds the key to eternal life but she refuses to share it with Tom. He does learn what it is though: you simply have to believe you will not dies with every fiber of your being. Yes, that is the secret to eternal life. Really? So what does Tom do with this information? Test if of course. He believes totally that he will live and on a jaunt with the gang terrorizing the locals he eventually drives his motorcycle straight off the bridge. This results in his death. The gang wants him to go as he lived and buries him in the local cemetery sitting astride his motorcycle in an upward position. No coffin and with barely enough dirt to cover him. But remember Tom knew the secret to eternal life. With the sound of motor revving he pops up out of the ground, his motorcycle propelling him forward.Meeting up with the old gang he shows them he is now invincible. Excited by the news each member then makes the decision to follow suit and they kill themselves one by one only to come back. The only exception is Tom's girlfriend who isn't quite sure this is what she signed on for. More happens but this sets things up for you.For me the story was really lacking in any meat that should have been wrapped around the bones offered here. Perhaps worse was that the "biker gang" seemed more like a bunch of rich spoiled kids tooling around on scooters than the Harley styled motorcycles seen in most biker flicks of the time or on the open roads to this day. That anyone would find this group frightening if encountered on the roads was something I just couldn't wrap my head around. At times I wondered if Austin Powers would pop up as a gang member.And yet there is a certain amount of charm to the movie. It showed a time in history when this was the supposed rebel. It's a far cry from what we've seen represented in English cinema since when you look at films like SCUM or LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad one but at least we have something captured on film that shows us what may have been going on at the time.I give Arrow Video high praises with each new release they offer and it holds true here again. The quality of the print here is such that it made me forget that washed out old VHS version I saw years ago. If there is a fog bank on screen here it is intended rather than a sad state of affairs given us by some cheap video company. In addition to the best version available on disc we have a slew of extras. There's an interview with Nicky Henson, an archive featurette with interviews with the rest of the cast, an archive interview with the music composer for the film, an archive interview with a singer for main song in the film, a new featurette about the company that made the costumes, a short piece on restoring the film and the theatrical trailer.This movie may not be everyone's bag of tea but it is definitely worth a watch. Horror fans will want to add it to their collections. Movie fans will want to give it a glimpse. And those of us who found the film in the dollar bargain bin years ago on VHS will now have the chance to see it in much better shape than we did all those years ago.

Okay THIS WAS A WHOLE LOT OF FUN. I knew I was in for SOME kind of treat when it opens up with these grainy, gritty shots of The Living Dead riding through a foggy field on their bikes. Like, this movie is wayyy too cool for me.It's just a funny, silly movie, but it has some dramatic aspects as well. The scene with Tom (Nicky Henson) dancing with his mom is awesome and shortly after we realize she's got connections with some dark forces and helps Tom make a pact with the devil so he and his fellow gang members can commit suicide and then come back from the dead — but only if they truly BELIEVE they will come back.Tom is just carefree in the most destructive sense of the word, and very reminiscent of Alex from A Clockwork Orange. He's all too excited to fly his motorcycle off a bridge so he can come back and TRULY be part of the living dead. His friends and fellow gang members give him THE MOST AMAZING funeral ever — burying him upright, fully dressed, on his motorcycle. Shortly after a complete stranger is cutting through the site — referred to as The Seven Witches for the seven stone structures that represent, duh, seven witches who broke a pact with the devil — when he hears the TRULY creepy sound of a motorcycle enging revving under packed dirt. Out bursts Tom, ready as ever to truly mess things up.Once the rest of the gang learns of this sweet deal, they're eager to join him — all except Abby, his lady love. It's fun to watch each gang member choose their own method of death — including one jumping out the window of a high rise as a police officer watches, truly sticking it to the man — and then they're back in action, too, minus Abby who is way too wigged out by all of this.Tom's mother (played by Beryl Reid) is not psyched about any of this, especially after seeing how her son's main goal in his second shot at "life" is just to be as violent and belligerent as he can, wasting no time between being brought back to life and murdering just a few folks at a local bar. So mom breaks her bargain with Lucifer and turns into a frog herself. Awesome. The rest of the gang, including Tom, are turned into stone right as he attempts to make Abby choose everlasting life with them or death, so now they can chill with the Seven Witches forever.Truly just good, awful fun.

"Psychomania" is a rather decent if unspectacular biker film with horror elements.**SPOILERS**Living on the road, Tom Latham, (Nicky Henson) and Abby Holman, (Mary Larkin) the leader of a motorcycle gang, decides to gather around the other members, Jane Pettibone, (Ann Michelle) Bertram, (Roy Holder) Hatchet, (Denis Gilmore) Gash, (Peter Whitting) Chopped Meat, (Miles Greenwood) and Hinky, (Rocky Taylor) and have some fun. After managing to cause some trouble for the locals in town, one of them is accidentally killed during the process, shattering the group. When he suddenly returns days later alive and well, it's revealed that a sacred pendant is responsible for bringing him back to life from death and encourages the others to do the same and die like him. As the group starts coming the ritual and causing chaos in London, the police start trying whatever they can to stop them before they get out of control.The Good News: This one actually managed a few good parts here and there. One of the main points to this one is the fact that there's a lot of fun to be had with the group out-and-about terrorizing others with their bike antics. These are a lot of fun, especially the early game of chicken they play with one pretending to be another automobile by driving-side-by-side so there appears two headlights and causing it to veer off-the-road, and the main one is the film's highlight piece, where they travel along the road terrorizing and torturing others by pulling off the side-mirrors to smash the windows, pull slightly in front of them unexpectedly to force them to stop suddenly or poking and prodding at exposed parts of cars and trucks, in one instance causing it to crash in a massive fireball among other good times. That this last part is comprised of one extended sequence makes it all the better, as we're right up in there for all the action and it makes for a really fun time. Other vehicular fun includes another big section, where they ride through the town square and do everything from driving through signs and hitting people with their bikes to actually ramming into baby carriages and much, much more, which in turn leads to a full-on car chase with the police in pursuit which is a fun way of getting some more action into the whole affair. Aside from the action, it's got enough supernatural dealings to actually manage a few bright spots here as well, including a spectacular sequence where one of the gang envisions a rather freaky sequence where they are shown to be engaging in bizarre rituals and antics to be tortured through brief glimpses of nightmarish devices, and with the freakish repetitions of a mysterious frog featured throughout, it's quite chilling at times. Other good stuff occurs through the opening segment where, while riding their bikes, it shows them running around a fog-encased cemetery with them going in slow-motion, creating a very discerning feeling that works really nicely. The resurrection from the cemetery is also highly chilling, with the mysterious revving noises coming off in the distance, followed by the bike exploding from the crypt and running down the eyewitness in a really good scene. Also of note is the scenes where they all decide to go through with the pact and decide to commit suicide, oftentimes of the most comical means to the bystanders of such events that aren't prepared for such activities, and the light-heatedness of it allows for some levity in the film. The last good part is the film's finale, which mixes in the supernatural elements exceedingly well and makes for some great visuals as well due to the bike members gradually turning to dust in a fine scene. These here are the film's best parts.The Bad News: This one didn't have a lot of flaws, but they were quite serious. One of the biggest problems here is the fact that the means of resurrection for the group comes off as the single lamest, most moronic means of doing so. The logic behind it is fine, with the pendant being able to revive dead souls, but the fact that there's only one line to explain it fully to the group, which consists merely of the phrase that inspires such stupidity just makes it all the more irritating and completely aggravating. It's just one simple line that's used to explain all the features about how they came about from the resurrection. It's just stupid, lame and really shows a lack of creativity, made all the worse when it's featured in a sequence that reveals all to the others in the gang, but no one is shocked that it's happened and accept it without too much convincing. It's unrealistic, doesn't feel natural and feels like it's not all thought-out at all. The laid-back pacing of this one is another problem here, as it's very rarely infused with any sort of energy or momentum to keep this one from being dreary, dull and really lifeless at times, especially during the moments when the returned-biker is out among the populace, and this one really suffers from a rather dreary pace and tone that really makes it hard to get into. The last flaw to this one is the fact that there's such a huge body count packed with so little imagination in the kills, as everyone either dies off-screen or completely bloodless makes it really irritating considering it's so high. A little extra wouldn't have been so bad, but otherwise these are the only flaws.The Final Verdict: With some really good parts to it and some really irritating moments as well, this one ends up being quite middle of the road overall. Really only worthwhile for those who enjoy these kinds of Biker films or are a fan of the style presented here, but those who aren't so much fans should heed extreme caution.Rated PG: Violence

I went back old school and actually rented a VHS copy of this thing to watch after reading about it for years.I'll have fond memories of it cause I watched it about half drunk but actually it wasn't too good.This spoiled rich kid,Tom,in what I took to be London,is the leader of a motorcycle gang.His mum is a well known spiritualist or seer or whatever you call them in town and Tom becomes interested in the occult because of his mum's doings and Tom gets his whole gang interested in this thing called death.Tom and his mum and their creepy butler,Chadwell,somehow figure out that a person can come back from the dead if at the moment of death they truly believe they will come back.There is also something about toads and Tom's dead dad and some secret room in Tom's house but all that is sort of garbled...not sure if that is because of the Dos Equis or just because it was a crappy movie.Anyway Tom and his gang then seek to fulfill their leader's goal...an undead motorcycle gang.This movie had potential with the premise but the way it come out didn't live up to that potential.For one thing the motorcycle gang was a boring dorky bunch--from their goofy helmets with the big plastic bones on them to their criminal acts which consisted of riding through town and knocking guys off ladders,who just happen to be on ladders out in the middle of the sidewalk for some reason,and knocking trays of bread out of guys hands,who just happen to be walking through town with big trays of bread for some reason.The gang also rides into the grocery store and knocks over cans of stuff.Once in a while they'll harass a truck driver and make him wreck but all in all this gang just didn't have enough meanness to make it interesting.Where is all the gang rapes and baseball bat brain explosions that motorcycle gangs are famous for? There are a couple of cool scenes of a motorcycle flying up out of the ground and going through a brick wall but mostly it was a dull uninteresting story.No gore that I remember and certainly no nudity...this movie could be shown on TV without any editing at all I think.I was hoping for a little more from this movie but at least I can say I've saw it and now I can move on and try and find a copy of some other long lost movie that might be a forgotten treasure.