Excellent, Without a doubt!!

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

I'm still a little clueless as to why William Castle is a horror icon. It's most likely because my view of horror is way different than what was done in the 60'sI saw the the old Dark House which I thought was amusing more than scary, and this movie seem to becoming from that perspective. Like The old Dark House it stars Tom Poston, who would seem like a weird leading man if this was not a William Castle film. Tom plays a language expert who reads the dead language on a coin and it gives him the ability to kill anyone he points his finger at. despite the dark story with Poston at the helm as the lead actor, it as a very Nutty professor feel to it.The chemistry between Tom and the lead actress playing his love interest is also a high part of the entertainment value of the movie.like the old Dark house this William Castle flick is worth seeing to be entertained by Tom Poston.

Although William Castle hit the jackpot when he almost exclusively dedicated himself to Horror from 1958 onwards, he still made the occasional detour to other genres, mostly Comedy. His first such excursion was this Fantasy spoof about a nerdy Ancient Languages professor who comes in possession of an old amulet that has the trifold powers of instilling bouts of acute pain at persons being pointed at, make people act in slow motion when the magic titular word is spoken and, when both actions are combined, make the subject in question instantly combust! Tom Poston – who a year later reunited with the director in the ill-conceived Hammer Films remake of James Whale's sublime THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932) – stars as the healthy-lifestyle-freak hero who, apart from tending to his youthful niece, is contending the soon-to-be vacant position of the college Dean (currently held by Cecil Kellaway) with pompous European Languages professor Jim Backus. To further confound the impending promotion issue, the undecided Kellaway hires a female professor (Julia Meade) that fits both faculties; as it turns out, Poston had already met the latter just as he discovered the supernatural potential of the amulet…although, bafflingly enough, this initial evidence manifests itself through the outbreak of a massive thunderstorm which robs Meade of all her attire when she is struck by lightning! The highlights of such displays of the amulet's power occur during Kellaway's farewell party – where Poston makes Backus warble his way protractedly through his tribute speech – and in the aftermath of an earlier party at Kellaway's house where Poston follows his niece (who is wearing the amulet and is unaware of its powers) around town as she is mowing down pained pedestrians when indicating the directions to her driver beau (who also happens to be Backus' son)!The thing is that the Zotz amulet only works when in possession of the person speaking the word or pointing and, in fact, Poston makes a veritable fool of himself at Kellaway's house when, wishing to impress his outgoing superior and perhaps secure his promotion, he unleashes a bunch of mice during the above-mentioned party among the guests with the express intention of neutralizing them within seconds…which, of course, does not happen and leads to much panicking by the frazzled guests (including Kellaway's wife, played by former Groucho Marx foil Margaret Dumont). When Kellaway sends Poston to a psychiatric re-evaluation and a stretch of forced leave, the latter goes to Washington with the intention of selling his "invention" to top Army brass like Fred Clark (who completely misses a near-plane crash caused by Zotz!) as his attention is focused on his indoor golf playing. The same cannot be said of his Russian counterparts who kidnap the women in Poston's life – held captive by muscleman Mike Mazurki – while Poston is flied to Moscow! Thankfully, the young professor is too clever for his own captor, convinces them to turn back the plane and resolves matters (with a little help from Zotz, of course) in a rooftop chase with the three baddies.Although the tricks of the amulet get to be repetitive after a while, the frothy concoction still pleases on the whole and the ironic conclusion – with the exotic coin finding itself at the bottom of the city sewers and Clark's assurance to the collected press that efforts are underway to retrieve it – is complemented by the amusing animated credits: in the opening ones, Castle "zotzes" Columbia's Torch Lady and, at the close, the studio logo is made to cheekily utter, "Zot's all, folks!"

William Castle, director of low-budget horror flicks including the original "Thirteen Ghosts", takes on an adaptation of Walter Karig's novel with mixed results.The best thing about the movie are the changes made to the original novel. While it's rare when a movie improves on its literary source material, Walter Karig's book starts out with the promise of being like a Thorne Smith fantasy romp. There's the professor who accidentally acquires a magic power (in the book, to stun or kill by pointing his finger, but instead of yelling "bang" he yells "Zotz"). There's the beautiful femme fatale who may be a nemesis sent from the gods, and who first appeared nude on his couch in a thunderstorm.The novel then dissipates into a tedious cautionary tale about bureaucracy: the professor has a power that will ultimately lead to a bloodless victory in World War II, but even in a desperate war when the nation's self-defense is at stake he can't seem to he can't climb the chain of command in any military or civilian organization in Washington (in that way, the novel is more than relevant in the early twenty-first century). Part of his problem, too, is his own intransigence. He is so obsessed with the cult of personality, so swept away by his own powers, he refuses to outline or demonstrate his powers to anyone less than the president himself.The movie does a good thing by sweeping away all the bureaucratic detritus that made the book so ultimately tiresome. The movie changes the professor's powers (I won't relate that change but it's more family-friendly). The movie gives us a story that might well have been adapted from Thorne Smith in the early 1960s, in a Disney sort of way.Then there are the missteps. Tom Poston is a funny guy, graduating from the Steve Allen show with the likes of Don Knotts and Louis Nye. His movie persona, while likable, is less than dynamic. And the special effects have unfortunately dated. Still, it's a pleasant diversion. And more than "Thirteen Ghosts" it deserves a remake -- not from the book, but reworking this script.

My two older brothers and my younger sister and I saw this at the historic Paramount in Abilene. I was 7, so this is a review written through my seven-year-old's memory. I loved it, and thought Tom Poston was incredibly funny. As a promotional item, we all got a bronze-looking metal Zotz! coin upon leaving the theatre. I had mine for years until my mother, in a hissy fit, "cleaned" my room and closet and threw away the cigar box housing it and a neat little collection of valuable Cracker Jack prizes. They were made of metal in those days, with wonderful craftsmanship and detail. I'm still sore about that. Anyway, we all loved the movie. I'd like to see it again.