Product Description

Look out! The Living Dead motorcycle gang is on the rampage, wreaking havoc in their small English town. For gang leader Tom, however, mere earthly violence is not enough: he's obsessed with the occult and is convinced that he can kill himself and then return from the dead--with the help of a frog-worshipping cult and his seance-conducting mother (Beryl Reid). Remarkably, Tom succeeds and soon joins the ranks of the walking--and riding--dead! Now if he can only persuade his girlfriend and the rest of his gang to join him, but Mother and her diabolical butler Shadwell (George Sanders) may have other plans for the Living Dead, who are dangerously trespassing on uncharted spiritual grounds. "Psychomania" is a pre-punk, British horror cult classic featuring trashy violence, suburban witchcraft and some amazing motorcycle stunt sequences. Come and ride with The Living Dead--if you dare!

1.66:1 - Color - English - Mono - Add'l Language: Spanish

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #120130 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-06-20
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com
Somewhere in the English countryside a nihilistic biker (Nicky Henson) decides to make the name of his violent motorcycle gang ("The Living Dead") more than just a slogan. With the help of his dear old mum (Beryl Reid), who just happens to be a frog-worshipping occultist, he dives to his death only to leap out of his grave (still astride his motorcycle) like a black leather bat out of hell. This is one young rebel who makes the dictum "Live hard, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse" a reality. Soon he's recruiting for his undead biker army. ("Oh man, what are we waiting for?!" exclaims a restless gang member before driving headlong into a truck.) This zombie version of The Wild Angels is less horror film than biker nightmare, and Don Sharp, a former Hammer horror director, doesn't quite know how to straddle the line. The obscure supernatural elements feel creaky next to the restless violence of the rebels without a pulse and their sadistic reign of terror. Though he revels in gallows humor (the gang's "extreme sports" suicide montage is ghoulishly hilarious), Sharp never lets it descend into camp--though at times perhaps he should have. It's an inventive if not altogether successful genre mix highlighted with a sardonic turn by George Sanders as a shady servant who seems completely bemused by the entire spectacle. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Get ready to laugh!
The much ballyhooed biker film genre is one I rarely, if ever, visit on my cinematic excursions. I have never seen more than ten minutes of "Easy Rider," nor have I witnessed Marlon Brando donning the leather jacket and rebellious attitude in "The Wild One." Forget "Quadrophenia" or even Herschell Gordon Lewis's "She-Devils on Wheels." If it's got a guy throwing caution to the wind on the back of a hog, I have not been there to witness it. The closest I get to a motorcycle movie is when I happen to catch a James Bond film where guys on bikes try to chase down 007. Heck, I can't stand watching that motorcycle show on television where the blowhard screams at his sons all day. That is why I am so surprised I not only rented "Psychomania" but also liked it immensely as well. Here's a movie every lover of low budget cinematic sludge can fully endorse. Here's a movie loaded with ugly guys sporting atrocious haircuts zipping around the highway. Here's a movie where reanimated biker gang members can ride through a brick wall without putting a scratch on their choppers. Here's a movie with characters named Hatchet and Chopped Meat. What are you waiting for?

The Living Dead is the name of the game in a small English village as far as threatening motorcycle gangs go. An equal opportunity employer, the group includes both men and women in their reigns of terror throughout the countryside. What do they do? Oh, just your everyday harmless antics like chasing cars off the road, buzzing pedestrians, and speaking bad English. The leader of the gang is Tom (Nicky Henson), a goofy chap with a psychic mother and no father figure. His girlfriend Abby (Mary Larkin) provides a few kicks when fellow member Jane (Ann Michelle) isn't trying to muscle in. Tom's greatest thrill isn't his girlfriend, however, but trying to figure out a way to live on the wild side. Thanks to his mother (Beryl Reid) and their aging butler Shadwell (George Sanders), he's about to do just that. Mum is part of some frog cult (!) that vigorously promotes the idea that anyone may return from the dead if only he or she wishes to hard enough. You've got to be careful that you don't change your mind at the last minute, though, or you won't ever return. Tom's father apparently wasn't sure, probably because he remembered his son's haircut at the last second and decided he couldn't take coming back to that, but Tom is all for trying out the secrets of the frog cult.

Tom, sad to say, moves on to another plane of existence after soaring off a bridge during a police chase. His friends gather at the gravesite for a truly poignant and memorable service, with the high point being the acoustic version of "Ride Free" played with all due seriousness. Tom's demise crushes Abby, but hope blooms anew as her beau bursts out of the ground alive and kicking on his motorcycle! It worked! He goes on a rampage through the town, killing several people who just happen to irritate him, and then begins to pester the other members of the group to commit the final act. Most of his pals take him up on the offer, dispatching themselves through a variety of methods including skydiving without a parachute, diving into the river weighted down with chains, and taking a freefall out of a tall building while calling out to a police officer below "I'll be right down." Abby even attempts to join Tom's brand new version of The Living Dead by taking a heavy dose of pills, but her heart isn't really in it and she survives with the help of the authorities. The cops, mystified why a few deceased gang members killed morgue personnel and then walked out of the building, put pressure on Abby to bring down the group. "Psychomania" ends with a series of spectacularly cheesy special effects.

It's rare to see a movie as ridiculous and over the top as "Psychomania." It's also rare to enjoy a movie as ridiculous and over the top as "Psychomania." But enjoy it I did. I can't decide which I liked better, the motorcycle gang or Tom's mother and the creepy butler Shadwell. I probably should go with the former since we spend the most time following their exploits. I howled with laughter watching these dolts tool around the countryside while wearing little skull shaped masks. You'd think they would know that blocking their peripheral vision could result in an accident, but even if they did they wouldn't care. Part of being in a motorcycle gang is learning how to live life on the edge. Besides, those haircuts are more dangerous than any riding mishap! It's truly amazing to see how society defined bad behavior even a few decades ago. Nowadays we have to worry about all manner of depraved behaviors. Indeed, you only need open your newspaper to see the latest list of atrocities committed right outside our homes. In "Psychomania" the worst behavior seems to be speeding, nudging cars off the road, and being disrespectful to private property. Sure, things worsen after the gang comes back from the grave, but that's only because it's a crime against God and humanity.

I'm a tad disappointed in the DVD. There weren't any extras, and the picture quality was truly dreadful. You'd figure a laugh a minute schlockfest like this would receive the five star treatment from a company like Blue Underground or Anchor Bay, especially considering master thespian George Sanders starred in it. Sadly, the actor took his life a year or so after "Psychomania" was unleashed on the public. Despite this tragic turn of events, I dare you to despise this film. It's too much fun to really dislike it.

Call me crazy, but I liked it
I don't know what it is about Psychomania, but I'll be doggoned if I didn't enjoy this movie. This low-budget motorcycle gang horror movie made at the hands of one-time Hammer director Don Sharp looks rather cheesy, revolves around a rather porous storyline, and comes up empty in the special effects department, but it works for some reason. I hate biker movies, but this one is just kooky enough to capture my attention. Tom is not your typical motorcycle gang leader, and The Living Dead is not your typical motorcycle gang. These crazy kids like to hang out and motor around the local cemetery sporting their ridiculous skeleton-like helmets, taking periodic breaks to run drivers off the roads and to terrorize the local community. Tom himself lives in a grand manor house, though, with his séance-conducting medium mother and an ever-present serving man named Shadwell. Tom is somewhat obsessed with death, always asking his mother how to come back from the dead. He has now finally been given the key to the manor's mysterious locked room, the room in which his father died mysteriously eighteen years earlier. This is a scene that is never really explained, but soon Tom has learned the answer to the question he has been asking. It turns out that all you need to do to come back from the dead is to believe wholeheartedly that you will do so while you kill yourself. He actually manages to pull the whole thing off, and the new and even more dangerous Tom soon has the whole gang committing suicide in various ways in order to really live up to the gang's name.

Naturally, such goings-on do not take place without the devil's full knowledge, and ignorance of a debt does not preclude the devil from making his clients pay for their wrongs. The truly awful special effects put a real damper on an already less than exciting ending, but the devil and I seem to be fairly happy with the overall results. The man downstairs seems to have quite a penchant for frogs, by the way, but this is just another aspect of the film that is never really explained. As long as you don't take this film seriously and prepare yourself for some plot elements that go AWOL along the way, Psychomania is quite capable of providing you with an hour and a half of strangely satisfying, albeit rather lame, entertainment.

B-Horror at it's best
How could you not enjoy this movie? The music is an awesome score by John Cameron, very psychedelic. You've got bikers commiting suicide, then they are resurected from the dead, perfectly normal. How could you not like a horror movie involving a devilish butler and a toad!