Anatomy of a Psycho/The Lonely Sex (1961/1959)

Studio: Vinegar Syndrome

Theatrical Release: 1961/1959

DVD Release: April 9, 2013

Rating: Not Rated

Directed by Boris Petroff/Richard Hilliard

Review by Craig Sorensen

Vinegar Syndrome continues their double feature ‘Drive-In Collection’ with a couple of low budget Psycho rip-offs in Anatomy of a Psycho and The Lonely Sex.  And while both films are interesting in their own right, anyone coming into this thing expecting anything like that Hitchcock classic will probably be disappointed.

In Anatomy of a Psycho, we’re introduced to our titular psychopath right off the bat.  Chet (Darrell Howe) is a little too obsessed with his older brother, who is on death row.  In the opening scene, Chet gets into a fight with some street kids and has his face slashed open, leaving him with scar makeup across his face for the rest of the running time.  After this, Chet sets out on a diabolical plan of revenge against all the people who wronged his obviously (in his eyes at least) innocent brother.  His plans eventually culminate in framing the son of the main witness in his brother’s trial of murder.

Anatomy of a Psycho isn’t so much a rumination on mental illness as much as a typical ‘50s/‘60s juvenile delinquent film.  That doesn’t mean that the film is bad, it’s just not what it tries to pass itself off as.  It’s obviously named to ride on the coattails of the aforementioned Hitchcock film.  Still, for what it is, it’s a fun time waster with 30 year olds trying to pass as teenagers, lots of fistfights and bug eyed overacting and some striking bits of violence to spice things up.  Things do kind of slow down in the last act as the film briefly turns into a courtroom drama (I guess justifying the play on the Anatomy of a Murder title as well), but that doesn’t last too long before we get a ridiculous, hand-wringing finale.

Our second feature, The Lonely Sex, is a strange one.  The film follows an obviously looney tunes young man who kidnaps a young woman and holds her hostage.  That’s about it really.  There’s some side stories (and I use that tern loosely) about a peeping tom psychotherapist and the young woman’s friends trying to find her.  The film is kind of light on plot.  Don’t let that stop you though, the film is heavy on atmosphere.  It plays like an art film, with lengthy, silent, brooding passages adding an unmistakable sense of dread without much actually happening.  And I know that I said that this was a double feature of Psycho rip-offs up above but this film actually predates that film by about a year.  So I don’t think that I could really write this off as a simple cash in.  And this film is fucking cheap.  Everything about it is cheap, right down to the film stock.  And it adds to the sleazy, gritty atmosphere.  While I thought that Anatomy of a Psycho was silly but fun, I actually think that The Lonely Sex is a serious film and deserves some attention.

Anatomy of a Psycho has been readily available for quite a while given the film’s public domain status.  Most of those releases seem to be using the same shitty old VHS transfer.  So this release should blow all others out of the water.  The black & white photography looks gorgeous.  The transfer is open matte but you should be able to zoom in to reframe it to how it would have been shown theatrically.  But that’s probably a matter of preference.  It’s not like it’s full of boom mikes or anything.  The Lonely Sex also sports a new transfer but looks a bit rougher than Anatomy.  That’s probably due to it being a much cheaper film.  The soundtracks for both films sound good, nothing special but at the same time, nothing terrible.  Again, The Lonely Sex is in rougher shape with some hiss and pops but it’s nothing that deters the viewing experience.  Neither film has any special features.

Anatomy of a Psycho [Rating: 3 stars]

The Lonely Sex [Rating: 4 stars]