Edgar Hamilton (Peter Mark Richman) is a civilian research scientist working for the government on a project called Deep Probe. He is looking for life in outer space. Late one night, while sending a recording of himself talking, Edgar receives a response. He tapes what is happening. Excited about his findings he tells his girlfriend Lt. Sheila Foster (Gretchen Corbett) that he made contact with an alien intelligence. Sheila is an Air Force officer. Later that night a glowing fireball shows up at Edgar’s house and begins toying with him. The next day Edgar begins documenting everything that happened the night before. Sheila warns him that others may not believe what he says without proof.
Edgar finds out that the previous project director, Dr. Hugh Hayes (Dan Sturkie), came to the same conclusions but the government discredited him and that what he found was labeled classified and Edgar is not privy to Hayes’ findings. He knows that Sheila is authorized to get Hayes’ file. He talks her into getting it for him. While she is getting the file Edgar tells his friend and associate, Derrick (Tom Troupe) about the tape. When they play the tape the sounds that Edgar recorded are missing. When Sheila leaves the secure facility with the file an alarm goes off. The military is now aware that some kind of file was taken and who has it.
Edgar tries to contact Hayes by phone but, having been discredited, Hayes refuses to talk. Edgar decides he needs to see Hayes face to face to find out what he knows. Edgar and Sheila end up on a cross country race with not only federal agents looking for them but alien life forms pursuing them as well.
“PSI Factor” was released in 1980 and was directed by Bryan Trizers. It is a science fiction thriller. As with most of Robert Emenegger’s films his collaborators are Allan Sandler and Anne Spielberg. Anne is, of course, famous for being Steven Spielberg’s sister.
The film itself was slightly above average. Some of the actors actually know how to act. The plot was your average paranoid who actually does have someone out to get him and it may even be his girlfriend. The aliens are balls of fire which is standard low budget fare. The airplane pilot comic relief is the usual not funny but mostly annoying.
The only synopsis I could find, actually the only anything I could find on the film, says that the aliens come from another dimension. I couldn’t find any reference in the movie itself that stated that so take that with a grain of salt. Where they came from is not really dwelt on, just that they are here and have been for a while. It’s also not clear in the film why the government is keeping it hush hush. In addition, the film’s ending seemed slightly ambiguous to me and it left me slightly unsatisfied.