Ecstasy with no consequences.
Boris Karloff and Catherine Lacey are Professor and Mrs. Monserrat. Professor Monserrat is a medical hypnotist and has made an invention that can connect his mind with his test subject. With this connection he can control his subject and make him do whatever he wants. In turn he can experience whatever sensations the subject is having. He finds Mike Roscoe (Ian Ogilvy), a bored young man in his prime, and convinces him to try the experiment. After the procedure Mike leaves and under hypnotic suggestion doesn’t remember anything about his visit to the Monserrats.
Marcus and Estelle have both gone through the procedure with Mike. They decide to test their experiment over long distance. Sitting at their kitchen table Marcus and Estelle Monserrat can feel whatever Mike is feeling. And they can make him do whatever they want. They make him go swimming in a pool. They can feel everything Mike feels. They make him speed on a motorcycle. They feel the excitement and thrill of the ride. A feeling of being young again.
Estelle begins to enjoy not only the sensations she is experiencing but also the power she has over another person. She wants to make him do more daring things. Marcus is against it. This was not the purpose of his invention. He wants to publish is findings. Estelle gets more and more bold. Marcus tries to control the situation but Estelle is more powerful than he is. She can block out Marcus and take over Mike. Mike on the other hand is getting confused. He is doing things he normally would not do. He’s getting frightened.
Estelle has Mike steal a fur jacket. She is heady with power. Estelle realizes that she can do whatever she wants and there are no consequences. She can even kill someone. And there is nothing and no one to stop her.
"The Sorcerers" was released in 1967 and was directed by Michael Reeves. I found this to be one creepy movie. Mind control is creepy. You never know what a person is capable of until you strip away all sense of morality and responsibility. There is nothing left but power. Estelle’s power over Mike. All her demons come out.
We are not talking about hypnosis here. We are talking about mind control. They are two different things. In hypnosis you are responding to questions or suggestions in an artificially induced condition. In mind control you do things whether you want to or not. A manipulation of a person. It’s the difference between clucking like a chicken and Manchurian candidate. In Estelle her power brings her insanity. Hers and Mike’s. And worse.
In the scene with the exploding car, the fire apparently got so out of control that the real police and fire brigade were on their way. The film crew had to get the shot and leave in a hurry, as they had not obtained any permission from anyone to shoot the scene.