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The Astral Factor (1978)

User reviews

The Astral Factor

6 reviews
3/10

Invisible Narrative

Incarcerated killer learns to transcend existential boundaries and temporarily abscond from his gaol cell, preying on a vast array of glamorous former Hollywood starlets. Detective Foxworth is baffled by the apparent lack of physical evidence, and begins to speculate on a supernatural cause. Aside from an original premise and a great cast of former 60's sexpots (Powers, Lyon, Hill, Sommer and Parrish), with names like 'Bambi' and 'Candy', there's not much right with this tepid mystery.

Mother fixated killer Ashmore does little other than look constipated, perspire and affect intense mind grips, while Foxworth's perplexed expression suggests he's struggling with the concept of the killer's meta-physical abilities. As an audience, it was also a struggle to remain engaged, as the movie laboured from one murder to the next seemingly without selection or purpose. Powers is entirely irrelevant to the plot, a vexatious waste of talent simply for the status her name brings to the dull production. Whatever value the original idea had, it quickly evaporates, the all too brief cameos being the only partially redeeming qualities.

Wasting an attractive cast, "Invisible Strangler" has invisible special effects, paltry production values and incoherent dialogue to match its laborious narrative approach. Female viewers will be less concerned with the bevy of babes on show, and more appalled by the blatant misogyny of the storyline. A disappointing revision of "The Invisible Man" borrows heavily from "Psychic Killer" released a year earlier in 1975, and should have been so much more entertaining.
  • Chase_Witherspoon
  • Jan 30, 2010
  • Permalink
3/10

The dialogue requires the viewer to seek chemical dependency

The Astral Factor contains dialogue that limps its way through the plot. The cast is full of actors I've enjoyed watching on screen for years but none of them managed to get past the wooden interaction of the characters. The dialogue is just that bad. This movie is so stilted in places that it competes with my all time really bad but fun favorite, "The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes."

This one in my opinion is a little bit to bad for casual weeknight watching. Elke Sommers character, however, has the correct idea by only appearing on screen with a drink in her hand. This is good advice for anyone interested in watching this gem on a Saturday night. Heck, with enough scotch and soda and the near nude scenes of Stephanie Powers to help it out; you might like it.
  • seattle-twistyroad
  • Oct 26, 2005
  • Permalink
3/10

The quality was as bad as the quantity!

I don't understand how you can take some fairly decent actors and make a film that a film student would be ashamed of doing. It had lines through it, as perhaps it was taken from someone's shelf, turned into a DVD with no clean up, and sold. Luckily my copy was with a 6 disc box of "Blood Chillers". Apparently they forgot to preview it before they added it to the collection. Who knows? Perhaps someone's relative was in it!! They story line itself was promising, but Robert Foxworth spent the entire movie overacting, Mark Slade was typecast as the "college boy" with no police skills AND who chewed gum even while eating his hot dog. What kind of Lieutenant on the police force has a hot dog?

That sums up this film...Foxworth being the severely overacted hot dog.
  • charlenelv
  • Feb 17, 2007
  • Permalink
3/10

CRAZY;INCOHERENT

Starts out well enough and then goes into complete foolishness. Sue Lyon's drowning scene is the only interesting part. We get introduced to characters only for them to die, unknowingly by an insane murderer who practised how to be invisible in his jail cell, complete with "how to" books!! This is really enough to avoid this film!
  • suelyon
  • Mar 5, 1999
  • Permalink
3/10

Bad

Low rent almost TV movie starring Robert Foxworth, Elke Summer, Stephanie Powers and others from TV about a man who can kill people by astrally projecting himself. He escapes from prison and the continues his evil ways. Foxworth is the cop on his trail.

Its bad 1970's low budget film making where everyone no doubt did it for the pay check.(Hey back in the 70's there were lots of tax lop holes that got some ghastly films like this made. The regrettable thing is that films were then set loose on the unsuspecting public.) Not worth your time. For insomniacs only-even if it is in the 99 cent bin-or even if you get it for free.
  • dbborroughs
  • Aug 12, 2008
  • Permalink
3/10

If X-Files and Miami Vice went back in time and did a crossover on Acid

...the result would be The Astral Factor. The word "Factor" in the title of any vaguely sci-fi film should tell you all you need to know about the quality (or lack thereof) you are about to be subjected to. This plot-heavy film maintains the feeling of a 1970s TV detective show centered around a constantly distracted (and highly over-acted) hero police lieutenant (Robert Foxworth) in pursuit of an escaped strangler (Roger Sands) who is apparently using astral projection, among various other paranormal methods to kill people who remind him of his mother (who he murdered long ago).

The victims are all B-list glamour girls and aging starlets (Elke Sommer provides a typically campy performance and is one of the film's few bright spots), giving the film a predictable luridity characteristic of the decade in which it was made.

The film is riddled with irritating cliches, huge ridiculous 1970s detective cars, pretty women who are trying to portray being strangled by an unseen force, mediocre special effects, and completely unnecessary subplots (the lieutenant's absurd but cute romance with his codependent alcoholic girlfriend).

Although it doesn't break through the fourth wall at any time, it is impossible to imagine that the film-makers took it very seriously. You shouldn't either.
  • mstomaso
  • Mar 2, 2018
  • Permalink

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