Sam Panico Is there such a thing as a perfect movie? Maybe. Maybe not. But if you ask me, this combination of the occult and biker culture ranks really close.Tom Latham (Nicky Henson, Witchfinder General) leads The Living Dead, a motorcycle gang that causes trouble and occasionally dabbles in black magic. The worm filled apple didn't fall far from the tree - Tom's mother, deceased father and butler Shadwell (George Sanders, All About Eve and Rebecca) follow the Left Hand Path. With their help, he learns how to die and come back from the dead - roaring from his freshly buried earth on his motorcycle (later Lemmy would do this in Motörhead's "Killed by Death" video).Soon, one after another of the gang commit suicide and return from the dead. Soon, the gang is killing cops and menacing babies. And their names! Gash, Hatchet, Chopped Meat, Hinkey and Bertram! This movie is about pure mayhem! I wonder, was all of England in the grip of Satan in the early 1980's?Director Don Sharp keeps things stylish and moving. This isn't his first go-round with frogs in cemeteries, pacts with the devil, mysterious suicides and zombies. Check out his other film, Witchcraft. He was also behind Dark Places, Hammer's Rasputin: The Mad Monk and the final movie in The Fly series, Curse of the Fly. This is his best work, though.

HumanoidOfFlesh A gang of young hippie motorcyclists calls themselves The Living Dead.They terrorize various drivers on the roadways and citizens of British small town.The secret of eternal life is fairly simple:you must kill yourself without hesitation.So our bullying motorcyclists commit suicide one by one and they return literally as the living dead...Extremely cheesy and superbly funny horror/bikersploitation flick made by Don Sharp.There is plenty of violence but no blood and a Black Sabbath-esque proto-doom soundtrack is nicely groovy.The scene of Tom's burial in the ground of the Seven Witches has to be seen to be believed.The stunts are great and the plot is gleefully weird and silly.7 undead bikers out of 10.

roofspace I saw this film back in the seventies and recommended it to my brother, he has never forgiven me. Even now when we talk about it (it is a truly unforgettable film for all the wrong reasons) we preface all our sentences with "Ribbit" in homage to the frog, all will become clear when you watch this train wreck of a movie. You become like a deer caught in the headlights of a car - mesmerized unable to turn away - although you know you are going to be wasting an hour and a half of your life. You think it cannot get any worse but it does over and over again. Scenes that are supposed to have you cringing behind the sofa in fear have the complete opposite effect and you end up rolling on the floor doubled up in laughter. The last time it was shown on UK terrestrial television the reviewer came to his senses and listed it not as a horror but a comedy which speaks volumes. It is a worthy winner of the title of "It's so bad it is really good" Having said all that I treasure my copy of the film.Come back George Saunders/Beryl Reid all is forgiven.

merklekranz It is difficult to classify "Psychomania". It is not a rebellious, in your face, "Easy Rider" type biker film, that glorifies drug use. There are no rival gangs and no gang rapes. In fact "Psychomania" is so bizarre, there are no other films you can compare it to. Basically the premise is if you kill yourself and believe you will come back from the dead, you will. This is not a full blown black comedy, although the nice assortment of suicides are very creative and certainly qualify as dark humor. After an unsuccessful attempt to take her life, one biker girl is questioned by the already deceased leader "What happened, you're not dead?". Recommended for admirers of strange cinema. - MERK