MARIO GAUCI Interesting but hardly original drama with sci-fi leanings – though not quite the "horror"/"chiller" described by the ads! – involving the brain-washing of violence-prone subjects by the system (which must have seemed particularly trenchant at the time of the Vietnam war).At this juncture, however, the movie feels quite dated – if reasonably intelligent and compelling nonetheless. Being also relentlessly talky (not surprising, given its stage origins) and low-key in nature, there's a conspicuous lack of cinematic inventiveness – which doesn't really allow for a sensible comparison with Stanley Kubrick's stylized treatment of the same theme in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)! Still, it has some undeniably powerful moments – and the small cast is impressive: Christopher Walken (relatively inexperienced for this type of demanding role, but quite good in his Method approach to it); Joss Ackland (as the requisite mad scientist); Ralph Meeker (as the equally inevitable, and callous, military overseer); and Ronny Cox (as a fellow inmate of Walken's who, after much soul-searching, willingly submits to the dehumanizing experiment).Incidentally, the play was filmed under its original title – THE HAPPINESS CAGE – but this got changed (in case it was mistaken for an ode to hippiedom) first to the sci-fi friendly and, in retrospect, more appropriate THE MIND SNATCHERS and eventually to the horror-oriented (and, consequently, wholly misleading) THE DEMON WITHIN!

Matthew Janovic "Mindsnatchers" is a really scary-film. Why? Because it is a fictional story of a scenario that was and is real. Beginning in the 1950s, with the CIA's successful MKULTRA program of hypno-assassins, we can assume that is has continued into-the-present. Why do it? Our political, economic and military leadership seemed to feel the answer was "why not?" America was unchallenged in power after WWII (the only man standing), an almost supreme force in the immediate aftermath of war. The situation is similar today, but with a few key-differences, mainly that we are a declining-power.With our present "rendition" of suspected-terrorists in secret, illegal-prisons throughout the world, one has to wonder if any of these individuals are being brainwashed too. One also has to wonder if so-called "terrorism" has any direct-connection to mind-control programs that have backfired. The legendary Muslim heretic, Hassaan I Sabah, utilized drugs and a form of hypnosis in creating the world's first-known assassins ("Hashishins" being the root-word), and some historians note there were accounts that his reach extended as far as Paris. You could say he was the Osama Bin Laden of his time. But we do assassination too, to our shame. We are virtually alone in this practice, internationally.From 1957-1961, the CIA conducted mind-control experiments at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal, with the aid of the Canadian government (surely, noticed by David Cronenberg). We know all of this from the aftermath of Watergate, which caused the creation of the Church Committee (1975-1978). The Church committee investigated illegal-activities of the American intelligence community, which released a flood of formerly classified-documents. MKULTRA is indisputable, it happened, and bits of the story leaked-out before the Church committee (and the NSA, CIA & our press) could bury them. It should be noted that there was also intense-cooperation with the Pentagon, and this is where the story of Mindsnatchers takes-place.It's a really engaging-film, and you really care about the characters, even when they do horrible things. Of course, this is Christopher Walken's film, he is both hilarious and believable as a non-conformist G.I. with a bad-temper. The comparison between the film and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", and "A Clockwork Orange" are apt, but the film stands-on-its-own as being very original and disturbing. It is not a copy of either movie, as "Cuckoo's Nest" came-out in 1975, and "A Clockwork Orange" and Mindsnatchers were definitely in-production simultaneously.Also chewing-scenes in this film is a younger Ronny Cox (Robocop), who is excellent as a crazy redneck inmate of the secret facility in Germany. An interesting-twist is the film's connection with other experiments in free-will and obedience-to-authority (the Milgram experiment), and the applications of electroshock for-compliance.Yes, we have brain-implants, even ones that induce-pleasure in the test-subjects. To say these scenes are depraved and disturbing is an understatement, especially knowing that they happened. On top of this is the character of the controller/Doctor: he justifies his experiments as "voluntary", and "for the greater-good", so this is also a tale of medical and scientific-ethics. Interestingly, the Doctor also has a "controller" in the character of "the Major"--it appears the Major has lied-to the Doctor about how "voluntary" the program really is. So, this is also a tale of medical and scientific-ethics.All-in-all, a very good film that is oddly-entertaining, while being absolutely unsettling. It is strangely informative, too. "Mindsnatchers" delivers, and-then-some. Image entertainment has a very-good DVD available, and it has some great extras too. The transfer is not perfect, but appears to be from the best available-sources, just not the original-negative. This was an extremely-cheap film, but it rises-above this fact by some really assured directing, acting, and writing. The score is a little cheesy at-times, but it has some excellent electronic-cues that are effective for the time. You could do-worse, like watching the Final Destination franchise, or Snakes on a Plane. Depraved.

Thorsten_B At first sight a rather obscure entry in Christopher Walkens filmography, this 1972 picture turns out to be something like a hidden gem. It deals with a topic familiar from many films, but here it is treated with great seriousness. Christopher Walken plays a young American soldier stationed in Germany. He's basically a cynical, non-conformist and, natural combination, intelligent loner, and usually the army doesn't like people like that. So he is brought in a mental hospital disguised under the outer looks of a German castle for "cure" of his "mental problems". Problem is, the treatment of the patients (there are no more than three of them) is very "special"... The low budget forced the film into realism. It looks as it would if real life prevented such a horrific scenery. In the mid of this confrontation between individuality and it's destruction, the actor do their jobs very well (Ronny Cox has his first feature film role here - probably the one that brought him into "Deliverance"). A surprisingly good, yet provocative tale - on the other side about morality, on the other a praise of non-conformism.

Sean84 I saw this movie under the "Demon Within" title. I believe the movie was based on a play and at times, it shows. The movie is slow in some parts, but overall is good. The character of Ronny Cox is often annoying. However, he does a good job in portraying the pity of a man losing his mind. Walken gives an non-typical performance of a comparatively straight-laced man who never really loses his mind but instead has it robbed from him. It is not really worth a long search. But if you do come across it, check it out.