SOMETHING WEIRD (1967) Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
Something Weird DVD
THE FILM
Witchcraft, ESP, levitation, karate chops, LSD, killer bed sheets...Ah, it must be Something Weird! Herschell Gordon Lewis directs this magnum opus, which also happens to be one of my favorite b-movies of all time. A lot goes on, so pay attention:
A killer is on the loose. Two guys are practicing kung fu in a dojo. Cut to one of them making out with a girl. Cronin Mitchell is a construction engineer. One fine day on the job, a live wire horribly disfigures his face while simultaneously bestowing him with psychic powers! It’s revealed that no amount of plastic surgery can repair his face. Mitchell decides to open a palm reading shop. A homely witch visits him at the shop and offers to return his face to normal if he will promise to be her lover. She does and so does he. The witch appears to be a voluptuous woman to everyone but Mitchell. Somehow, the government gets wind of Mitchell’s psychic prowess. Remember that killer? Well, he’s still at it, and Mitchell is called in to solve the case. But first, he’s got to prove himself to stubborn old Dr. Gordon, who prescribes Mitchell LSD in order to study its effects on a person with psychic abilities...and that’s only the first half!
Something Weird is outta this world. The film contains none of H.G. Lewis’ s usual exploitative elements (i.e. gore and nudity) and gets by on sheer bizarre happenings alone. I think that’s why I like it so much. The acting is atrocious, some scenes are pretty humorous, and there’s a lot of talk, but it all adds up and works perfectly. This one also seems to have higher production values than most Lewis films. Plus, where else are you going to see a grown man duke it out with his own killer bed sheets? I’ll tell you -- NOWHERE!
Foot note: Lewis was hired to rework Something Weird as the sex-ploitive The Psychic a year later because the guy that wrote the original script wasn’t happy.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
The film is presented in a nice non-anamorphic widescreen transfer with mono sound. Sounds and looks great. It’s nice to have an H.G. Lewis film in widescreen and I’m glad it’s this one.
EXTRAS
Something Weird took their namesake from this film and I’m glad we get to find out why. The commentary track included on this disc features SW’s Mike Vraney and Jim Maslon, H.G. Lewis, and Lewis’ partner, Dave Friedman. Although Herschell skips out after about 20 minutes of talk regarding the film, the remaining three voices discuss the beginnings of Something Weird video and how it came to be. It’s a pretty fascinating track. I would have liked to hear more about the actual film, but this commentary definitely delivers.
Also included is an H.G. Lewis gallery of exploitation art (repeated from other discs) and three crazy shorts that deal with psychedelic witches, rubber faced monsters, and LSD freakouts. Fantastic.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Something Weird usually gets a bad rap. I say that’s wrong. The film completely mesmerizes me and I can’t help it. Must be Cronin Mitchell’s powers at work...
— Joseph A. Ziemba, 01.26.04 | 
Really nice set
Witch face
It's life or death
True forms
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