Film 24/52: X (1963)


When it came to the letter x, under consideration were the Hammer film X The Unknown, the 80s sleazy sci-fi Xtro, Ti West's recent horror film, and this one. Well, the presence of Don Rickles, and its reputation as a Roger Corman classic led us to selecting X (aka X - The Man With X-Ray Eyes, though that more recognizable title doesn't actually appear onscreen). 

Ray Milland plays a scientist interested in pushing man's ability to see beyond a limited 10% of the light spectrum. When his funded research kills a hapless monkey, he decides it's time to try his serum on himself. Sure enough, he soon sees the world in psychedelic colors, and then through specific objects.

My favorite bits were those with Don Rickles, a carnival barker to Milland's Mentallo (undercover after accidentally bumping a doctor pal out a window — oops!). And it doesn't hurt that Corman regular Dick Miller shows up in one of the scenes.

I hadn't realized going in that the film was written by Ray Russell, writer and long-time fiction editor for Playboy, who published both Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont in the zine; Beaumont being the author of the magazine's first published fiction). Russell would also write my favorite William Castle film, Mr. Sardonicus, based on his story "Sardonicus." While it contains sufficient trappings of a fun chiller, it's more of a message movie than the average Corman film (but unlike Corman's major message movie — The Intruder, based on the Charles Beaumont novel of the same name — this one actually made money). 

While I enjoyed the film, it did suffer by my coming at it with such high expectations based on its reputation. And though I liked the concept of the ending, the execution left a bit to be desired. Though had I seen it in the middle of the night on Creature Features  as a kid, I'm sure I would have been appropriately traumatized. Still, nice to have checked this one off the list as part of this series!


 

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