Film Review: Out of the Body (1989)

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SYNOPSIS:

Some gravity-defying being is killing women in Sydney, Australia, and removing their eyes. The only hope of catching the fiend lies in a hapless man with a psychic link to the killer, who is soon suspected of the crimes.

REVIEW:

Director – Brian Trenchard-Smith
Starring – Mark Hembrow, Tessa Humphries, Linda Newton

From the land down under comes Out Of The Body, a by the numbers but nonetheless somewhat entertaining low budget horror movie. Oh, it’s cheesy and the acting a tad overdramatic but there is far worse out there. The pacing stays steady and there are quite a few kills, the blood and gore not too bad. So is this something that you should see? Do you like astral projection, possible ancient Egyptian curses and watching a man slowly go insane? If you answered yes to any of the above then this just might be for you.

Our movie starts out with some nighttime shots of Sydney harbor followed by our hero, David, and his girlfriend making love. Afterwards they fall asleep and David has what will be the first of many premonitions.

A young lady leaves work and heads down to her car in the parking garage. Pretty normal until a mysterious fog appears out of nowhere and a couple of wooden beams crash to the ground. She makes a mad dash for her car, only to be lifted high up into the air as she reaches for her keys. The car alarm goes off and a security guard and his dog come running to find out what is going on.

Nothing much, just the lady hanging some forty feet up, dead with her eyes gouged out. As the security guard desperately tries to open a door to climb up to get to the lady his dog dies from a sudden heart attack. Just who or what is responsible?

The police aren’t quite sure. The one thing they don’t want to hear is David’s pleas that he can see the plight of these poor women and that he knows who the next victim is going to be. Problem is he blacks out before he sees them die so he’s not really sure who or what is responsible. But how in the world does he know this? Suffice it to say it doesn’t take long for him to be a suspect.

Coming to the rescue is David’s girlfriend. She knows better, having spent the last couple of years immersed in ancient Egyptian studies. She explains to David that he must have the ability to do some astral travel, a neat way to be in two different places at the same time. At first David shakes off the notion but soon discovers, with the help of a psychologist, that she may be on to something. And as the body count rises, he may be the only one to stop the murders.

Out Of The Body isn’t all that bad of a movie. You’ve probably seen the plot before as it’s been done a lot over the years but aren’t most horror movies rather similar? So aside from the basic plot, how does the rest of it hold up.

The director, Brian Trenchard-Smith (of Leprechaun 3 and 4), keeps the pacing steady and manages to squeeze in a decent number of deaths. There are no real scares, no make you jump out of your seat scenes but the kills are actually not that bad. Basic but with a decent amount of blood.

The acting can be a bit over the top, especially from our lead, David (played by Mark Hembrow). He screams and yells, emotes and sweats profusely at all the right times, which if nothing else makes for an interesting watch. A couple of amusing scenes has him playing a keyboard at his home, trying to come back to some sense of reality by way of the power of music. The music is synthesized and reminded me a lot of Yanni. Never thought I’d say his name in writing a horror movie review.

In the end I would have to say see this but only if you can catch it for free and you have nothing else to do. It’s a decent horror movie that does have a couple of pretty cool scenes. But for some they won’t be enough to overcome the rest of the movie.

Out of the Body (1989)