Thanks to independent companies like Severin Films, the strangest, most unusual films are alive and well on the DVD format, and this British-made entry is no acceptation to that category. If you missed it during its initial DVD release from Image Entertainment some years ago, we highly recommend you gear up for Severin’s new Special Edition of PSYCHOMANIA, one of the few movies to marry the horror and biker genres, and it’s pleasurably different to say the least!

We are immediately introduced to "The Living Dead," a tough leather-clad bunch of Brit biker troublemakers led by Tom Latham (Nicky Henson, THE CONQUEROR WORM, OLD DRACULA) with a skull and crossbones design on their fancy helmets. Tom's mom (Beryl Reid, DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN) is a comely, frog-worshipping (?) psychic who holds authentic séances in her manor. Her butler, Shadwell (cinema great George Sanders in one of his final bows) is an odd bloke who freaks out when a family tries to offer an antique cross in appreciation for a spiritual session. Much like Telly Savalas in Mario Bava's LISA AND THE DEVIL, Sanders' character might even be Satan, yet this is never actually revealed.

Tom finds the secret of immortality by entering a strange room that claimed his father's life. He learns that through an unfearing suicide, he can return from the dead and live on forever. After a bizarre funeral session that has him buried while mounted on his bike, Tom drives out of the ground and convinces the rest of his gang to commit suicide (in various inventive methods) in order to achieve the same immortal results. Only Tom’s sensible girlfriend Abby (Mary Larkin) manages to dodge this rash of copycat Kamikaze, and she works with the police to try and trap The Living Dead (not an easy task, given their undead superhuman strength).

PSYCHOMANIA is silly in many ways, but it's nonstop, fun nonsense. Henson is quite good as the charming but dangerous Tom, an "Alex" of CLOCKWORK ORANGE type role, and anyone who's seen the sweet and pleasant-seeming Beryl Reid in BEAST IN THE CELLAR can relate to her being cast in another sinister role. George Sanders (who committed suicide a year after this film was made, but hopefully not from the experience) looks imposing, but his depression in later years caused him to sleepwalk through all of his acting during this era, and this is proof of that. There's also a commanding performance by Robert Hardy (Hammer’s DEMONS OF THE MIND) as a police inspector, who's interrupted from a game of cards to deal with a rash of brutal murders.

The film was PG-rated and is bloodless, but it has some great, cheap thrills as the bikers run cars off the road, terrorize shopping centers, and we even get to see sexy model/starlet Ann Michelle (THE VIRGIN WITCH, HOUSE OF WHIPCORD) run down a baby carriage on her bike in the middle of a grocery store. Watching the gang (with names like “Hatchet” and “Chopped Meat”) knock themselves off is also very amusing, as the film tends to lean towards black comedy, courtesy of an oddball screenplay by Julian Zimet and Arnaud d'Usseau (HORROR EXPRESS) and energetic, stunt-loaded direction by Hammer vet Don Sharp (KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK). The psychedelic, wa-wa guitar-driven rock soundtrack by John Cameron is pretty unforgettable (and now available on CD), and even the rather sappy hippie song, "Riding Free" is hard to resist.

Originally released theatrically in the U.S. (in 1974) on a double bill with HORROR EXPRESS (where it was called THE DEATH WHEELERS), and then becoming a late night TV staple, PSYCHOMANIA was first released on DVD a decade ago by Image Entertainment, and then subsequently by several budget companies. Severin Films now offers a new and improved transfer, presented anamorphic for the first time, in a 1.78:1 widescreen presentation. With a disclaimer at the beginning that the negative to the film no longer exists and that the transfer was made from the best elements in existence, it still looks quite good with only the first reel looking a bit flat and soft, but then it explodes into a vision of bold colors and excellent detail, with only some scattered dirt and debris to be found. The mono English sound also sounds perfectly fine.