X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)

Director: Roger Corman
Starring: Ray Milland, Diana Van der Vlis, Harold Stone, John Hoyt, Don Rickles

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When I read Corman's autobiography, I was led to believe that X would be much more avant garde that it, in fact, is. The plot's at once standard, yet intriguing. A scientist concocts a potion. He tries it on a monkey, and it works...until the monkey dies. He decides to try it on himself against the warnings of his peers: "That was just a monkey. I'm a human being!" (words that would normally lead to more animal testing one would think). He tries the potion on himself and everything seems okay until things start to go...wrong.

If you can get past the stupid ass shit this Man of Science does, the particularities of the potion are pretty interesting. The potion allows the user to have x-ray vision, as the title implies. But as the doctor uses the potion more and more, he begins to see deeper and deeper into the world and eventually the universe. Unfortunately the doctor's an imbecile, so it's hard to sympathize with his dumb ass. Interesting premise but a poor execution.

July 9
apartment TV, early morning

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