Looker (1981)

Released to theaters in 1981, it took until 2006 to see "Looker" released on DVD. I saw the movie when it was originally released, but I must have slept through most of it because the only thing I remembered was the "looker gun".

Looker, starring Albert Finney (of too many movies to name), Susan Dey (Partridge Family, L.A. Law, others), James Coburn (way too many movies) and more, this is the story of an evil pre-modern computer research company. A plastic surgeon becomes suspicious when his clients start dying weeks after he fixes their features to exacting specifications. The research company, using an advanced optical gun, hypnotizes the victims and causes them to have accidents that look like suicides. Once they discover the plastic surgeon (Finney) is on to them, they try to take him out of the picture. It all backfires and the hero gets the girl in another classic story from Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Sphere, Coma, Westworld, The Andromeda Strain, others). I couldn't find a trailer, but I did find other clips. Here's a clipped scene followed by a deleted scene:

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One Comment

  1. Rachel Ford says:

    Hypnosis in the movies. This is exactly the type of thing that I'm talking about. While the hypnosis in this movie wasn't performed in a typical way. It still promotes the myth that you can be hypnotized to do very bad things – even commit suicide.

    Love your blog, by the way. I've actually headed out to my DVD store to seek out some of the films that you talk about. It's filled many a Sunday afternoon.

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