X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes

After making The Premature Burial, director Roger Corman reunited with Ray Milland for this sci-fi thriller by way of a Greek tragedy. Milland is Dr. James Xavier, a researcher experimenting with a formula that will allow the human eye to see beyond the wavelength of visible light. “Only the gods see everything,” cautions a fellow scientist. “I am closing in on the gods,” Xavier responds with the hubris that is doomed to destroy his overreaching ambition once the gift becomes a curse. Charles Beaumont (one of Rod Serling's best guest writers on The Twilight Zone) co-scripted this twist on the tale of a scientist who risks everything to explore the unknown but is finally driven mad by—literally—seeing too much. The possibilities that are suggested in the hints of addiction and bouts of megalomania unfortunately remain unexplored here, and Corman's cut-rate special effects are often more hokey than haunting (the poetically described “city dissolved in an acid of light” is just fuzzy photography using a series of color filters). But Corman does bring a wicked edge to the B-movie machinations. Don Rickles offers a venal turn as a scheming carnival barker turned blackmailing con man and Diana Van der Vlis is a sympathetic scientist who tries to rescue Xavier from his spiral into tortured madness. Extras include separate audio commentaries by Corman and film historian Tim Lucas, and an interview with director Joe Dante. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)