Out of the Body (1988)

When David Gaze (Mark Hembrow) falls asleep his spirit leaves his body to go on astral jaunts around town during which he witnesses a series of murders.Australian B-movie/exploitation director Brian Trenchard-Smith might not be a true cinematic auteur, but I've never been disappointed by his work as far as pure entertainment goes. Out of the Body is admittedly a very silly effort, and one that careens wildly out of control in its final act, but it certainly isn't boring, and as far as I am concerned that is more than half the battle won.With numerous supernatural murders, a sex scene that turns into a nightmare, the brutal slaying of an innocent pet cat, a possessed car, and an outrageously over-the-top performance from its star, quite how anyone can feel short-changed by this film is completely beyond my comprehension. Trenchard's direction isn't without style either, the out of body sequences making great use of strong coloured lighting and smooth POV camera-work.In fact, the film is worth a watch just to witness Gaze waking from one of his nightmarish astral journeys to find himself throttling the cat—it's absolutely hilarious!

An invisible force is killing prominent women in Sydney, leaving them sans their eyes. David is a twitchy musician who has visions of the victims whenever he's asleep, usually right before they're attacked. Wondering why he's seeing this, David attempts to warn several women of the danger as well as find out who or what is behind the killings.From cult director Brian Trenchard-Smith, this film is a complete and utter blast. The story isn't always the most coherent, but the film is fun from beginning to end. The lead is quite the dope too, never missing an opportunity to make himself look like the #1 suspect. He even gets involved in some bedtime cat fu. Anyway, the first kill scene is pretty out there, and I liked the use of lighting at the TV reporter's house... reminiscent of Argento's Inferno.I wouldn't say this is a good film, but as far as entertainment goes, it delivers in spades.

As a horror freak you watch some brilliant movies but on the other hand a whole load of unbelievable terrible films where every good human reasons just goes down the toilet.[Maybe some spoilers in here] Out of the Body is such a failure of mankind. David Gaze dreams of woman which are soon going to be murdered and mutilated. But, of course, he wants to save them (for what reason ever). Nobody believes him, neither the victims nor the police. Only his girlfriend Neva knows: He goes during his dreams on 'astral travels', yes, the best explanation! He contacts a psychiatrist (watch this colorful but senseless wheel turning around as he falls in trance!) but can she save him? Or is she the next victim on the murderers list?Mark Hembrow's (as David Gaze) freaked out performance because of the killings is ridiculous and really bad. A lot scenes doesn't make sense at all, e.g. a women at the evening alone at home hears at the outside a strange noise. What is she doing? Instead of closing the wide open door to the veranda she goes and gets a gun! And as the lights start to flicker inside she just steps out on the veranda...Poor, lame, boring, etc... Don't watch it - I read a newspaper during this movie.

This film is easily some of BMX Bandits star John Ley's best work. His part as the detective trying to catch the astral travelling killer is played with the skill of an acting genius. The plot is thin, to say the least, but you can't go past a low quality Australian movie like this. The slender plot is sure to provide a few laughs (it's not supposed to be a comedy!), as are those ridiculous black eyes...