Best movie of this year hands down!

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Best movie ever!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

THE ASTRAL FACTOR starts off w/ prison inmate, Roger Sands practicing his paranormal abilities in his cell. After using telekinesis to torment a fellow prisoner, Sands makes himself invisible. Then, naturally, he escapes, setting off on a rampage of terror! Sands is an angry guy, due to some past mother issues. Soon enough, he's taking out his frustrations on unsuspecting females. Enter police Lt. Charles Barrett (Robert Foxworth- ANTS!, DAMIEN: OMEN 2, PROPHECY), who doesn't want to be bothered, mostly because he's married to Candy (Stefanie Powers- DIE! DIE! MY DARLING!). He also has no interest in working w/ his idiot partner, Holt (Mark Slade). Man, is this guy a jackass! As Barrett investigates, he gets to visit Chris Hartman (Elke Sommer- LISA AND THE DEVIL) by her pool. Caramba! Wasn't there some invisible guy running around? Oh yes, let the absurdity begin! Of course, the biggest stars of this film are the fashions and big hairstyles, including plaid bell-bottoms, leisure suits, poodle haircuts, and monster sideburns / mustaches! It was 1978 after all. PROS: #1- An intriguing idea, that may have influenced THE X-FILES. #2- Sands is menacing in an invisible sort of way. CONS: #1- Not enough Stefanie Powers or Elke Sommer! #2- Too much of that "thud-thud" heartbeat sound whenever invisi-Sands is around. Recommended for lovers of psychic phenomena and members of the Robert Foxworth fan club...

Roger Sands, a mentally disturbed murderer jailed in an asylum for the murder of his overbearing mother, has developed the psychic ability to become invisible. Walking out of his jail cell, he begins strangling those who helped convict him. Police officers attempt to stop him but find themselves outclassed by his powers.The Astral Factor was originally made in 1976 but sat on a shelf for years before being released in 1984. There are currently two different versions of the film – the original & the re-edited version known as Invisible Strangler, which has a completely reshot beginning & different characters & effects. Both are available on DVD or on YouTube.But regardless of which version you watch, The Astral Factor is a very poor film. The story is interesting enough but the execution of it is mind-numbingly dull. The pace is slow & the very few action scenes featured are boring as heck. The visual effects are cheaply done & there are boom mikes present in many shots.

****SPOILERS****Horror flick about this deranged lunatic Roger "The Dodger" Sands, Frank Ashmore, who by speed reading all the books and articles from the prison library about astral projection uses that knowledge to escape from the California State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. That in to him getting even with all those witnesses at his murder trial that had him sentenced and sent there for life. As we soon find out it was Sands mother Chrlotta, Jo Ann Meredith, who warped his mind in her keeping him locked up in the attic away from humanity until he was an adult. Breaking out and finding out all the momentous events that he missed in life, like the Moon Landing and New Yorks Mets winning the 1969 World Series, Sands in a blind rage, in what his not so stable mother did to him strangled her to death. Now free and at the same time, whenever he wants to be , invisible Sands plans to murder those who put him behind bars as well as anyone who stands in his way in preventing him from doing it!To make the movie more sexy & attractive all those who testified against Sands were beautiful blond actresses like his dead mom that made killing them , in like killing his hated mom over and over again, all the more gratifying for him. It's up to LA police detective Lt. Charles Barrett played by Robert Foxman, without his usual mustache,to track this psycho down but as he's soon to find out you've got to be able to see him in order shoot or arrest him. Something that Sands in him becoming visible isn't that likely to do!***SPOILERS*** With all the witness but the gorgeous blond Chris Hartman, Elke Sommers, done away with it's up to Lt. Barrett and his squad of LA policemen to keep her alive. Which anything but easy in Chris' drinking, in order to forget the danger she's in, that makes their job that much harder! Not only can Sands make himself invisible he seems to be an expert scuba diver as well as if he, in making himself invisible,really needs to be. That's when he ends up boarding movie mogul Mario's, Cesare Danova, yacht murdering both him and his girlfriend Bambi Greer, Marianna Hill, who was one of those witnesses on his trial that helped convict him. With what seemed like his just about job done and no more mountains to climb or people to murder with the exception of the drunken Chris Hartman. Sands come out into the open to finish Chris off only to step into a trap set for him by Lt. Barrett and the LAPD that sends him back to the astral world for good.

A convicted strangler, studying the paranormal in his jail cell, learns to make himself invisible. As an invisible man, he escapes from prison to stalk and strangle the five women who testified against him at his trial.This film is interesting in that it seems to be like "The Invisible Man" or "Hollow Man", as it follows a criminal who can become transparent. But the plot is quite different -- he can turn solid or clear through the power of his mind, and is actually already in prison when the film begins. This does not involve any sort of scientific experiment, but rather more of a spiritual ("astral") approach.Although this is a low-budget crime mystery thriller, it is certainly entertaining and better than I would have expected. I actually found it pretty clever, and really enjoyed the unique angle. Does the killer leave fingerprints? How does he turn his clothes invisible? Although I saw the movie on Netflix, it is readily available for anyone who wants to track it down. The DVD has been released into cheap box sets and I think you might even be able to watch it for free online. Whether or not it deserves a new DVD or BD release with features is debatable, and if it is in the public domain, it would probably be hard to convince anyone to do that.Bonus: Genre fans might be happy to see Elke Sommer ("Lisa and the Devil") and Marianna Hill ("The Baby").