it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Zotz! (1962) ** (out of 4) Off beat production from William Castle about Professor Jonathan Jones (Tom Poston) who discovers the mysterious powers of an ancient coin. It turns out that if you hold the coin and use your finger to point at something then you can make it blow up, slow down or do various other tricks. Jones plans to do the patriotic thing and turn it over to the government but sure enough things don't go as planned. I've been fairly critical of Castle and some of the films he made during this period of his career and while this movie isn't nearly as bad as some I still couldn't help but scratch my head and wonder who this thing was meant for. I'm going to guess that this thing was meant to be a rip-off of THE ABSENT MINDED PROFESSOR but no matter what it was trying to do in the end it fails. I think the biggest problem is that the screenplay is pretty lame and director Castle clearly has proved that he wasn't the best when it came to comedy. The screenplay pretty much has Poston doing on silly thing after another as soon as he discovers the powers of this coin. We get one scene after another where he either accidentally destroys something with the coin or he tries to prove the coins powers to people and they simply don't see it. Take a look at one scene where the Professor turns loose a lot of mice at a party with plans of "zapping" them but it turns out he left the coin at home. This is a scene that could have worked but it just comes across very empty in terms of laughs and extremely uneven. Another problem happens at the end once Poston has all these people trying to track him down. It's simply not funny. Poston is fairly good in his role as you certainly believe he's absent minded but the screenplay doesn't give him much to work with. Julia Meade, Fred Clark and Jim Backus have supporting roles that are fairly lifeless due to the screenplay. ZOTZ! moves along at a decent pace but when you watch a comedy you expect laughs and this one here just doesn't have enough to make it worth viewing.

ZOTZ! unfortunately proves the producer/director's lack of ability with Comedic storytelling. He was a horror flick master but WiIlliam Castle must have thought anything and everything was funny. Perhaps that's why he always seems to have a grin on his face. I can just imagine him rolling in the aisle at the premiere while everyone else is scratching his head. And poor Tom Poston! I remember him (in various TV appearances) as being a funny comic who had a subtle and dry delivery. But in ZOTZ! there aren't really any jokes. I hate to say it but laugh tracks would actually have helped this film.I won't bother to mention the plot, as the other reviews do that well.I don't know if there was any particular William Castle gimmick associated with ZOTZ! but worth note is the opening moment where Castle yells ZOTZ! at the Columbia Pictures Logo, and the lady herself has an actual line or two. It's probably the only claim to fame this film will ever have, except for being a famous turkey.

This is a movie that failed--mostly because the writing was very poor and because William Castle was not very adept at comedy (this film and 13 FRIGHTENED GIRLS prove that). The idea itself, though weird and silly, could have worked--but the movie failed again and again--mostly due to a dopey script.The film starred Tom Posten as a goofy professor of ancient languages. His niece receives an ancient medallion from her boyfriend who is on a dig. Posten is happy when he notices that he can read this medallion and finds that it's a powerful charm--allowing the user to cause pain by pointing at someone, make them slow down or even kill. When he tries to show this to the US military, they think he's some kind of nut and the only ones who believe are the evil Russians. There's more to it than this, but frankly it all seemed like a kooky and less well made version of THE ABSENTMINDED PROFESSOR.As I said above, the script was really sub-par. Again and again, Posten's character (who was supposed to be a genius) behaved stupidly. When he was kidnapped by the Russians, though he had these great powers he forgot to use them until the end of the film. When he was trying to demonstrate his powers for his boss, he didn't make sure he had the medallion on him. These sort of brain-addled moments abounded in the film--and made it embarrassing and irritating to watch.A good idea but a failure.

Director William Castle, upon seeing the end results of this movie of his, seemed to have realized that this movie wasn't up to his previous movies. For one thing, the gimmick that he came up for this movie was to give patrons a copy of the coin seen in the movie. (Whoopie!) *I* certainly thought that this was one of his weakest efforts.The premise of the movie, while not really original (even when the movie was made), still did have some promise. But there are two main problems that shoot down the movie. The first is that the characters act pretty stupid for most of the movie. Our hero is a college professor, yet the coin-related actions he does suggest he has put little thought into what he has discovered and what he should do with it.The second problem is related to that first problem, in that most of the movie is devoted to him *not* using the coin to his advantage (which is what most people would do), or being responsible with the coin. You will keep wondering just when some conflict will come into the movie, and he will be forced to struggle, to bring some ACTION into the movie. Eventually (after more than an hour of the running time has passed), our hero is challenged, but he acts (again) so stupidly when someone with even average intelligence would figure out how to use the coin to end the conflict in just a few minutes.Not even worth two cents.