As a young girl, Virginia has a psychic vision of her mother ending her own life. Years later, Virginia is married to a successful socialite, Francesco. He leaves on a business trip and leaves Virginia in the property they are due to start renovating. She starts to feel uneasy, however, as she recognises the building from psychic visions she’s had in the past. A crack in a wall leads her to break through it. She discovers a concealed dead body.

The Psychic was directed by Lucio Fulci but is very different from his usual fare. This isn’t some giallo shocker full of eye-gougings and fights between zombies and sharks. This is elegant, restrained Fulci, but this doesn’t diminish the film’s worth. Sometimes a whisper is just as scary as a scream, and this film brilliantly demonstrates this.

I can’t get over how beautiful the film is with amazing direction, photography and framing. The cast is top-notch and led by the ever-brilliant Jennifer O’Neill, who would star in David Cronenberg’s masterpiece, Scanners a few years later.

The Psychic is an elegant, nuanced and graceful as its lead. Some die-hard Fulci fans hate the film because of this. But it shows a different side to the maestro’s directorial talents. I love this movie just as much as Zombie Flesh Eaters and The New York Ripper.

Highly recommended.

4 out of 5 stars