Impulse (1974)

"People like you should be ground into dog food!" - Matt

A troubled man tries to escape his impulses of violence.
Starring: William Shatner, Jennifer Bishop, Kim Nicholas, Ruth Roman, and Harold Sakata

Link to IMDB

Matt Stone is a scheming hustler making his way through life by stealing from the rich women he dates. His bad behaviour can be explained by a childhood trauma he experienced when he was forced to kill a man attacking his mother, but it has also left him with uncontrollable impulses to kill his lady friends! Although he's tortured by guilt and confusion, we get the impression that he's no stranger to murder.

When Matt meets a young lady named Anne, he starts romantically pursuing her and they're soon dating. Anne is seduced by Matt's charm but her daughter, Tina, distrusts Matt instantly. Despite Tina causing a fuss, Matt and Anne continue to get closer as he preys on her loneliness and vulnerabilities of being a single mom.



When an old business partner of Matt's, named Karate Pete, shows up and starts trying to get money from him, he gets the impulse to kill again. But this time Tina witnesses Matt in the act of murder! Anne doesn't believe Tina when she tries to warn her, but now Matt begins to lose control of the situation, and his deadly impulses are taking over!

Anne                                             Tina

Karate Pete

There's not really much plot here but the movie had a strange hypnotic hold on me. I experienced a constant stream of "whats?" and "whys?" as I tried to make sense of it all. It's like the director had heard the phrase "psychological thriller" and decided to make one, without really having any idea what the genre was.
I bet that everyone involved was drunk or high on drugs, which would explain why the whole movie has that special type if sloppiness that can never be created on purpose.

Shatner's performance is as nutty and amusing as one might imagine, with almost every line being delivered in his own special wooden, corny mannerisms.
I find it rather hard to pinpoint exactly what makes the entire movie so funny. It's trying to be dead serious but I was laughing the whole way through, lost in some trance of cinema trash.


Be sure not to miss:
- Matt's hatred of balloons.
- That's Harold Sakata as Karate Pete. Too bad he doesn't get much to do.
- "Hold my hotdog."
- The most bizarre chase scene ever through a car wash.

Internet review:
"This is almost too much entertainment to take while sober." - J Milks

Should I watch it?
You need to be in a certain frame of mind, but it's damn funny.

Where can I find it?
Here on YouTube.

Impulse gets...