Review of Zotz! (1962) by Eric B — 13 Sep 2015

"Zotz!" has a fun premise, a good cast (Tom Poston, Jim Backus, even Marx brothers legend Margaret Dumont) and William Castle's slick directing style, so why is this film such a drag?

Poston is a college professor of languages who gets his hands on an ancient coin that bestows three magic powers upon its owner. Simultaneously, he is competing with Backus for a department promotion and courting an attractive new faculty member. So far, so good. But what are those powers? Something exciting like invisibility, telekinesis, flying or mind-reading? Nope. He can cause intense stomach pain, make things run in slow motion or shut down a person (or machine) altogether. Ho hum. Not so interesting, eh? "Zotz!" never overcomes this script problem, and a late attempt to add Cold War-era Soviet villains doesn't help.