EDITOR’S NOTE: X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes was on Chiller Theater on Saturday, February 28 at 1:00 a.m. and  October 31, 1970 at 11:30 p.m.

Roger Corman originally made this movie about a scientist, but that was “too obvious” so he changed the lead to be “a jazz musician who had taken too much drugs, and I get into about four or five pages, and I thought, “You know, I don’t like this idea”, and so I threw the whole thing out, and started back and went back with the scientist, which was the original idea.”

Shot in three weeks on a budget of approximately $300,000 — that seems luxurious for Corman — and played a double feature with Dementia 13.

It stars Ray Milland as Dr. James Xavier, who is trying to expand the range of vision, allowing humans to see ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths, and even beyond. Being a somewhat mad scientist, he tests the eyedrops on himself and soon can see more than just through clothes; he can discern shapes, colors, and forms even when his eyes are closed, as his eyelids cannot block the visions.

After a friend is killed by accident, he heads for Vegas, where he wins money at casinos and becomes part of a sideshow. The problem is that by this point, his eyes are entirely black, and he can’t shut off the visions that allow him to see into the heart of the universe.

Finally, a revival church tells him that if his eyes offend him, he should pluck them out. So he does! What an ending!

I’m not going to spoil it for you by telling you how awesome Roger Corman is.

In Danse Macabre, Stephen King claimed that there was an unshot ending with Milland screaming “I can still see” after gouging out his eyes. Corman replied by saying, “Now it’s interesting. Stephen King saw the picture and wrote a different ending, and I thought, “His ending is better than mine.”

With significantly minor roles for Don Rickles and Dick Miller, this movie moves so fast and packs in so much that it’s nearly perfect. The effects may be dated, but who cares? They work. The whole movie just works.

You can watch this on Tubi.