The film was based on the book The Astrologer written by John Cameron, James Glickenhaus's future father-in-law.[4]
Glickenhaus made a deal with Cameron for the book, wrote the screenplay.[4]
Glickenhaus says that he made the movie for about $20,000.[5] "I'd inherited some money," Glickenhaus told The New York Times, "and I took all of it and lost it making a movie called 'The Astrologer.' I'd been to film school, but film school was oriented more toward the avant-garde in those days, and I didn't really know what a master was or a cutaway or a closeup. And I had great trouble conveying ideas, except in dialogue. So 'The Astrologer,' which was about 79 minutes long, was probably 60 minutes of dialogue. I mean, it was interminable. I didn't think it was interminable then. I thought it was great and interesting and fascinating to listen to." The film took him two years to produce from start to finish.[6]
The film's soundtrack was composed by Brad Fiedel, in his debut.[7]
Release
With no independent distributors interested in acquiring the film, Glickenhaus convinced some drive-in theaters in the South to screen it.[5] He later recalled, "Even though it was a terrible movie, people didn't absolutely hate it. But I realized by watching them that the only parts they liked were the parts with action."[6] Glickenhaus deciding the overabundance of dialogue in The Astrologer compared to the level of action was the cause of its failure would inspire him to write The Exterminator[4]21st Century Film Corporation eventually bought the rights to The Astrologer believing they could make it work and re-titled it The Suicide Cult in an effort to capitalize on the Jonestown massacre.[4]
Reception
The film was called an ”ultra obscure and undeniably fascinating thriller".[8] Another commentator found, ’’The irony, however, is that this debut effort by James Glickenhaus is neither a horror or science fiction film: its a pure Christploitation, aka Godploitation, romp...”[9]
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