Homicidal.

Review #2300: Homicidal.

Cast: 

Glenn Corbett (Karl), Patricia Breslin (Miriam Webster), Joan Marshall (Emily), Eugenie Leontovich (Helga), Alan Bunce (Dr. Jonas), Richard Rust (Jim Nesbitt), James Westerfield (Mr. Adrims), Gilbert Green (Lieutenant Miller), Wolfe Barzell (Olie), Jean Arless (Warren), and Hope Summers (Mrs. Adrims) Produced and Directed by William Castle (#369 - House on Haunted Hill (1959), #1071 - 13 Ghosts, #1418 - The Night Walker, #1703 - Undertow, #2261 - Macabre)

Review: 

You remember that William Castle had bet on himself with Macabre (1958) in promotional gambits wrapped in spooky horror. He followed it with films that continued the trend with worthwhile success with the following year with House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler. He kept it going with 13 Ghosts (1960) before putting his sights on two films for 1961, with the other being Mr. Sardonicus. Homicidal was written by Robb White in his fifth and final collaboration with Castle. Admittedly, Castle is just as much a presence here as the people are for the film, complete with him being in the introductory sequence that leads right to a needle-point title card (and of course, the buildup to the end). Yes, the film does have a special fright break, placed just before the climax that actually counts down for 45 seconds. One could simply leave the movie and get their money back if they were "too frightened". Of course, the response to the question you might have (why not hide and then see it a second time before leaving at the end?) was thought of by Castle too: a "Coward's Corner" and certificate of one being a chicken. With Castle delivering his style of promotion that involved travelling around from area to area to help promote his film by talking to people (he apparently would sometimes stand in the lobby of a theater showing the movie in order to discuss the movie with people who just saw it), it was no surprise that the film was a relative success at the time of release for Columbia Pictures (the distributor for Castle's films from 1959 to 1964). 

Sure, it may invite comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) in the loosest of senses when it comes to twist endings and a certain type of buildup with carefully spread-out body-counts (both films have a kill count of two and even more coincidentally, Hitchcock had been interested in making Psycho after seeing the success of House on Haunted Hill on its low budget). It is the kind of craftsmanship that delivers exactly what you would want in macabre enjoyment that leaves one mostly pleased for 87 minutes. Sure, its opening sequence and closing outweigh the elements for the middle section, but it rolls along in relative comfort. Marshall was a fairly a regular presence on television but as it turned out, this was her first and only big role (complete with using a stage name for some reason) for a film prior to her death at the age of 61 in 1992. Once you realize the extent of what she has to do for the film (involving makeup because of her successful audition), you see a pretty neat performance to carry the movie along with examining the troubles of an unbalanced self. She is a strange egg from the first time we see her before she even gets into the amusing phony marriage bit, which probably delivers the best stunner of the whole film where she takes a kiss from the justice of the peace and promptly stabs him before waltzing out in the middle of the night. Breslin and Corbett don't exactly have much to really do to stand out among the bubbling schlock, but even solid normalcy is welcome when you wait patiently. Leontovich actually was more known in the theatre for her acting, playwrighting and teaching, with this just being her sixth (and last) film role, one in which she doesn't utter a sentence. She still does well regardless in capturing fear when matched against Marshall in that fine art of taunting tension that is closed out with the other cheeky moment of the film: seeing the body in the distance only to have the head pop out down the stairs. For those who like familiarity with a showman at the helm to deliver a few interesting moments in an era where the surface was only starting to get chillier and murkier. Regardless of how one regards Castle as a filmmaker, he sure made you take notice in his best day.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.