Trama Diabólica

William Castle's 1950s camp classics 'The Tingler' and 'House On Haunted Hill' are lots of fun, and highly recommended to all horror fans with a strong sense of the absurd. I expected 'Homicidal' to be a similarly silly but entertaining affair, especially as it was also written by Robb White, but was quite surprised at just how dark and effective it was. Apart from Castle's typically hammy introduction, and the "fright break" towards the climax (a not too dissimilar idea to the one Gaspar Noe used several years ago in his shocking 'I Stand Alone'!), 'Homicidal' is nowhere near as gimmicky and tongue in cheek as most of Castle's best known movies. Maybe that is why it is rarely mentioned when his work is discussed. Too bad, to me it is one of his most interesting and effective shockers. While obviously inspired by 'Psycho', and made on a shoe-string budget with variable acting, I was quite impressed by it. The opening sequence is memorable - a beautiful blonde (Jean Arliss) checks in to a swanky hotel, and offers a shocked bellhop cash to marry her, assuring him that the marriage will be annulled immediately after the event. He is puzzled but agrees, and at the ceremony the next day the mysterious blonde quite unexpectedly murders the JP! We then follow her to a house where she looks after an elderly woman (Eugenie Leontovich) who is mute and confined to a wheelchair after a stroke. The old woman is obviously terrified of her, but is unable to convey this to any visitors to the house. Pretty soon we meet the other characters, and learn of a $10 million inheritance, and things start to get real interesting... I won't elaborate any further for fear of spoiling the plot. The major twist will no doubt be guessed by the viewer fairly quickly but there are still some surprises and shocks in store. Arliss (actually Joan Marshall) gives an intriguing performance. Why she didn't go on to bigger and better things after this is beyond me. I urge fans of Castle's better known movies to check out this little gem. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it to all fans of b-grade thrillers and horror movies.

"Homicidal" is a very strange movie. It's among the best of William Castle's gimmicky horror films, but unlike any of them. Fans of "camp" should have a field day with this one. Jean Arless plays a fascinating part, but her obvious disguises and stilted acting are sorely out of step with everyone else's naturalistic looks and behavior. However, the story is absorbing, clever and ultimately entertaining. Films that take their cue from "Psycho" normally make me bristle, but this time it's actually quite interesting to catch the references as they continue to pile up (There are so many). Would love to know what Hitchcock thought of this movie.

I fell in love with horror at an early age and before my parents bought a VCR I had to stay up and watch these movies on late night TV, I have very fond memories of doing so. I must have been 12 or so when I watched Homicidal for the first time and I'm not afraid to admit that it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and sent shivers down my spine. I have just re-watched it, this time on Blu-Ray, sadly it did not have the same scare effect but I still found it to be a good watch. Made just one year after Hitchcock's masterpiece "Psycho" this was an early entry in the popular 1960's and 70's psycho thrillers, indeed one could say that these and Italian Giallo would later mould what we call "slasher" movies. The psycho here is a young attractive blonde woman called Emily who is nurse to a mute and crippled old lady in a large Californian house. Emily's murderous habit is revealed early in the film when she stabs to death a man, very graphic for the time. The movie is now rated 12 in the UK, this first killing is the only gory point to be fair and the rest of the film is pretty tame. Jean Arless plays Emily, a 30 year old rather unconvincingly playing a 20 year old. The film was made by William Castle, king of the gimmicks, Homicidal is perhaps best know for its 45 second "Fright Break" just before the finale. In 1974 Amicus films had a "guess the werewolf" break in their "The Beast Must Die". So Homicidal wasn't as scary as I first remembered it to be but it is still a good psycho, gender bending thriller that comes not only with a fright break but also an introduction by Castle himself and looks great in black and white.

Universally bombed by the critics--but they miss the point. This was classic Saturday matinee fare--and it was quite effective back in 1961. William Castle put his special touch on it and produced a quite entertaining, if campy take-off on a more famous varietal. OK, the acting was rather bland, perhaps to be expected from Glenn Corbett and Pat Breslin and a lesser known cast, but Jean Arless stole the show, with kudos also to Eugenie Leontovitch. This wasn't the best of the Castle fare, that award belonging to "Mr. Sardonicus" easily, but there were enough scares and suspenseful moments in "Homicidal" to titillate the adolescent (as I was then) in all of us TRUE horror film buffs.

Homicidal is one of the most blatant rip offs of Psycho you're likely to see, but it has such a good time trying to hide that fact and go in its own direction that you can't help but love it. It's about a young woman who might have a little killing problem and a mysterious brother who makes life even more difficult for her.

William Castle might not be as masterful with the suspense as Hitchcock, but he knows how to spin an entertaining story.