DVDs:

	Homicidal Wolfe Barzell, Patricia Breslin Sony Pictures, 2002 average customer review:based on 40 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The DVD also features the seven-minute documentary "Psychette: William Castle and Homicidal" and the not-to-be missed original trailer. --Sean Axmaker

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I've Got To Hand It To Him...

Like many others, I grew up watching William Castle classics like THE TINGLER, HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, 13 GHOSTS, etc. Now, while these delectible cheezelogs were certainly entertaining, they could hardly be classified as serious (or even scary). HOMICIDAL only recently crossed my radar screen. I was expecting yet another schlock-o-thon. Well, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by this one! Yes, Castle may have been trying to capitalize on the success of PSYCHO (and who can blame him??), but how many modern horror / thrillers don't owe something to Hitchcock? Anyway, HOMICIDAL has Jean Arliss (Joan Marshall), as the beautiful, dangerously twisted Emily. For it's day, HOMICIDAL packs a decent punch with its bloody, (seemingly) senseless murder at the beginning and a satisfying little twister at the end. Highly recommended...

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William Castle's crowning achievement, IMO

I first saw this on American Movie Classics many years ago when I taped it & thoroughly enjoyed it. Don't pay creedence to the negative reviews saying it's a rip-off of Psycho, it is a deeply engrossing suspense movie that centers on a nurse who kills the groom as they exchange vows & later becomes nursemaid to an elderly invalid woman who sooon catches on to the evil nurse's diobolical agenda.

If you enjoy vintage horror films, do yourself a favor & see this movie. You'll be glad you did. The fright break was exciting as well. A definitive cult classic & treat for any fan of films of this one's genre.

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You'll Need That Fright Break!!

Jean Arliss is a gal with some major psychological baggage(like a lot of the chicks I've dated). She has a habit of stabbing people to death, vandalizing flower shops, being a straight up b*$!h, and other assorted mischief. She's been brought to America by her husband, Warren and is taking care of an invalid mute woman at their home. Warren's half sister is thrown into the mix as well, and pretty soon what we got here is a mystery involving murder, family and inheritance. William Castle decided to take a break from ghosties and monsters and take a....ahem....stab at Alfred Hitchcock/Robert Bloch kind of material. I must say he does a very good job, better than you think he would with this kind of material. Even his little campy introduction and the famous "fright break" doesn't hurt any of the mystery or suspense of the film, but simply reminds you you're watching a William Castle film. It's extremely derivative of "Psycho", but nobody seems to complain about this because it's so blatantly obvious that that's what Castle is doing, and he makes no attempts to hide it, but rather winks at the audience about it. It's not a spoof though, nor is it really campy(only the intro and the "fright break"), it's actually a good movie. Some people actually like it more than Psycho(as shown in the featurette). I don't know if I'd go that far, but it is a damn good movie.

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You must get this movie

I saw this movie on TCM and I LOVED it! I do not want to give it away, but this movie will keep you in suspense. The "homicidal" character is AMAZING. YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE. You will love it as well. As soon as I knew that AMAZON sold it, I bought it right away. A very good addition to anyone's DVD library. If you loved Psycho, you will love this movie.


Sensational Horror that's Awful (and yet awfully funny)

A few of William Castle's dvd movies are becoming harder to buy these days for some reason; they seem to be going out of circulation. Maybe the powers that be will be releasing a fun boxed set one of these days.

For those who have not yet seen "Homicidal", it is definitely worthwhile if you enjoy those "so bad they're good" horror films of the 50's and 60's... particularly if you like anything that's over the top. Well, over the top and collapsed in a heap on the other side.
Much of the film does not makes sense, and much of it is laughable (which is the true joy of it).

So, that's my advice to newbies.

And now for those who are already acquainted with "Homicidal", and Emily, Warren, Miriam, and the 'Fright Break':

(Spoilers ahead.)

I enjoy William Castle's treats. Sure, they're not cinematic horror gems, nor are they the junk of Ed Wood (which I also appreciate). I am not stating anything new when I say that "Homicidal" is sort of a blatant ripoff of Hitchcock's "Psycho". More about that in a moment.

One of the characters in "Homicidal" is named Miriam Webster. Why the screenwriter chose this moniker (since it already belongs to the dictionary) is beyond me. Okay, so it's the Merriam Webster Dictionary. But when you hear the name, it clicks instantly.

For me, William Castle's "Homicidal" is a hoot... not as much as his other flicks, but still a hoot.

The first murder is so in-your-face and over the top, I crack up every time I see it. It is so strangely photographed, filled with odd closeups and weird angles. Emily seems to delight in the act. It's a sensational sequence, and made even funnier by the fact that on the close shot of the stabbing, the figures are reversed. In the previous full shot, Emily is standing on the right, and the justice of the peace is on the left. As the stabbing is shown, she is somehow on the left side of the screen, and his torso is on the right. It's things like this that I hate. Whoever shot and edited this scene should be throttled, then tarred and feathered. Then pointed at and laughed at.

And the justice of the peace grasping onto the drapery just smacks of Janet Leigh (Marion Crane) grasping at the shower curtain in "Psycho". Honestly, they really had no shame here.
Another blatant borrowing from "Psycho" is that Emily's hotel room is laid out very similiarly to Cabin 1 of The Bates Motel.

It's all about as subtle as Mardi Gras, isn't it?

It actually takes quite a while to figure out the relationships of the characters in this film (a sign of poor writing). At first viewing one might wonder who Emily is to Miriam, who Carl is to Miriam, who Warren is to Helga, and so on... It's rather frustrating on first viewing. And it could have so easily and quickly been clarified by the writer.

I think the entire twist is spoiled as soon as Warren makes his first appearance. I don't know how naive movie audiences were in 1961 but I have a feeling that they knew something was up with this strange, petite fellow (whose voice sounded like it wasn't even in the room with the other character he's speaking to; dubbed voices so often sound like they're in a recording booth and not the room of the scene that's being filmed).

The characters of Miriam, Carl, and the detective are all clueless because it never occurs to them that Warren and Emily are never seen together at the same time. It's really very funny.

There's a lot of funny in this film. When Emily takes Helga to the top of the stairs, then says "Helga! Now!!!" and puts the skinny knife at Helga's neck (then the screen fades to black). We're supposed to believe that Helga's head gets sliced off easily, as if it were made of Play Doh?

This could have been a decent tale of deceiving the inheritance, but it fails, and ends up being a joke with a flat punchline.
I must admit that Mr. Castle's gimmick here, the Fright Break, is hilarious. I would imagine that nobody in theaters back then would have left during this period.

I only give three stars because "Homicidal", to me, lacks as much fun as other Castle concoctions like "Strait-Jacket" and "House on Haunted Hill".
It's sad, really, because this movie is very much an attempt to trump Hitchock for the success of "Psycho", or to cash in on Hitchock's success. Castle could have tried something original. But it's interesting that Hitchcock looked at the horror films of the 1950's that were cheaply made but not scary, and then he made a cheap but extremely scary film of his own.

I do enjoy watching "Homicidal", because it's so pathetic and ridiculous. But there's an ugly little aftertaste that lingers when I'm done.
What's most amusing to me personally is that while Warren looks like a girl in drag, Emily looks like a man in drag.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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